Reptile & Amphibian Forums

an idea came to me during my 7th period today in school. i saw a bookcase, with reasonable space, maybe a 20L in lateral area for each row. i then thought of puttin individual plexi glass doors for each of the rows. i havent made any designs for them yet, and probably wont till i get a bookcase with the dimensions i want. the question is what would the best way to heat the individual rows be, heat tape?? if so does anyone know of a good site i can get instructions for on how to do the wiring and such, also where can i get heat tape?? thanks for taking the time to respond.

Flexwatt is always the most inexpensive way to heat a rack, but I'm not sure how smart it would be to have the Flexwatt in direct contact with your herp. You also have to take into consideration the metal connectors and the extension cord. If your herp has direct contact with the Flexwatt it maybe hard to prevent them from getting around the connection, even if you insulate it well. I'm not sure if you planned to place your animal right on the shelf or in something on the shelf, like a tub. That would be the best way though. Here's the best link for how to wire the Flexwatt I've found
Wiring Flexwatt
Here's links to a few different places that sell Flexwatt.
Bean Farm
Big Apple Herp
The Reptile Source
Good Luck with your project!

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Violette Garcia
www.shakahnsgrove.com (Coming Soon!)
Yes I do need a webmaster.

Hello, I made a cage similar to what you describe. I made it out of a old bathroom cabinet. I put a small 2" piece of trim on the front to hinge the plexi to and removed the back and installed pegboard for airflow. I bought an ultratherm heatpad and taped it to the back of the pegboard and plugged it into a rheostat. It stays at a constant 83 to 85 degrees. Anyway hope this helps, Matt.

These bookshelves will have a thin back that is nailed on. Replace this with something that conducts heat and then run heat tape or heat cable along the back.

The benefit of heat cable is that you can put more near the bottom and less towards the top, and modify this until all your cages have the same thermal characteristics (provided you're keep only one species). This will be harder to do with heat tape.

Also, I recommend using plastic glass track and make double sliding doors. Real glass doors will be cheaper and more escape proof.

so i will belly heat is what i am opting for. I will be using 2 bookcases for the two diff. species. i do think that pegboard idea is good though, so i wont have to drill any holes for air vents. my thought was to run the heat tape under the base of each row, and there is enough height so the heat tape wont be a problem, comin into contact with the herps. i am thinkin of changin the wood for the rows with a thinner peice of plywood, maybe like 3/8.

If you did that you'd have to run the heat tape VERY hot to get the temp to rise up through the wood. I've got a safer idea.

The material coated the bookshelves will not be very water resistant so it's a good idea to cover it with something more durable.

I'd put the heat tape directly on top of each shelf (what will be the floor of each cage) and then cover the entire floor with a think piece of expanded pvc. Expanded PVC conducts heat very well and will be easy to clean.

Plastic pegboard is pretty easy to find. I think it is worth using it for the ease of cleaning.

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so i will belly heat is what i am opting for. I will be using 2 bookcases for the two diff. species. i do think that pegboard idea is good though, so i wont have to drill any holes for air vents. my thought was to run the heat tape under the base of each row, and there is enough height so the heat tape wont be a problem, comin into contact with the herps. i am thinkin of changin the wood for the rows with a thinner peice of plywood, maybe like 3/8.

I built this cage from a cheep walmart bookcase. It came with a cardboard
back, so I replaced that with 1/4" plywood. I put two locks on each
door.(took a while to find a hardware store with eight locks keyed alike) I
could have used the hook and eye screw lock, but housing venomous that
wasnt an option. I wired lights for heat and ran them each to there own
dimmer switch to regulate the heat. My biggest concern was the snakes
getting on the lights, but it hasnt happened yet and its been full of snakes
for 3 months. I have around $150 into the cage. Not to bad I thought for
something so attractive. I have 2 more pics posted showing closer and
different angles.

More Pictures Here

You could also use a substrate such as slate or ceramic tiles. I use tiles in my leo cages & they work well & look very nice. That way you could have the heat source on top of the shelf.
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1.0 Reverse Okeetee Corn snake Fuzzy
1.3.0 leos, Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo (Indy)
0.1.1 frogs Buffy the Cricket Slayer, Butrose Butrose Froggy
1.1.4 firebelly newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Juice Newton, Olivia Newton John & Helmut Newton
1.1.0 cats Gus & Mena