Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i'm in the process of converting an old shelf into a rack. I have some questions regarding the heating, because I've never used flex watt before. Should I run it down the back or across each shelf. The rack will have eight shelfs wide enough to hold two 32 qt tubs. If I run it down the back I'll probably have to use two 11" to cover the width. If I run it across each shelf individually can I connect them all so I can only use one thermostat? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

What kind of snakes - e.g. ball pythons, which need more of the cage warm, or colubrids, which need less?

Does the room get cold? If so, back heat may not work well.

In general, for colubrids that aren't too large, the 3-inch or 4-inch wide Flexwatt across the shelf (belly heat) is usually enough. For larger boids, 11-inch is better.

If the rack is open - i.e. sides are not covered, go with belly heat.

Again, there are dependencies, and ultimately, you will have to experiment to see what fits the situation best. Belly heat works in just about all situations; back heat works best in rooms that are somewhat warm already, meaning in the 70s for example. Back heat is safer (harder to overheat the cages).

You can hook up the Flexwatt pieces together, or run one length through the entire rack. I would put a plug on each piece and plug them into an outlet strip, then wire the outlet strip into the dimmer. This way you can unplug any shelf that is not used w/o affecting the other shelves.

If using belly heat, consider a proportional controller. Or, wire the dimmer through an ON/OFF thermostat set to 95 deg F. This will be your overtemp cutoff just in case.
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Mark