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i have 6 vision 211's that are stacked in 3 rows of 2. i have 2 solid pieces of 11" flexwatt running underneath each 3 cages with the 2 pieces wired in circuit to each other and then into a herpstat. the temp is set at 75. by noon the temps in the cages are in the mid 80s. each cages is illuminated by an 18" fluorescent bulb. why are the temp getting so high and what do you use for insulation between the cages to keep the heat from rising and heating the cages on top even more?

What is the room temp and where do you have the thermostat probe? Are all the pieces of flexwatt conected to the same thermostat? The bulbs give off some heat, but not enough to raise the temps 10 degrees. If you only have one thermostat it's probably malfunctioning.
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the room temp is ~70 and the probe is half way up the back side off one of the bottom cages.

The temperature of what is 80 deg - the Flexwatt or air?

Assume you mean the air temp is 80 deg. Is the Flexwatt cold when the air temp is 80 deg? If so, then your temp controller is fine and the flourescent fixtures are helping to heat the cages.

With Vision cages and 70 deg rooms, Flexwatt is not a great air heater. If you want to control air heat, then use bulbs or other overhead heating. You can do overhead heat in the model 211. Fix a ceramic light fixture to the grill top, using epoxy putty to insulate all exposed contacts, wires go up through the grill.

Flexwatt works best when you use the controller probe right on the Flexwatt, or very close above it.

You need to insulate to stop heat flow from the lower cage to the upper cage. MG Reptiles sells Reflectix insulation that will help alot. Use spacers to stack the cages - either vinyl bumpers or whatever (styrene foam blocks work well.)
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Mark

ok just for a test i unplugged the flexwatt from the thermostat but left the unit plugged in so the probe still read out. by noon the temps in the cages were already 85, which means the fluorescents are generating all the heat. how can i illuminate the cages without raising the temps? are there any cooler bulbs?

I have had a similar problem with fluorescent fixtures inside the cage. The heat is generated in the balast resister in a fluorescent light, not in the light "bulb" like you would get with incandecent lights.

If you are ok with electricity, you can take the balasts out of the fixtures and put them all on top of the cages or somewhere away from the cage. Then run wires from the balast back to the fluorescent fixture.

I have done this with one of my cage stacks and it works fine and solved the heat problem.
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Wade's Weptiles & Wodents