Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am wondering what the best way to heat plastic sweaterboxes is. They have screen tops, but they aren't deep enough to set a basking lamp right on top of the screen. I thought heat mats might work but they say not to use them on plastic. Any suggestions would be appriciated. Thanks in advance.

I use flexwatt heat tape to heat the snakes in my rack, but the plastic containers don't come in direct contact with the flexwatt. I don't suppose it would hurt anything if it did though, as long as you follow the manufacturer's temp range recommendations. I have several of the "undertank mats" that I have used with rubbermaid tubs when a snake needs to be isolated from the rest. I haven't had any problems there either, though the mats do get hotter than I let the flexwatt get.

With a lamp dimmer or proportional controller (i.e. Big Apple Herps $120.00 unit) you can use heat pads under plastic containers, or even a heat bulb on top of the screen. You need temperature control. Just putting any heater on full with no sort of provision for shutting off the heater if the temps get too high, is a recipe for disaster.

maintaining a safe temp is very important. I read the last post and wanted to amend mine with the following. The "heat pads" that I mentioned using are quite small, and before I even considered using them on sterlite I left them on at full power (these have no controller of their own) for a week and had a digital thermometer attached directly to them. The maximum temp that any of them reached was 110. like I said, hot but not "fire-starting hot". I strongly urge you to use flexwatt of some sort of heat regulating device for your heat pads. My experience may be different than yours, even if you use the exact make and model heat pads that I do. I liked the flexwatt solution because it was by far less expensive than most of the alternatives. My entire snake rack cost me less to build and heat than the one proportional heat controller he mentioned. Safety is ALways the highest concern, but it can be achieved without breaking the bank.

Thanks for the responses. I priced out the flexwatt I will need from Big apple herp.

I was going to suggest that you check the bean farm too. I think they were a little cheaper with shipping and all, but I can't seem to get to that site now...it is asking for a username and password....hmmmm

I used 3" wide Flex Watt with a dimmer set with a Digital Thermometer. Reading averages 82f to 84f for kingsnakes. These were setup on a Rubbermaid rack (Menards/Home Depot) with no ill effects. The key is temperature control with Thermometer and dimmer. Since the racks have slots in shelf the sweaterboxes and shoeboxes were placed directly on the Flex Watt. This is just one of my experiences.