Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I will be houseing some larger females balls in model 400 vison cages.. I have always used fLexwatt but hear all good things about Helix Heat Panels. I have a few questions for anyone who uses them.
1. Do they need to be plugged into a Helix DBS1000?
2. How do you determin the wattage or size you need?
3. I have always heard thing about you ambient room temp playing a role, but in what way?

Also any pointers ,tips, and reviews will help!!

Thanks guys and gals!!

1. Do they need to be plugged into a Helix DBS1000?

Any "good" thermostat could be used. Never use any heating element without some sort of thermostat hooked up to it.

2. How do you determine the wattage or size you need?

A general rule of thumb is to use a heating element that covers 1/3 of the enclosure you are housing your animal in.

3. I have always heard thing about you ambient room temp playing a role, but in what way?

Heating elements of all sorts are influenced by the ambient room temperature. For example, if you have a thermostat set to 90 degrees hooked up to a heat pad that is in a room with an ambient temperature of 80 degrees that heating element will only have to increase the temperature by 10 degrees. However, in a 70 degree room it will have to increase the temp by 20 degrees, thus working that much harder.

Try not to house your animals in a room that is subject to extreme temperature fluctuations and is not overly "drafty" and you should be alright.

This also ties into your second question. If your room is well insulated and is already heated you may not need as big of a heating element.

WOW!!! Thanks! My snake room is warm about 75-78 so i can probally get away with a smaller heat panel! thanks for the help. i do have a Helix control and will use. where would you suggest placing the probe it the Panel is on the cealing?

I personally would stick with the 1/3 of the enclosure formula for the size of your heating element. This way it won't have to work as hard to properly heat the enclosure.

As far as probe placement goes, hopefully someone else will answer that one. All of my animals are currently in racks due to my space constraints. I wouldn't know about tanks and cages. The last animals I had in a tank were tree frogs and they didn't require any extra heat.

I have 2 helix heat panels hooked up to my helix thermostat
they are in a home made cage and due to my lack of planning I found it hard to find a good way to mount them, my fault not the companies

I mounted them on the ceiling using included hardware &
the first night both snakes were coiled up around the ledge between the panel and the ceiling and they were constantly falling off in the middle of the night

the snakes are too big to not drill holes in the corners and bolt to the roof(if you dont they will wedge between the panel and the ceiling and pop the peg out of the bracket or the plastic will snap), which means the ledge of the panel and the bolt make a L shape and the opening is big enough for their head to fit in which of course means at some point they end up looking stuck. I was worried the would fall with their head in there and essential y hand themselves or something
so...I ended up hanging the panels on the outside on the back of the cage which is wire screen

I have the probe for mine right on the very center of the panel between the panel and the screen where it is hottest and the snakes cant mess with the probe