Heat Tape - Drowning in a sea of information

So heres the thing. I need heat tape for a rack that I just built(no snakes moved to it yet). Iv been avoiding it because it seems like a really scary process and every time I look for information, I feel like I just get lost. I need 5 pieces of the 11" wide from what iv figured out. Now ordering off Bigapple, it would cost 65 bucks with the tape, connecters, and insulators. That seems like the simplest way to do it but also seems a little expensive. Plus I would have 5 power cords which would suck. Is there any easier/cheaper way to do this? Im a pretty big noob when it comes to heat tape. Help!

I also know that I probably don't want to wire it myself. That seems even scarier. lol

You could just run one connected strip of it down the rack if you left yourself slots for it. Thats what most people do, and thats how all my racks are heated that have belly heat.

Agreed having more than 1 connection on a rack runs the risk of not knowing if one or more should loose power/faulty. Risking Ris or burns. Having one connection you will quickly find out of you have a problem. Plus one plug compared to more I'd choose 1 all day long.

Look at Reptile Basics. They have a FAQ section with good info on this. They offer to wire it for you if that is your choice. There are also many threads here with different ways to do it.

Call reptile basic's and talk to Rich. He will gladly answer an questions and help get your heat tape ready for use....http://www.reptilebasics.com/index.php?p=home

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Originally Posted by dragonboy4578

Call reptile basic's and talk to Rich. He will gladly answer an questions and help get your heat tape ready for use....http://www.reptilebasics.com/index.php?p=home

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I 2nd, I order all my heat tape from Rich and have never had a problem. He is also very knowledgeable about Flexwatt and a overall friendly helpful person, I'd recommend calling him for more info.

As far as expenses: I priced out ordering flexwatt for my incubator project, and RBI had the best prices that I could find.

Just get the heat tape, you can get everything else for ~$5. It will be more secure if you solder and electrical tape it too. The clips are crap IMO.

Here is a thread I did on wiring flexwatt yourself. I actually just wired my first thermostat last night and that was pretty simple too! Trust me, I'm a 23 year old girl that never soldered a thing in her life, didn't even know what a soldering iron was, but I did it all myself!

Here ya go
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...xwatt-yourself