Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have read about heating a wood cage by putting a heat mat in the cage and placing a ceramic tile over it. Sounds like a good idea- i still worry about the wood burning. Would foil tape work for repelling the heat? Also, any other ideas for belly heat? i am making a couple of cages for my Rainbow Boas and BCI's- as much as i would love heat pannels i dont have the $ - belly heat is my best option.

Thanks in advance!

Just a thought for you...you could use ceramic heat emitters. They work much the same as heat pannels but are not as pricey. I have also kept and bred BRB and BCI under regular old light bulbs and they did very well. I know you were asking about heat mats but I just thought I would throw this out as another option.

Rob

>>I have read about heating a wood cage by putting a heat mat in the cage and placing a ceramic tile over it. Sounds like a good idea- i still worry about the wood burning. Would foil tape work for repelling the heat? Also, any other ideas for belly heat? i am making a couple of cages for my Rainbow Boas and BCI's- as much as i would love heat pannels i dont have the $ - belly heat is my best option.
>>
>>Thanks in advance!

yeah, thought about it- already use them on my JCP however these cages arent going to be as tall as the JCP cages and the CHE take up to much room once the cage is intalled....also, heat pannels are out of the picture due to price.

What about placing a sheet of vinyl tile/ lanolium over the whole bottom of the cage and put the heat mat under? Anyone ever done this? Fire Hazard?

Likely not a fire hazard, but not a great situation in any case.

Honestly, overhead heating with a heat panel is effective, lasts a decade if not more and is so easy. Wood cages lend themselves nicely to overhead heating. The wood insulates well and makes for a rather efficient system when using a temperature controller.

Back to the subject of floor heating..

One way to deal with it is to make a cutout on the cage floor. Cover the whole floor with PVC foam board (aka "Sintra" and put the heat pad under that in the cutout area. This way you heat through the plastic, not the wood. The heat pad will never touch wood.

That sure adds work and expense, but protects the cage floor rather well.

Many plastics give off toxins when heated. At 90 deg, the amount is less than say 110 deg. I believe that the material used in storage boxes is one such plastic that is not suitable for food contact if heated, yet we do it to snakes. Ceramic heaters and glass bulbs do not give off these toxins.
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Mark

In addtion to what MarkG suggested, I'll offer a cheaper variation.

Instead of building cage with a floor cutout, instead build a cage without a floor at all. I used to do this all the time. I would build a basic melamine cage and then use silicone and staples to attach a tile-board floor to the bottom rim of the cage. If I were to do the same today I'd use expanded PVC (like Sintra).

Floors take a lot of abuse so it's nice to have a more cleanable and durable floor. It's also nice to be able to replace them if necessary.

For high humidity species I also recommend adding some protection to the first few inches of the cage walls. If using melamine (which I suggest you do since you are on a budget) one product that works well is a layer of heavy duty packing tape.

Lastly, it's not all that difficult to build radiant heat panels. I do not like to give any specific advice on this because I don't want to be responsible for anyone burning their house down. It's your execution that matters and it can be done. But you have to do the research on the basic principles, etc.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephala (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback