Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When doing my rack. Should I put the heat tape down the back of the rack? I for some reason just don't see a setup like that giving enough heat for a BP. But thats the way I keep seeing it described. Ive never worked with heattape before. Always heat pads, But thats expensive nowadays. Can anyone show me a good picture or a link of how you/someone heat your BP rack?

Thanks!
-----
"Stupider.....like a FOX!!" -Homer Simpson

Because nobody has your setup. Nobody has your room temperature exactly, nobody has your air pressure, nobody has the exact same room insulation. I mean, if I told you that the rack would NOT heat up enough with heat tape down the back, and you decided to put it on each shelf and you lived in Arizona, bad things would happen. If you cooked all your BP's because of my advice, you'd want to come kill me, nes pas?

Moral: Heat tape down the back works in some cases (most actually) and heat tape down the back doesn't work in some cases (rare). That's the whole point about having quality thermostats, quality cage design, and a good, isolated/insulated reptile room. Its also why EVERY SINGLE REPTILE BOOK tells you to set up your cages well in advance and monitor the temperature gradients 2 weeks BEFORE you put a snake in them. Point is, don't worry how everyone else does it. The temperature gradient numbers are everywhere out there (90-92F hot spot --- 80-85F cool end) so just build something that acheives that in YOUR situation.

Makes sense, don't you think?
-----

If you are building a closed type rack (only one of the smaller ends of the boxes exposed, rack not much wider than the boxes) and out of something fairly thick with good insulating characteristics I would expect that 11" heat tape down the back of each box would be fine.

I have a closed rack out of 3/4 melamine (heavy!) with the 28 quart boxes and 11" heat tape down the back is more than enough in my 60's-70's deg basement. I have thermostats on it and they turn off regularly.

I'm about to build a new closed rack with the 35" tubs long way in and 1.5" hollow core doors. I'll post how it works out with the 11" heat tape down the back. I expect it will be a little cool at the front but that is what I'm looking for (a nice gradient). In addition to providing the lower temps in the front that the snakes can select if they need (may be beneficial at some points in breeding) I’m thinking this longer than normal design may protect me somewhat from overheating in the event of a thermostat problem. That all depends on a low background temp which I have and you may not.

I had the same concern when I installed my 11" heat tape up the back of the same style rack your using. It took over 3 days to get to 90deg F!!!! I thought it wouldn't work but after 3 days the surrounding cage got to 90deg and everything's fine. The rack can hit over 100deg F if you don't watch it. Make sure you use a thermostat.

Dave