Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need to build a couple hatchling racks. I don't want to deal with wiring heat tape. The Repti-Heat cable looks like it might be a lot easier if I put foil tape over it to make it smoother. I think the boxes should just glide over it fairly well. I'll need the 23 foot, 50 watt length for the size of the racks. Does anyone know if this puts out enough heat for balls? I've never built a rack. Any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot. Ryan.

Hey Ryan I have Vision Racks and they use the heat cable and my snakes seem to be fine. I havent used it in a rack that I have personally built but I wount go back to using flexwatt. And Im not saying that to get into a pissing contest with anyone its just my personal feelings. Hope this helps Thanks
-----
Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

Hey Damien. Is the heat cable routered into the rack or just sitting on top of the wood and held down with something? I have AP racks that the heat cable is pushed into the groove they router out for you. I'd like to avoid that, but not totally sure it will allow the boxes to move in and out smoothly. Thanks a lot.

Heres the link to the vision website that shows in detail pics of the heat cable routing.

http://www.visionproducts.us/racks/htm2/brochure2.html
-----
Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

Ryan - on the vision racks the heat cable is pushed down into the the level so the tubs don't touch it.

I switched my hatchling rack over to cable and temporarily don't have it routered in and the tubs do tend to get caught up on it mid slide - but I don't have it taped down or anything as I wasn't sure if that would interfere with the heat exchange - if you can router a groove for it that would probably work out best for you - other wise play around with it and see what works.

But yeah - I'll agree - I'd rather work with cable over flexwatt any day.

Good luck.
-----
Tosha
JET Pythons

I think I can make it work with just taping it down. It looks pretty thin. I really don't feel like routering all the wood. I don't have the patience for full-fledged carpentry. I'll let you know how it works.

I know Jenny uses it for her babies & I will be using it tomorrow w/ a rheostat. Much cheaper than anything else & cake to install. Go for it!

you have to be careful though cause that stuff gets hot quick. you really have to watch it and the heat isnt exactly consistent throughout. just my experience. i used it in a hatchling rack but upgraded to flexwatt got better results
-----
GOOSEBALLS

lamina1982@hotmail.com

A question for the guys using heat-cable. I am building a rack for hatchlings now (milk snakes - not balls) and considered using heat-cable. My question is would you run the heat-cable in a "S" type patten under the enclosure? I would think that simply running a single row at the back like flex-watt wouldn't raise the ambient temp enough, since the cable is not as wide as 3 or 4 inch flex-watt.