Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My dad and I have begun building new cages out of plywood for my ball python and leopard geckos. We still need to figure out the heating, though. My dads insisting that a heatpad will work because the heat has to go somewhere, but based on my experience and mostly the opinions I've heard from others around here and elsewhere, heat doesn't transmit well through plywood. We are dealing with 2' by 2' by 15" cages in a house that regularly is at 63 degrees. We could put low wattage lights in the cages and provide plenty of daytime heat, but do you think that a heat pad will be enough to raise the cage temp a good ten-15 degrees? I'm looking for a fairly cheap way of doing this, but I'll spend money where I must.

Brad
"Herpin' since kindy-gartin"

cut a hole in the floor and router the edges so you can place a piece of glass in level with the rest of the floor. Silicone that puppy down and put a heat pad on the bottom of it and you're sailing.

got any pics????
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4.5 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Marbled Gecko
1.1 Red Eared Sliders
0.2 Siamese Mice

We may try that. I'll try to post pics of the finished product.

Brad
"Redundant Man Who Is Redundant"

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4.5 Leopard Geckos
1.0 Marbled Gecko
1.1 Red Eared Sliders
0.2 Siamese Mice

I like the idea of cutting the hole out of the bottom. I'd do it slightly different, though.

Cut the hole out so that it's slightly larger than the biggest possible heat pad you'll ever need.

I'd then cover the whole floor with a 1/8" or thinner piece of Foamed PVC. This will make for an easier to clean floor and one that will withstand urates and minor water spills.

The best part is that Foamed PVC has conductive properties and anti-combustive properties. In laymans terms that means it will spread the heat more gradually AND be safe.

The PVC floor will also be easily replaced if it does go bad with minimal "down time" to the cage.

Foamed PVC is readily available at sign or plastic shops.