I'm in the process of building a larger enclosure for my female BP (about 5') and I'm going slow and making sure I'm certain of each step before I jump to the next. Currently I have 5 sides cut and 4 assembled (bottom, back, and sides) with 48"x18"x18" as my dimensions, built from 3/4" melamine. To this I'll be adding some one-by across the bottom front as a litter dam and mount point for a swing down door made by the same one-by framed to hold probably two pieces of plexiglass.

Heat is planned to be provided by 11" flexwatt in the 18-24" length range. I've had people I don't believe know what they're doing say that mounting it to the underside of 3/4" melamine will be fine, and someone I have greater faith in say that the melamine is too thick for enough heat to get through reliably. That person suggested putting it inside with a thin piece of plywood or material like the pegboard without the holes on top of it. I've read elsewhere that sandwiching the flexwatt can cause heat problems but if it's on a dimmer I'm not sure that's true.

My plan with the regulation is to put it on a dimmer switch set to provide a belly heat basking area of 90F and combine that with a simple on/off thermostat set at 91F as a security measure.

Originally I'd thought to put it under some vinyl adhesive tile but it was pointed out that if it got too hot it could give off noxious fumes.


I'm also going to use a small light to illuminate the cage to make it easier to see into and allow for better day/night regulation. I work nights and the cage location is in the basement so there's some weak ambient light that's difficult to properly regulate, and then I of course turn on the lights when I'm down there at night so I don't run into things and curse fluently. A simple curtain to shade the door combined with a light timer will allow me to set the light cycle regardless of what me or the sun want to do. Obviously that's not very important unless I want to breed her, and that's down the road a little, but it's easier to build capabilities in to start with rather than modify to add them later. I'll use a DPDT switch to let me run the lights off the timer, force off, or force on. (I could do that from the timer as well, but I don't want to mount it where it's that easy to reach.)


Basically I'm looking for ideas/opinions on how best to implement heating, and whether it matters at all what kind of lighting I use. Is there a particular spectrum that will help reinforce the day/night cues or should I just shop based on price and ease of mounting where I want it?

Also, I've used the green "carpet" stuff that is like a really heavy felt - I don't remember what it's called - as a substrate before and if at all possible I'd like to do something like that again. It's really nice to be able to just roll it up, mess and all, and drop an extra one in and clean the cage like that, then clean the previous mat later on at my convenience. Anyone know where I could find that stuff in large sizes? It's like halfway between felt and a green "scratch pad" cleaner.