Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just built a rack that holds four fifteen quart sterilite tubs. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to wire it for heat. I am keeping the tops on the sterilites on. Can I run the tape through the back? If I do that, will it keep the tubs warm enough? How can I set it up for bottom heat? if I had the tape on the bottom, I think that the tubs will then have more than half of the bottom covered with heat tape so it wouldn't provide the proper gradient. Also if I do run it through the back, the rack is only about 2 1/2 feet tall, sinse the tape can only be cut in feet, should I just bend it over the top? I guess I'm just worring about providing enough heat if I use back heat. Any assistance would be great, Thanks, Dave.

Sory for the spelling mistake, here are a few pics to demonstrate. Thanks, Dave.

another picture

Last one

you can cut the flexwatt any length you want,those marks are just for referance.make sure to cover the end where the copper strips are located,they will be "hot".electrical tape works fine.for belly heat you only need 3" or 4" wide flexwatt.if you decide to go belly heat you can router in a channel the width of the flexwatt or lay the heat tape on the shelf and cover with metal tape,you can make the metal tape as wide as you want to spread out the heat.i'm not a fan of back heat,it's a waste of electricity and won't work well if your room temp drops below 72 or so degrees.remember heat rises,it doesn't go sideways.i hope this helps.if you go to heat/cages etc. section,look for scott michaels/serpent city,he sells flexwatt and supplies and knows much about it's application.

I agree. I have a rack unit that uses rear heat and it struggles to heat my snakes. This weekend, I'm going to router out a channel and install 4" Flexwatt for belly heat.
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Jay A. Martin

I cut the heat tape in half and put half of the foot long heat tape on each shelf. It works great.