Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Questions for experienced Rack builders

I am planning a rack, rack will be housed in spare bedroom with temps between 70-75 degrees

the design of this rack utilizes melamine sheeting from lowes that is 16" wide

3 shelves will house sweater boxes and the other 3 shelves will use a single 27qt blanket box

1. Belly heat or Back heat using flex watt was thinking of using two 11" strips attached to plastic begboard backing (is this overkill)

2. joints would be glued and sealed with silicon

3. Is it necessary to use a rheostat wired to outlets with a ranco temp controller

my plan is similar to these

here is a picture of my plans

Thinking of moving recessed panel to bottom row and increasing shelf with allowing more container space
-----
Rich Wakeland
Cornology

Not an expert, but...

I just finished a rack using sterilite 27q boxes and 11" flex watt. (Belly heat)
I ran it for a little while without rheo or thermostat and I saw temp of 110 before I stopped.

As far as the Ranco goes, it just seems to me the rheostat is not a bad idea.

it's refreshing to see someone doing there homework.i don't want to change your plans but you may want to consider this,sterilite makes a 41,27 and 12qt. tubs that are the same height.that means in a appox. 35" shelf opening you would have 3 options on each shelf: A) one 41qt. (sideways)
B) one 27qt. and one 12qt.
C) three 12 qt.
it gives a lot of options if needed,you didn't mention what you planned on housing.back vs belly heat,you'll find many opinions in past posts.what does heat naturally do? does it rise or go sideways.to me back heat is like heating your house in the winter with a window open,it can be done but it's not very efficent.you can see why mfgs. use it,it's less labor intensive,only one electrical connection.you'll have to use 3-4 more times electricity than with belly heat,and have less options.with belly heat you can adjust the humidity in each tub by moving the water dish over the heat tape.to me back heat is not a responsible use of energy.some people use dimmers with thermostats,but it's not necessary.personally i wouldn't buy a $75 thermostat and hook it up to a $5 switch.have fun!

TWH, I appreciate your input as for what I am going to house it will be cornsnakes and possibly ball pythons was thinking of using two heat zones but havent decided yet still researching heating requirements for both corns and balls hopeful the range is overlapping so i can just have one heat zone powered by one ranco

would 4" flexwatt be sufficent for belly heat want to creat a nice thermal gradient

it seems that 11" flex on a 16" wide shelf is over kill

-----
Rich Wakeland
Cornology

...........11" is definately overkill.the 10 level rack that i have uses 3" six watt heat tape.i plugged it in directly to a wall socket and checked it in the mourning and the hottest level (top) was 112 degrees (room temp was 68 degrees).even in the unlikely event of the thermostat failing and going wide open the animals are still safe. also i should mention that i put in 3/4 " ridgid foamboard insulation underneath and on the back.the 3" also comes in 10 watt per foot.whatever heat tape you use i would give it a "dry run" before you house the animals just to see were your at.there's a couple of ways to install belly heat tape.you could lay it on the shelf and then cover it with metal tape,this protects the heat tape from the tub going in and out and spreads out the heat,the draw back is that will raise the back of the tub slightly.it depends on how tight you want the tub shelf fit.the other way is to route in a channel the width of the heat tape,then there's no wear on the heat tape.keep in mind that melamine will expand slightly with heat and high humditiy.if you have not yet purchased heat tape i would recommend you go to the classifieds,then heat,cages etc. and look for scott michaels/serpent city.he has the best prices that i could find and also has a lot of experience with heat tape applications,plus he's a vet and you can pick his brain.have fun and give me a holler if i can help in any way.

..........i forgot to mention that i house kings,milks,rosy's and a ball python in the same rack.i keep the ball,rosy's and females in the upper (warmer)levels,they all seem to do fine.i like aspen for spot cleaning,but it acts as a layer of insulation so for the ball and rosy's i use newspaper.sometimes i think we over think temps,pleasing ourselfs not the snakes.IMNSHO keep it light,make it fun!