Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Was at Lowes tonight and looked at the 48' rope light package I purchased last month. 48 feet for $30.

That's cheaper than heat cable but I'm not sure how it compared in wattage and/or efficiency.
-----
Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

I know that when I ran rope lighting all around the perimeter of the ceiling in my guitars/snakes/computer room, after leaving all that rope on for an hour or so, my room got uncomfortably hot. I would guess it at least got up to 85 or 90, and thats in an open space. If you were to enclose the rope in conduit like people have suggested, I see some potential melting issues or heat problems. I'd keep an eye on it for a 3 or 4 hour test run before exposing my reptiles to that kind of a heating system.
I would think that maybe if you could put it on a dimmer though, that would give you great control. I bought my rope light from Target on clearance, so I have blue, purple, and some yellow.
-----
Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

I gather all of the rope light available today is much lower wattage than the stuff that became available a few years back.

I just took some surface temps of mine and the highest reading I got right over a bulb was 100.7*, should be pretty safe. I'm guessing the product you used would have been much higher.

But after considering your post I agree that enclosing the rope light maybe isn't the best idea. If I needed a 24 hour heat source I'd just use the red product.
-----
Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

>>I gather all of the rope light available today is much lower wattage than the stuff that became available a few years back.
>>
>>I just took some surface temps of mine and the highest reading I got right over a bulb was 100.7*, should be pretty safe. I'm guessing the product you used would have been much higher.
>>
>>But after considering your post I agree that enclosing the rope light maybe isn't the best idea. If I needed a 24 hour heat source I'd just use the red product.
>>-----
>>Current snakes:
>>
>>0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)
>>
>>3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)
>>
>>2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)
>>
>>3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

I might still try this, i would of course use a t-stat. Clint
-----
0.1 Colombian Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "Honey"
1.0 Hogg Isle Boa-(Boa Constrictor Imperator) "un-named"
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa-(Epicrates Cenchria) "Houdini"
0.1 Argentine Boa-(Boa Constrictor Occidentalis) "Lacie"
0.0.2 Green Tree Python-(Morelia Viridis)Biak type-"Smog" & Sorong type- "un-named"

It was a few years ago, maybe 2 or 3, but I'll go home tonite, fire my lights up and get a surface reading after an hour or so. I bought them after we moved into our house, and we've only been there about 3 years tops.
-----
Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

I measured my blue rope light, and got 100 degrees farenheit on the thermometer touching the surface of the rope.
Definitely not something I would want to enclose in a tubular space without a good rheostat/dimmer on it.
-----
Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"