DIY rack question

[Swiftstar]

Hello all, in the process of making a snake rack out of a pallet... As I'm deciding to use heat mats instead of tape, do you just cellotape it to the bottom of the tub? Does this not melt it.. Assuming you make a very small gap between the wood and tub for heat to escape? Just don't want it melting the tub and burning my snake, obviously I do have a thermostat a pulse proportional one. I'm making a rack because I currently have 3 4ft vivs and I want to get to more bps but the space is limited and cleaning process is long. Any tips etc be pleased to hear them before I make a start. Oh and one last thing do you treat the wood with anything like heat resistant stuff idk aha Will post pics down the line. thanks for any responses (the heatmats will be swell reptiles 20x40cm (40w) ones)

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[piedlover79]

Heat mats will each need thier own thermostat which is going to get expensive. The norm is to attach your heat source to the rack and slide the tub on top. Best to have a rack with a routered slot for the heat tape so the tub doesn't rub.

[Swiftstar]

Thanks for the reply & yeah but when I see videos I see the mat either attached to the bottom of the tub or just sealed to the wood and tub placed on top. But surely this would melt plastic? I mean the heat mats I had before in the vivs where only 20w and got really hot when I set the thermostat at 30c for them.. Just curios as to why some people's don't melt thought there may be a solution

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[chakup]

Temp should only be 90 at hot spot, so heat mat should max 95ish. Not that hot. Human body 98.6, a warm summer day, hot water it hotter and won't melt it. It's fine.

[Swiftstar]

Alright, cheers for that Probably should've used heat tape but didn't think.. and ordered the mats so; shall see how it goes thanks again

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[AKA Dave]

Heat mats will each need thier own thermostat which is going to get expensive. The norm is to attach your heat source to the rack and slide the tub on top. Best to have a rack with a routered slot for the heat tape so the tub
doesn't rub.

While I agree that one piece of heat tape would be ideal, you can use one thermostat for individual UTHs. The only catch is that they all need to be the same wattage. If you plug them into a power strip and then plug the strip into the thermostat you're in business. One piece of heat tape would be so much cheaper though.


Dave

[Swiftstar]

Cheers for that tip Shall see how it goes

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[Aste88]

As said, as long as the wattage is the same (actually the ratio between surface and watts) you can use power strips. EU won't allow heat tape afaik so we always use pads like that here.

Don't tape them to the tub but to the shelf underneath, it'll be very annoying when you have to wash the tub otherwise.

Also the thermostat probe needs to be taped to the heat mat, so if you set 30c that's the max temperature it'll get. Then you measure the hotspot, possibly with a temp gun, and raise the thermostat till you reach the right temp.

[Swiftstar]

Alright that's great, what do you guys use for tub size is 50litres okay? I brought to of them for 16.99each but if need be I will up the size down the line lemme upload a pic of tub with snake in it lol

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[Swiftstar]

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