Radiant heat panel with glass cage?

So right now my BP is in a 20 long glass terrarium with a heat pad underneath (with a thermostat) and a ceramic heat emitter on top. I don't have a problem with the humidity (50-70% depending on how full the water bowl is) and the temps are 83 on the cool side and around 87-90 right above the heat pad inside the hot hide.

Now I want to start to upgrade him and plan on getting a pvc enclosure from apcages (the T3 36x24) in the future but for right now, if it ain't broke don't fix it right? I want to upgrade things more one at the time and am thinking the radiant heat panel first (with another thermostat of course). So could I just sit it on top of the screen cage for now? How do you go about installing one in a pvc cage?

My brother and I just made a custom lid for an exo terra for this purpose. For a RHP to work effecively, it must be installed inside the cage. They do not work well sitting on top of screen or through porous tops.

If you wanted to go cheap, buy a 1/4" piece of polypropylene and attach the RHP to the underside. You can then use a soldering iron to melt holes through the areas not covered by the heat panel.

To attach an RHP inside any cage, there are usually two screw spots where you screen it into the top of the cage.

Also, in my opinion, if you are going to upgrade a ball python to a "final" PVC enclosure from AP: Go for the T10. They are only $20 more than a T3 right now and you gain an extra 12" in length and 3" in height. While ball pythons do not really use height, that extra 3" is pretty handle from ease of cleaning cages and giving you some extra room for the RHP. The extra length is pretty nice for assistance is making a heat gradient and if your BP grows larger (say 2000+ grams), most of that 3' will be taken up by hides large enough for your BP.

suggestion, rather than try to attach the heat panel to the tank just wait till you get the cage from AP. order the cage what ever size you choose and have the heat panel shipped to AP they will install it and router a channel for the wires. its to go way i have 5 AP t8's.....Kirk

I definitely second the AP install for your radiant heat panel. They do a phenomenal job mounting them. I also highly recommend proheat RHPs since they are currently the only panels that are certified. I have 6 AP enclosures with proheat panels and I couldn't be happier. I've mounted the panels myself in second hand enclosures, and I can't come close to AP's work.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

It's easy enough to mount a rhp to a screen lid; all you need is some wood or something you can screw into on top, and then stick the screws right through the screen. But if you have satisfactory temps and humidity with your current setup, there's no reason to change it.

I had no idea they could do that! I've been creeping on their site but only saw the option for flexwatt (which I was planning on getting, I keep my apartment freezing lol...) so I guess the next question would be suggestions on where to get a good rhp? Is proheat really good? I tried looking at their website but I was really confused as to how you like add it to your cart and purchase....I guess I should just contact them and ask about sending it to apcages (after contacting them first)?

And I hear what you guys are saying, I think I'll leave the setup as it is for now. I do plan on getting a pvc cage because my guy will eventually outgrow the 20 long he's in so an upgrade in the future is in order at some point but I'll just go through apcages all the way I guess!