Converting Old Cabinet into enclosure

So I have an idea to convert an older cabinet on wheels into a enclosure. My only issue is heating? any ideas?

I was thinking UTH but not sure if the heat would work on the bottom of the cabinet. And i know inside is just not safe imo

I've seen some pretty spectacular examples where people did this. I think you're better off approaching heating as if it were any other wood or PVC vivarium, in which case you're going to have much better luck with overhead heat sources. A UTH heating through a wooden shelf is going to be massively inefficient. Radiant heat panels are one option. You can also use a CHE or other heat lamp mounted inside the vivarium, as long as it has a mesh cage around it for safety so the animal can't touch the CHE. For whatever reason, it seems that RHP's are more common in the US, and CHE's inside mesh cages are more common in the UK. But even in the US you can still buy or make a cage like that, they're not complicated.

A CHE inside a cage takes up more headroom than an RHP, so that may be a consideration depending on the configuration of the cabinet you're looking at.

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Originally Posted by Coluber42

I've seen some pretty spectacular examples where people did this. I think you're better off approaching heating as if it were any other wood or PVC vivarium, in which case you're going to have much better luck with overhead heat sources. A UTH heating through a wooden shelf is going to be massively inefficient. Radiant heat panels are one option. You can also use a CHE or other heat lamp mounted inside the vivarium, as long as it has a mesh cage around it for safety so the animal can't touch the CHE. For whatever reason, it seems that RHP's are more common in the US, and CHE's inside mesh cages are more common in the UK. But even in the US you can still buy or make a cage like that, they're not complicated.

A CHE inside a cage takes up more headroom than an RHP, so that may be a consideration depending on the configuration of the cabinet you're looking at.

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Thanks! That is what i was thinking!!

Another thing you can do (if you want heat rising from INSIDE & near bottom of the cabinet) is to use a heat cable (on a thermostat!), the kind they use to
prevent pipes from freezing in winter. You can install inside a perforated pipe too, but either way attach at intervals to the sides (not flush against the sides,
but like the way you hot-wire a fence...with insulators that clip to the fence). I did a large cabinet like this many years ago for a Taiwan Beauty rat snake, &
it worked very well. The heat cable was installed about 12" from the bottom, so the "cool side" (w/ water bowl) was the floor, with heat that rose up into the
basking branches...beautiful snake & beautiful display. Cabinets can be fun...I also installed a light, recessed in the top- not for heat, just for light as needed.

Of course my snake was arboreal, while you want a more horizontal habitat...just throwing the idea out there though. I had so much fun customizing that
cabinet, but better yet, the snake seemed to like it & stayed healthy. FYI, I used side panels of perforated metal for more air-flow in hot weather, and I had
wood panels that fit over them to keep the warmth in the cabinet in winter.

You can use tape inside, just put tile on the bottom, then heat tape and cover it with thin glass. The ceramic will help retain the heat as well so it will be less of a loss of heat...

A lot of good heating ideas here, I’m going to go with coluber’s idea and vote for the RHP as the ideal heat source for a cabinet.

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

A lot of good heating ideas here, I’m going to go with coluber’s idea and vote for the RHP as the ideal heat source for a cabinet.

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Def alot of awesome help here. I have to measure the cabinet to make sure its going to be large enough. Right no the tank sits on top, so I figured it could be a nice project for the kids as they could move our bigger girl into the cabinet and move the new little guy into the tank above. Also in the process of grabbing an old huitch so we can get our custom CWD, which will be a fun build. Heat seems to be the biggest obstacle when using these cabinets. I know i could probably use a heat lamp or CHE to get the proper heat just figuring out if they will look as nice as a RHP or some other type of heating.