How to heat a wooden tank?

What is the best way to heat a wooden tank for ball pythons?

A very small fireplace.



Wood can be a bit tricky. There are heat mats that are designed to go inside the enclosure but I would still be hesitant of using them. I have also seen some use a material like pvc or plexi to form a cage bottom and seal it to the cage walls with a uth under it. Of course this can be a real pain if the uth fails. Even if you don't put a uth in the cage it may be wise to put something like a sheet of pvc or plexi so the cage is easier to clean and the movements doing soak into the wood.

If it were me I think I would try a rhp first. I have seen many use these and they seem to work well in a wood cage. The wood cage seems to be able to hold the heat in well so the rhp can give you both the hotspot and ambient temps.

I second a RHP. Provides safe and reliable heat. I honestly hope that in the future heat tape is phased out. The concept of a hot spot is slowly becoming outdated and unnecessary given more reliable heating devices and measuring tools.

Rhp's are awesome but if you want belly heat I would use a Kane heat mat. The Kane mat is designed to be used in enclosures, they are water proof and really heavy duty. They are even used outside in barns and such for animals. I use a rhp and Kane mat inside my vision v400 cage and its the perfect combination for my weather conditions. The only thing is that the Kane smallest size is 18x18 so your tank would have to be around 3x2 or 4x2 or bigger, anything smaller and you wouldn't have much of a cool spot left.