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I am building a 4' X 2' cage for my bps. It will be all wood except glass doors on the front. I am trying to get away from dome lamps, what would the best way to heat this be? Any cool ideas, let me hear them.
Thanks All

>>I am building a 4' X 2' cage for my bps. It will be all wood except glass doors on the front. I am trying to get away from dome lamps, what would the best way to heat this be? Any cool ideas, let me hear them.
>>Thanks All

How do you plan to make the cage floor? It would be best to use belly heat but it would take too much for the heat to get through the wood. You might consider routing a strip for heat tape and then covering the bottom with a piece of formica or something similar. You also might consider a heat panel.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

The wood for the floor is too thick to heat from below it. It is pressure treated 3/4". I was thinking about buying a 4 x 2 shallow sterilite or something of the sort so i could put tape on top of the wood and below that ( this would also make cleaning much easier) the back panel is that wood that has a bunch of holes in it ( i forget what they call it) i thought about putting the tape against that and they would have rear heat. I think the plastic would work better though. What is formica?

Thanks

>>What is formica?

It's what most kitchen and bath counter tops are covered with. It's inexpensive, easy to clean and easy to heat through.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

They would sell that at Lowes right? Also, I am not very familiar with heat tape, should i put it only under half or under the whole thing?
Thanks

>>They would sell that at Lowes right? Also, I am not very familiar with heat tape, should i put it only under half or under the whole thing?
>>Thanks

Yes. I would go to the cage building forum. You can get some good ideas as well as pictures.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

One last question, would the formica be a better choice over the tub?

Thanks a lot Jay youve been a great help.

>>One last question, would the formica be a better choice over the tub?
>>
>>Thanks a lot Jay youve been a great help.

I'm confused. Are you building a rack to hold tubs or a large cage to hold a single reptile? Where does the tub come in?
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Im building a large cage, in a previous reply i mentioned i was thinking about getting a 4 x 2 sterilite that is very shallow so i could put heat tape inside the cage on top of the wood, then the tub on top of the tape with the bedding and all that jazz in the tub, which would aslo make cleaning easier,

>>Im building a large cage, in a previous reply i mentioned i was thinking about getting a 4 x 2 sterilite that is very shallow so i could put heat tape inside the cage on top of the wood, then the tub on top of the tape with the bedding and all that jazz in the tub, which would aslo make cleaning easier,

I think that would not be the best option. Here's what you do:

Cage bottom: Router a strip about 4" wide - the width of heat tape. You can find this all over the place in the supplies section. Do this the length of the back or you can put a larger piece on one of the ends. Glue the tape in place and then cover with formica. Now, the snake is protected and cleanup is easier. Make sure there is a gap between the formica and heat tape.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Awesome, thats what i will do, what type of thermostat do you use/recommend, I have 2 BAH thermostats, but i am not going to use those with heat tape because i just dont trust those well enough.

>>Awesome, thats what i will do, what type of thermostat do you use/recommend, I have 2 BAH thermostats, but i am not going to use those with heat tape because i just dont trust those well enough.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

i have an idea. build the wood enclosure as you stated, then lay flexwatt(heat tape) or an uth on the hot end, and tile over it with ceramic floor tile(transmits heat very well). with the uth, you may need to "countersink" it so it would be flush. that would solve your problem, be very attractive, and be easy to clean. by the way, whats your budget for this?
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