Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok... I'll try to make this as short as possible... I posted a message a few threads back, after posting in the cage/habitat forum and receiving no response. If you read those threads, you'll get an idea of my dilemma. Basically, I am making a rack to house 2 corn snakes and 2 ball pythons. I would rather not build two racks, due to lack of space.
I was looking to possibly use heat cable to heat the levels on the rack... using more cable for the balls, and less for the corns, housing the corns on the lower shelves, etc. The rack we're building will have 7 shelves (and at the rate I'm going, I won't have a problem filling them), but we'll only be using 4 for the time being. I have gotten some great advice from Chris, who told me to repost, and title as a heating question, in hopes one of you experts out there can help me. (Mark G. )
If I use heat cable, can I get by with one thermostat if I add/remove loops for the different levels? And, I would like to know if any of you have experience with the Alife Thermostat or the ZooMed 500R... and which would be a better bet for my situation...? This post is long, and rather vague... but, if you read the other posts a few threads down, it will give you an idea of the advice I received from Chris.
Thank you all so much, in advance!
Mindy

Either Flexwatt or the new heat cables can work for you. In general, you will need to use more for the ball pythons (or more loops of the heat cable under the ball python tubs) than for the cornsnakes. Remember, BPs are larger and need more surface area heated than even an adult cornsnake.

You know, whatever advice I give, please remember that I tinker with all sorts of ideas with racks. Some work great, others not so great. One thing I've found though is that it is often easier and cheaper in the long run to buy ready-made racks. Those Nature's Spirit racks are really great for BPs. To get more heat, you can simply run more Flexwatt up the sides of the rack or else do what I do and run heat cable in and out the shelves where the boxes do not fill the slot. This warms the shelf which conducts heat to the box nicely. Cheap, easy, and you have your BP rack separate from your cornsnake rack.

OK, if still building a rack, here is an idea. With heat cable, it is a nice idea to line the shelves with a piece of 1/4" thick expanded foam PVC which you can get at sign shops or through plastics outlets like www.usplastics.com. Then you get a Dremel router set, pencil a pattern on the plastic for the heat cable tracing, then dremel away. It works really well, as the plastic cuts like butter. The box will slide easily over the plastic and not bind on the heat cable.

That is just one idea that worked for me. I tried on melamine without the plastic liner, but melamine is so hard on the router that I gave up. You can also use cheap 1/4" hardboard from Home Depot if you don't want to pay the $$ for the plastic liner. The hardboard also cuts very easily with a router.

Also, check out Animal Plastics (I think it is www.wantapet.com). Their racks are great. I'm waiting for the Sterilite box racks that they are working on. Rubbermaid has stopped all production on boxes, so don't buy a rack that you need to go out and find Rubbermaids for.

Good luck.

Thank you Mark!
I will look into the racks you suggested.
I appreciate you taking your time to respond!
Mindy