Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does heat cable work well for rack systems?

And who sells rheostats for cheap...zoo med has one but couldn't I pick one up for cheap somewhere?
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Chris Vanderwees
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1.3.0 Bearded Dragons
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Don't know about the heating cable, I use heat tape in my 1 leopard gecko rack, however I do know a thing or 2 about rheostats.

The cheapest and easiest rheostat you can find is a simple plug in light dimmer. All rheostats, whether made for animals or not, simply control the amount of electricity going to a device. In our case, more or less electricity going to a heating device = more or less heat generated. A rheostat allows for manual control of the electricity flow.

For 20$ Can, (I'll bet 10 usd), you can go to Home Depot and get a plug in light dimmer. Just plug your heatpad into the dimmer, and the dimmer into the wall. Use a (good, and preferably digital) thermometer right over the pad and continue adjusting the dimmer over the course of a few hours until your temps are right.

A thermostat, on the other hand, senses the temperature by itself and automatically adjusts the amount of electricity running to the heating device. Thermostats will allow you to pick a temperature and, using a probe connected to the thermostat and placed over the heatpad, will monitor the temp for you. (I always check with a digital thermometer since I don't trust the thermostats.)

Now, about thermostats. I hate the ESU Reptile Thermostat. It was recommended to me by someone on one of these forums, and I used it as part of an incubator. Within 3 weeks of use, it broke and my temp shot up to 110 degrees. I lost 20 leopard gecko eggs, about 1000$ worth of potential income and 20 little lives lost because its a cheap piece of ... pie.

I do like the ZooMed Repti-Therm (maybe its Repti-Temp) 500R. I've used several of these for years without a problem. However, the temperature indicator doesn't actually show degrees, but, rather, shades of color. So you'll need a digital thermometer to verify.

Hope this helps.
Joel
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2.3 Leopard Geckos
0.1 Ball Pythons
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Yes - it works great. You will likely have to cut out the integral thermostat on many heat tapes. If you know how to solder it is easy, but voids any warranty and will be unsafe unless you know how to properly do it. I have tapes running 6 years like this. They are easier to route thru a rack compared to Flexwatt. Use a dimmer or thermostat or both.

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Edited on January 19, 2004 at 15:18:39 by PHGinger.

Hi Mark –

Don’t they still offer pipe heating tape WITHOUT the thermostat? What does Animal Plastics use in their racks? Anyway, it’s funny to see that stuff come back into vogue. I used to use it to heat cages, but discarded most of it a couple of years ago. I still power my homemade incubator with one heat cable that’s performed just fine for over twenty years. Granted, it’s not being operated 24/7, but that incubator has been pressed into additional duty as an infirmary and quarantine facility over the years.

-Joan