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Well I just lined some heat tape (all pre wired) to a herps cage to test it out, I wanted to know the fullest heat it would give off so I didnt use my rheostat with it. To my surprise after 10 minutes its only warm to the touch but if I kept my finger on it then its not hot at all. I knew it wouldnt be blazing hot but atleast not warm. When used with the rheostat its the same thing. The temp on the heat tape is only about 90 degrees with the rheostat (full setting) and without it its only 110 degrees. Any tips on getting it hotter? I have animals on the way and if I cant heat them then they are turning into repcicles on the first day.

I need to know if I have to replace this or not because the animals wont be to forgiving if the heat isn't good. Is heat tape supposed to be like this?

What are you getting that needs temps hotter than 110? I am not sure what your set up is but this may give you an idea. My rack system is down in my basement, I did a few things with it. I first thought that flex watt would be enough. It was not. So then I got some heat rope, 14ft. I then bought these copper u shape things and nailed them into the sides up and down so that the rope went to one side up and down and then back and then around the other side. This still was not giving me what I needed. I was close. So then I went to home depot and bought some of this pink stira foam instilation and nailed it to the sides the top and the bottom. Finally, got the temps where I needed them, 90-92 on the warm side and 85 to 82 on the cool side. These where 4ft rubbermaids, oh ya and I added a door to it in front to keep the heat in. The basement gets down to 63 degrees but stays warm where they are.

So let me know your set up more and we can think of an idea for yours. Oh one other thing get an infra red thermometer. Your temps may be better than what you think, this way you can measure the temp of the surface and not the air. I have always been told belly heat is better than air temp.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
0.1 Green Burm
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1.0 Green Ananconda

I agree with the other poster.. if 90 deg F isn't enough, then what is?

Also, you can insulate (styrene foam) the cage for better energy retention.

You can add a low watt bulb in each cage to raise the ambient air temp.

You can't re-engineer the resistive carbon heating element in the Flexwatt (is it Flexwatt?), so it looks like you've got to go with the above.

Once the flexwatt is under a cge for a short while it will start to heat to a higher level.. I agree with the fact that you need a temp gun as most thermometers are inaccurate...
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