Flexwatt on surfaces

I've seen pictures of flexwatt on melamine racks...taped onto the surface of them. I thought you tape them onto the bottom of the tub? I guess not? So it's safe to have the flexwatt on a melamine surface right?

Yup, as long as the flexwatt is on a thermostat, it's fine. In a rack system, the flexwatt gets taped to the shelf rather than the bottom of the tub. If you tape it to the bottom of the tub, it would be impossible to pull the tub all the way out of the rack for cleaning without having to unplug it...

You can do it either way. If you only have one tub I'd just tape it to the tub, if its in a rack with other tubs it really needs to be taped to the shelf.

Thermostats all around

I was thinking about that after I posted this lol. I was like if it were taped to the bottom how the heck would you take it out to clean it?! Silly me. I'm hoping to have at least two snakes while living here. Of course I would have rats as well but not many because I am only starting off with one snake. I am going to have my dad build me a small melamine rack for my snake, whatever supplies I might accumulate, and the rats. I will have to figure out how to set up this rack though. I need to draw it out or something. I am not sure how the plugs and stuff would go about. I am sure my dad could help me out too. He's a cabinet maker.

It's going to be in a rack because for one, I like the look..haha and for two I'd rather have the rack now and get more snakes later. ya know? I think it would probably be easier either way to tape it to the shelf anyways right?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AmysAnimals

I was thinking about that after I posted this lol. I was like if it were taped to the bottom how the heck would you take it out to clean it?! Silly me. I'm hoping to have at least two snakes while living here. Of course I would have rats as well but not many because I am only starting off with one snake. I am going to have my dad build me a small melamine rack for my snake, whatever supplies I might accumulate, and the rats. I will have to figure out how to set up this rack though. I need to draw it out or something. I am not sure how the plugs and stuff would go about. I am sure my dad could help me out too. He's a cabinet maker.

It's going to be in a rack because for one, I like the look..haha and for two I'd rather have the rack now and get more snakes later. ya know? I think it would probably be easier either way to tape it to the shelf anyways right?

---

The only issue with having the flexwatt taped to the shelf in a non-rack set up is that you will have to be careful that the tub is actually sitting on the flexwatt. In a rack the tub can't go anywhere else, but it a tub is just sitting on a shelf it could get bumped.

It will be in a rack, just alone. No other snakeys with it. The only person that would really be in there would be me and occasionally my best friend, but she lives far so that is rare that she would come over here...and she has a baby...so yeah lol Basically me and I am super careful with my animals but I do understand accidents happen. It wouldn't be on the top of a shelf it would be in the rack. So it would be unlikely to be bumped unless some one put their hands in there and bumped it. You know what I'm saying?

Do you still think it would be best, since it's an only snake, to tape the flexwatt to the tub instead of the rack?

No. Flex-watt taped to a bottom sags and can cause dramatically uneven temps depending where the T-stat probe is I have recently seen a cracked tank bottom due to flex-watt sagging on the glass.

Okay, so I will tape it to the rack surface. Don't want sagging heat tape and uneven temps!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kitedemon

No. Flex-watt taped to a bottom sags and can cause dramatically uneven temps depending where the T-stat probe is I have recently seen a cracked tank bottom due to flex-watt sagging on the glass.

---

We are talking about tubs... no glass here lol

I don't see how flexwatt will sag if taped properly and if the tub is sitting on a shelf. I can see how this could be an issue with a glass aquarium because the glass doesn't sit on the shelf, but the bottom of a tub does.

You can only tape around the permimiter of the tub if you tape it directly to it gravity does the rest 4 inch and smaller isn't too bad but 11+ sags quite a lot. 17inch FW - 1 inch deflection my tests.