Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had heat tape under the cage , it melted a hole in the bottom of the cage. Can I use an under the tank heat pad hooked up to a dimmer switch? The "meltdown" is my fault for laying the cage directly on the heat tape! suggestions please. Thanks in advance....... Dave

Dave I also had trouble heating my Visions.

I had the 6 footers and the way I heated them, which was bought/derived from the way Peter Watson did it, is with the large size Kane Heat Mats.
They are meant for outdoor use for pigs/swine during the winter and are very durable.
They are also expensive at about $130 each in this size I have.

Sorry but that's all I can tell you right now..
I wasn't too happy with the visions and having to buy extra heat in different forms...
I will stick with my trusted Boaphiles from now on.

Thanks - take care - Joe
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'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin
Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo

How are your results different in regards to heating boaphiles vs. visions. Doesn't Jeff use low-wattage heat tape to heat his cages? Just curious, never used them. Thanks. Take care

Paul

yep!
I didn't like the idea of buying and installing and regulating a few different heat sources... and keeping up humidity was dang near impossible through reasonable methods..

The Boaphile Plastics with the low wattage heat installed and light installed are my favorite - so simple, so efficient, plug and play! free shipping, choice of colors, choice of hardware, custom heat, convenient light, etc., etc., etc
I think they are great and have stacks of them, along with racks as well.
It was also the size of the Visions that made it harder - they were the deep 6 footers

But I still swear by Boaphile and still buy and will buy.. lol

thanks - Joe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

Dave,
. I heat my Vision cages with Flexwatt heat tape under them. As you have discovered this product gets way too hot when used at full power. I control the temperature with a proportional thermostat AND a dimmer switch. If you set the dimmer and thermostat to the right levels you have protection from fire and overheating your animals. There have been posts here in the past about thermostats failing and killing prized aniumals. There have also been house fires caused by reptile heating systems. IMO all reptile heating systems should be set up so that a mistake or failure does not kill the animals or start a fire.
Jeff

>>I had heat tape under the cage , it melted a hole in the bottom of the cage. Can I use an under the tank heat pad hooked up to a dimmer switch? The "meltdown" is my fault for laying the cage directly on the heat tape! suggestions please. Thanks in advance....... Dave

I've had good success heating my visions with heat panels. There are a number of good venders of them including bigapple. Using these in conjunction with helix thermostats has worked great.