Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any of your baby racks or would the 3in heat tape be best?

3in flexwatt is the tried and true method, but new things are improving on prior bests.
Before you try it on any animals, hook it up to a rack like you want, put a helix DBS 1000 or Herpstat thermostat on and watch the temps to see if it does what you need. The Herpstat has a high and low function so you can check it over a 24hr period (or longer).

and I think it is a horrible product sorry to the folks at Zoo Med but the stuff just does not heat evenly. You will have some spots that are somewhat hot and some that have no heat at all. It also probably will not reach the temperatures you want. I tried it and did not like it as you can see. I would stick with heat tape, its the best stuff in my opinion.

There is a blue mark on all the Zoo Med heat cables about 6.5 feet from the outlet. There is NO heat between the plug and this mark. Check your cable again. Sometimes it helps to read the directions where it mentions the "cold lead" on the cable.
The heat begins immediatley after the blue mark. This would solve your dilemma. Zoo Med does this to allow you to plug the cable in and then get it into your cage or rack without the worry of having hot cable outside of your unit. It is a great idea. I have a rack with another brand of heat cable that does not have this feature, so I have a couple feet of heated cable outside my rack. The 50 watt or 100 watt Zoo Med cable would work great for your rack. As mentioned, be sure to hook it to a rheostat or quality thermostat. Zoo Med also makes a nice 500 watt rheostat that works great. Also, there is always a chance that anything electrical may be defective. There is a reason Zoo Med has been around so long. They were the first and they are the innovators in the reptile industry. If you have a faulty product from them, let them know. They have the best guarantee (and the best products) in the business. I've had Zoo Med under tank heaters running non-stop in a few of my cages for 7 years. No problems.

Phil Goss

I understand directions perfectly, so do no under estimate my intelligence. I explained my experience with the heat rope, now if yours worked differently good for you, mine didnt.

My animals are worth more to me then ZooMed products.
You get what you pay for most times,sadly their products and performance are less then reliable.

M/

I am just curious as to what brand you recommend? Obviously Zoo Med does not make some higher end products for the advanced enthusiast. They do not make a thermostat to compete with Helix, etc... They do have the best bulbs on the market. Bulbs that actually release UVB. I have a digital ultraviolet radiometer and I have done the test. I have compared Zoo Med bulbs to Exo-Terra, T-Rex, and ESU bulbs. Zoo Med bulbs will also release UVB for one year before they really begin to lose it. Their new linear 10.0 UVB releases UVB a full 20" from the bulb (as compared to no more than 5" from any of the other linear bulbs). Granted boas do not need UVB bulbs, this demonstrates the quality control used by Zoo-Med.

Phil Goss

because I didn't have rack and was desperate.

It got very hot. I was contstantly checking the temps, and the
bottom of the cages to make sure nothing was getting
melted.

It worked fine for me, but next year I will have a rack and a
better heating system in place. I've had one of their heating
pads overheat before and have very little confidence in their
products...

Yup the zoomed cable is lacking.. Would be a great product if it heated well.. Also I agree with the gentleman about the bulbs.. Their UV lighting is pretty darn good...
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