Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First of all I live in Canada where heat tape is not csa approved so i am looking at alternatives.
I have recently noticed zoo med has released heat wire. I have a couple questions on the product if anyone has ever used it.
#1 roughly how this is it?
#2 can it be ran in those divits underneath most rubbermaids?
#3 do I need a thermostas or rheostat? for corns most likely yes to fine tune but will it ever get too hot to burn plastic?
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2.2 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena, Aphodite, Hades)
1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

The zoomed heat cable works great. It runs at 3 watts of heat per foot of cable.

You should use a thermostat with this or any other heat source.

>>#1 roughly how thin is it?

It is about 3/16 of an inch in diameter and very flexible. The cable is encapsulated in a silicon-based material that can withstand very high heat. They come in various lengths. I think 15 ft is the smallest length. They are a fantastic way to heat rows of plastic shoeboxes or small terraria.

>>#2 can it be ran in those divits underneath most rubbermaids?
Likely no. There are basically 2 ways to go. Either you router a path in a non-solid-wood shelf material (like MDF) and lay the cable in that with the boxes lying right on top. Or, you tape the cable (aluminum tape) on top of the shelf and prop the boxes up enough to barely clear the cable.

I've done the router method, and in my opinion, it is better when you make a wide groove of say 3 inches and about 3/16" or 1/4" deep or so, then place the cable in sort of an "S" pattern through the groove all the way across the shelf. You can use some hot glue to hold the cable down or even small metal cable clamps (they sell some for data cables that are very low profile). I like this better because you have more air surrounding the cable rather than shelf material. I think it is safe, yet is very effective when a box is lying above it.

>>#3 do I need a thermostas or rheostat? for corns most likely yes to fine tune but will it ever get too hot to burn plastic?
The small surface area that actually touches the cage makes it so that you are less likely to cause damage compared to say with a heat pad full on. But the answer is always YES, you need some kind of controller because you can still overheat if the room air temp gets warm. Think of the snakes. How would you like to be in a small plastic box with a heater on underneath without a controller?
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>>2.2 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena, Aphodite, Hades)
>>1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
>>0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

I just bought the 14 foot heat wire and the first half of it will not work right from this little black line about 7 feet to the outlet stays cold. The furthest 7 feet is working. This has happened to me on 2 packages now do I have to wait like 24 hours or something?
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2.2 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena, Aphodite, Hades)
1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

That line is called the cold point. It means, from there to the plug there is no heat element. This is so you can run the heater to an outlet without heating everything getting there.

So it sounds like your 14ft cable has only 7ft of useable heater, and the black line tells you where the heat starts. (I only have the longer models, so 7ft of cold is no big deal. I would have never guessed the 14ft ones had so much cold lead.)

Does the heat cable get hot enough to be used as back heat?

I am thinking it is not hot enough to do back heat also 7 feet of actual heat wire for 40$ canadian is way too much. Imjust gonna have to go heat cable
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2.2 Columbian common boas (Zeus, Athena, Aphodite, Hades)
1.1 Corn snakes (Appolo, Boreas)
0.1 King snake tri striped cal morph (Helios)

Big apple herp sells heat rope, I've used it for years and love it.
You can get a 27ft section for about 35 bucks.
Here's a link.

Link

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Jason

>>Does the heat cable get hot enough to be used as back heat?

Well, if your room doesn't get really cool, then maybe. However, I think that Flexwatt is better for back-heat applications.

The benefit of heat cable/rope is that the surface area of the heater touching the cage is small, so overheating a large area is less likely. For small snakes all the way to adult colubrids, heat cable under the cage is a great way to heat them.

Well, I disagree a bit. I have the 25 (or 27 foot? can't recall) version of the Zoomed cable. I have it run on the INSIDE of a plastic cage, zigzagged on the ceiling and back, held on with tie-wraps up top, and suction-cups in the back. This is for a GTP who doesn't mess with her cage much.

It works great for heat! I have it in a BARRs cage, which are made to have belly heat, but unfortunately the plastic on the sides and back is thicker. Good for keeping the cage insulated, but bad if you want to try and stick a UTH to the outside back wall of the cage. Since my GTP hangs out on her perch, belly heat wouldn't cut it.

The way I have it (on a thermostat, of course), it seems to work great. The cable at it's hottest seems to get very warm to the touch, but not hot enough to melt plastic or burn an animal (but who knows if it malfunctions...) It's very flexible and waterproof. I'd recommend it where Flexwatt just won't work. It's supposed to be safe to wrap around perches and branches (the perches in the cage are removeable and I didn't want the snake directly ON the cable, so I didn't do that). I have heard of people running it on the inside of pvc plastic perches.

But anyway - it works for certain situations. I wouldn't ever use it without a thermostat though (just like any other heat device for reptiles).
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com
1.0 Ball Python, 1.1 Hog Island Boas, 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 0.1 Green Tree Python