need suggestion on how to heat cage

[bestcrickets]

ok, i just build 2 cages over the weekend that are going to house my 6' hypo female and a 4' normal male (one in each). im planning on using 11" flex watt to heat half of the cage, but i read in a few places that you need to place something over the flex watt to keep your snake from getting burned or electricuted. the cage is made from 3/4" melamine and is 4' wide x 2' deep x 20" high. i already have the flex watt, temp gage, and a thermostat ready. just need a suggestions on how to keep my snakes from coming in direct contant with the heat tape. if anyone can post pics on how they set theres up that would be awesome. thanx

[AnthonySzum]

Re: need suggestion on how to heat cage

Thats why you have the t-stat. To control the temp so your snake won't get burned

[Morgans Boas]

Re: need suggestion on how to heat cage

Flex-watt shouldn't be inside the cage for a couple of reasons .
> contact of the snake - too hot, even with a thermostat.
> It should not have any way for water to spill on it , or urates/stools included .

One idea is to have a false floor (1/4" sheet of plastic) with the flex-watt in between . Two issues with that is that you must have it sealed 100% . And their needs to be a gap for airspace somehow, as well as ventalation . Yhis can be difficult to build properly.

Another idea is to cut out a space in your floor of the cage , then apply the plastic false floor -- the flex-watt is adhered underneath to the area that you cut out of the melamime .

I use Pro-Products radient heat panels in all of my melamime cages . Since flex-watt is cheap , you might change your mind. I don't think that the flex-watt is going to heat the entire melamime cage properly, unless your room is real close to 80 degrees or more - or if you have multiple cages stacked together. Flex-watt is much more useful with plastic caging.

[bestcrickets]

Re: need suggestion on how to heat cage

thats pretty much what i read about flex watt. i currently have a snake rack that is heated with flex watt. my two new cages are going on top of the snake rack. the room temp is more like 75 degrees in the winter and maybe 85 in the summer. i might just go buy some plexi glass with some type of spacers and install it over the heat tape. if anyone has any other suggestions please post them up.

[Morgans Boas]

Re: need suggestion on how to heat cage

Plexi-glass is going to be real expensive . You might look up a local plastic manufacturing company . The one here sells sheets of any type, thickness, and color plastic for less than what Plexi-glass is going to cost . Make sure it is well sealed from internal moisture - and you are probably going to need to drill holes in the melamime floor for ventilation to reduce the risk of overheating - which can cause a fire .