Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thinking of Building a new rack for adult Kings, with belly heat. I will keep the rack in the garage in winter and spring, so I want heating element to put out some heat.
I was wondering about the different kinds of Elements for a rack.
Wire cable type, Heat Tape, different brands. Any comparison would be great.
Thanks, Bob Bichler
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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

Here's the thing: if you can hold the ambient temp at a nice cooler range like 60-75, then it becomes easy. Use Flexwatt or whatever.

But when the ambient air temp changes seasonally, a wide heater that is great in Winter becomes too much heated floor space in Summer.

My thought is to use two small heat pads per box or two independent heat tapes each row of boxes. This way, when you need more heated area, use both. During warmer weather, use only one. A nice thing about kingsnakes is that they can warm up on a thin strip of heater.

Here are some pics of ultra thin heat pads and really nice 3/4 inch wide heat tape. Not to say you should use these items persay. I think the ZooMed heat cable or the 3inch Flexwatt is alot cheaper. But the silicon coated heaters in the pics are awesome. I am slowly replacing any heat pads with these ultra thin ones, as they work so well for plastic or glass cages. They are easy to tape down and conform to the cage bottom better than mylar coated heaters.

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Mark

Thanks for the reply Mark. I'll have to think about the two 3" Flexwatt heat strips. do you have any dea on how tight of a radius I can bend Flexwatt?
Thanks again for the reply, Bob Bichler
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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

I see it bent at 90's all the time in racks. I have an AP rack that uses an "easy heat" cable that came with it, I think it's designed for roof de-icing, but it works great. I also have other racks with flexwatt and that's great as well.

Mark, Where can I find info on those heat strips you posted? I've never seen them before.

>>I see it bent at 90's all the time in racks. I have an AP rack that uses an "easy heat" cable that came with it, I think it's designed for roof de-icing, but it works great. I also have other racks with flexwatt and that's great as well.
>>
>>Mark, Where can I find info on those heat strips you posted? I've never seen them before.

Thank for the info,
Bob
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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

The Easy heat are great heat tapes, and you can still find them online. They are the least expensive.

The ones I posted are from www.omega.com under Flexible Heaters.

They are very pricey unfortunately because they are widely used for medical purposes. Made from a heating element covered with silicon, so they are moisture-proof. If you put two in series, the wattage density is just about perfect. Alone they get too hot.

I have the 2.5 watt/sq inch silicon heat mats and the 1/2 inch heat tape. Neat products. They lay perfectly flat, no curling up like Flexwatt. Durable as all heck.
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Mark

thanks Mark. I'll check them out after work.