Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok i've gotten all my melamine cut and ready to go BUT since the shelves are only 6inches apart i have to cut all the grooves for my heat cable before construction other wise the router won't fit between the shelves. I'm just stumped on how many passes i need to make with the cable!! I can't really find to much info on heat cable to begin w/ let alone a description of how far to space it apart/ how much area to cover. I'd prefer to use belly heat but i'm getting so frustrated trying to figure out the layout i'm bout to just say the hell with it and go back heat and enclose the back. The shelves are 4ft ea. And will go up 9 levels. And hold both 41 qt and 32qt sterilite containers. First i bout 2 of the zoo med 11 foot cables to find out there was only about 9 feet of usable heated chord between the 2 of them. Returned that and got 2 of the 23 foot 50watt heat cables and i still don't think that'd be enough length to heat 1/3 of ea tub. But then again i don't even know how far to space it so really i have no idea how much to use. Pretty much just giving up for the night at this point and hopefully somebody will respond to this post by morning with more ideas. I just didn't want to go the flexwatt route because i've read several reports of stuff burning and what not and although plenty of ppl swear by it i just moved in with my sister and well she's tolerant enough of all the balls, leopard geckos, and chameleons, on top of fresh water and saltwater fish tanks i brought with me w/out me starting a fire. That'd prob be it for me and my animals. Realy reconsidering the heat cable though since i just can't find any info on it. ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! I spent $500 at lowes today and i'm ready to build something!!!

Hey, I would space it out about every inch. As far as how much of the bottom needs to be heated that depends on how cold you keep the room that it will be placed in and the size of the ball that will live in the tub. For proper heating a snake needs to be able to curl on top of the heat source completely. I would say probably 1/3 of the tank should be heated. I would almost be tempted to router the channels in 2/3 of the shelf that way they are adjustable. Also I find that some of my snakes like to be warmer than others even within the same sex and species, it really is all about catering to what the snake needs. Be sure to use a thermostat. As far as heat tape being a fire hazard I have used it for years and never had a problem I think that most of the problems come from installing it wrong or not using a thermostat or using stuff that is damaged. Hope this helps if you need more help you can email me at mitchdoenges@gmail.com.