Building my first HOmemade enclosure.

Im building my first homemade enclosure for my new boa. It is made of melamine boards and was wondering if i could put my flex-watt stright on the melamine and not worry about it. It will obviously be controlled by a thermostat so no problomes there. Just wasnt sure if I could lay it on the melamine and not worry about the snake getting burnt or anything.

do you mean on the inside or outside of the enclosure? It should be outside and i have heard that melamine is a pretty good insulator so I would test it to make sure it gets warm enough inside of there. Good luck.

On the Inside of the tank. Under his bedding and hide.

I was thinking of using a Ultratherm Undertank Heater here. http://www.reptilebasics.com/ultrath...ter-uth-11-x11

it should definitely be outside the enclosure, hence the "under tank heater". If there was a short or power surge, there would be no protection for your snake. That said, check out the DIY forum because I know that there have been several others that have used melamine before and I read at least one thread that broke down the hole process. Sorry that I don't have the link handy but I'm sure you could find it easily.

There is only one type of UTH that is safe inside that is a Kane. They are cost prohibitive however. I would suggest not using melamine at all or at least not on the floor. PVC (not expanded) makes the best flooring material I have found easily cleaned and easy to heat through (poor insulator).