Under Tank Heating: What's best for PVC Cages?

[Jessicat]

Hey all, I'm looking for some recommendations for my 4' x 2' x 1' PVC enclosure; it's got 3 dividers [4 rooms] and will be housing my Leopard Geckos. What works best for under tank heating? Flexwatt? Ultratherm? No name brand? Something else? Should it be one piece or one for each room?
I'll be moving into my own place soon and the reptiles will have their own room [yay!], I need to make sure it has it's own thermostat, but it'll probably be kept an ambient 24C/75F.
Also, with these enclosures, do they need additional light? Seems a little dark inside but I dunno if that would bother them or stress them out.
Any help/suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

[el8ch]

Hey There!

We have kept Leos and Ball Pythons in PVC's (PowerHouse Displays) before and used a solid strip of flexwatt across the back underside of the enclosure. With our balls we used 11" and the Leos we used 4", both need to be controlled by a thermostat as the heat tape can reach 120 degrees plus if unregulated.

Lighting is up to you, we do not keep out leos under UVB however many say you should. If you feel the need you can rig enclosed ballasts in the roof of your enclosure to provide lighting, we have our reptile rooms on a timer and the lighing from the rooms gives enough light inside of the PVC's.

[kitedemon]

Flexwatt heat cable ultratherms all will work but just remember ultratherms are not designed to get overly hot so depending on your room conditions and the enclosure and the necessary temps required it may not be hot enough.

[Tfpets]

^Agree 100% with both posts above! ^

[Jessicat]

Flexwatt heat cable ultratherms all will work but just remember ultratherms are not designed to get overly hot so depending on your room conditions and the enclosure and the necessary temps required it may not be hot enough.

I've heard Ultratherms are good because they don't get that hot [Leos only need a hot spot of 90F tops], and because the room will be theirs I won't have a problem keeping the ambient temps where they should be.

Hey There!

We have kept Leos and Ball Pythons in PVC's (PowerHouse Displays) before and used a solid strip of flexwatt across the back underside of the enclosure. With our balls we used 11" and the Leos we used 4", both need to be controlled by a thermostat as the heat tape can reach 120 degrees plus if unregulated.

Lighting is up to you, we do not keep out leos under UVB however many say you should. If you feel the need you can rig enclosed ballasts in the roof of your enclosure to provide lighting, we have our reptile rooms on a timer and the lighing from the rooms gives enough light inside of the PVC's.

The 4" tape is big enough for them? I had thought it would be too small. And it's on the outside of the enclosure?
There's a small window in the room, and if that's not enough I need to figure out how to keep the lights on a timer, that would be a plus [because I'm forgetful and might not remember to turn on/off the lights at the right times ^^;]
Ah, I've been meaning to figure out the thermostat issue; if it's just one piece of heat tape then I'd only need one thermostat right? I have another PVC enclosure that will have my Jungle Carpet Python in it and was wondering if there's a thermostat out there that can monitor 2 different temps [and not cost an arm and a leg XD]