Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Whats bthe bbest way to use flexwatt in a 1/2 inch plywood enclosure? Also is there anywhere you can buy it without mail ordering? Thanks

Not good to heat the plywood directly with Flexwatt. While you can do it, my advice is to avoid it if possible.

What size enclosure (height mainly) and for which kind of animal? I would consider overhead heating options if possible.

Alternatively, get a sealed heat pad like Ultratherm and adhere it (Velcro dots work great) to some tile inside the cage.
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Mark

My cages range from 1 to 3 feet tall. I keep everything from corns and balls to cobras and rattlers, Also 1 bearded dragon. Right now i'm usina a hodge podge of heating methods. Mostly ceramic heat emitters. The ceramic works good for the beardie but i have too much trouble fitting one in a cage with an 8 inch eyelash Viper. One problem is the amount of space it takes and anouther is keeping the snakes offsomething too hot without turning the temp down so much it still warms the enclosure

Have you considered using Radiant Heat panels?
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.3 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

All the ones i've found are a bit pricy. I'm trying to find something i can us for all my cages so they are easyier to adjust to proper temps with as few adjustment as possible. I have some cages (invertibretes) that are pretty small. I just can't fit the cheaper heat methods in their cages, but i can't find anything reasonably priced that has the size adjustments i need. I have lots of carpentry skill if i need to recess something. I just need to know what. Has anyone used under floor tile warmers with a tile recessed in the floor before?

RHP's will out last the animal.

When it comes to reliability and a properly maintained enclosure temperature. Nothing short of a UPS can compare to the cost of a valued animal.

Which is more important saving a buck or saving $1000 investment.

Just my 2 Cents.
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.3 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

I must have been looking at the wrong thing. When i was googling the heat panels it was bringing up something for me that was a couple hundred bucks a peice. I think i found what your talking about at Big Apple for about 40. Can those be mounted on the side of the cage or do they need to be mounted on top or what? Also where is the best place to buy them? I've always used ceramics and they aren't working with my new setups. they are heating too much of the cages. Any advice is appriciated.
Thanks Steven

To give you perspective, the 40Watt radiant heat panel (RHP) from the Bean farm (or anywhere else for that matter) in a 24x16x12H cage heated the entire cage too much IMO at my house. What I mean is, there wasn't enough floor space where enough cooler area existed. Even using a controller, the entire cage was warm.

That same panel in a 3ft cage was perfect.

If a ceramic bulb provided too much heat for your cages, then an RHP is way too much.

Pearlco makes a 30 Watt CHE. Great for small cages.

BTW, I mount RHPs on the ceiling, not on the side. I leaned one up on its side to see what happened. Better on the ceiling for sure. I don't recommend side mount. If I remember, the mfgr also does not recommend side mount.
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Mark

Okay i've looked around and found them from bigapple and reptile basics. The ones from big apple are about half as much but look like a heat mat. I read some reviews about the ones from reptile basics and they said good things. Is there much difference between the types availible?

This is what an RHP looks like mounted.

The thin RHPs from Big Apple are just heat pads with a higher watt density. They don't direct the heat down as well. For a small low height cage, fine. For larger cages, not enough.

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Mark