Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm looking to build a wooden cabinet w/ 5 cages for my snakes & skink. Will it work to just attach Zoomed UTHs (currently being used in their glass enclosures) to the bottom of each cage (which would also be the ceiling of the cage below them)?
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1.1 Corn snakes Snake Plissken & Abby
1.1 Hog Island Boas Harley & Isaboa
1.3 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 cats Gus & Mena

Some woods like pine and plywood may not fare very well over time with heat directly on the bottom. Melamine on the other hand can withstand heat very well. A much better approach in wood cages, especially if housing tropical animals like boas, is overhead heat. Overhead heat will not only provide a basking spot but also keeps the air temp in the cage warmer than room temp (a must for boas). Plus, you can vary the wattage of the heating devices. Always use a thermostat nevertheless. For cornsnakes you need much less wattage usually.

You have your choice of ceramic heat bulbs (use a wire bulb cage so the animal can't contact the bulb) or spot heat lamps (under 60 watts you don't need a guard) or heat panels (excellent for boas). Use dimmers as needed and a thermostat. For non-light-emitting devices like ceramics and heat panels, a proportional thermostat is the best.
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Mark

Even using bulbs under 60 watts it is still a good idea to use a gaurd.. A burn is not the only worry involved with bulbs. You could have an animal break the bulb and get cut, or even electrocute themselves touching the contacts..
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Randall L Turner Jr.
www.aircapitalconstrictors.com

Thank you very much. What are heat panels? Also, could I use UTHs if I'm using thin melamine shelves for the floors?
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1.1 Corn snakes Snake Plissken & Abby
1.1 Hog Island Boas Harley & Isaboa
1.3 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 cats Gus & Mena