Thermostat With Heat Tape...

What size heat tape do you think i should use 3in or 11in... my tubs are 32inches long... thanks Richie

I use 3" On all my racks no matter what size tub it is. Snake room is heated at 80-82

If someone were to keep their snake rack in a room not dedicated to snakes at normal human room temperature, would you effectively need 2 strips of heat tape to create the warm and cooler side?

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Originally Posted by Sugarbone

If someone were to keep their snake rack in a room not dedicated to snakes at normal human room temperature, would you effectively need 2 strips of heat tape to create the warm and cooler side?

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Possibly, depends on how cool you keep your house?? Same set-up, you would just need to double up everything including t-stat;)

I think that is what im gonna have to do .....two strips one in front and one in back....

No need for 2 strips. If you are using an open rack or even closed rack in a room temp if 75 and below. Just use 11" heat tape on the 28/41qt tubs. This will heat up larger portion of the tub. While also giving you a 78-80 inside on cool side as well.


On the contrary ball pythons do NOT need a 80 on cool side. In summer mine get 82 but in winter their about 77-78 cool side. So i always tell people if you can maintain a 77-80 on cool side and 88-90 warm side your golden.

Thanks for the help..Rich

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

No need for 2 strips. If you are using an open rack or even closed rack in a room temp if 75 and below. Just use 11" heat tape on the 28/41qt tubs. This will heat up larger portion of the tub. While also giving you a 78-80 inside on cool side as well.


On the contrary ball pythons do NOT need a 80 on cool side. In summer mine get 82 but in winter their about 77-78 cool side. So i always tell people if you can maintain a 77-80 on cool side and 88-90 warm side your golden.

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Thanks a lot :) Yeah just wondering, as I'm not sure what ambient temperatures will be like in my new flat in Vancouver. Never lived there! Hope it works out to 1 strip :P

I run a dual system (in Halifax NS) it works for me in my location. Ultimately cheaper than room heat. I cut my power bill in half. Every set up is different and just because something works for one person it may not work for another.

I have an enclosed rack, with hot side and cool side flexwatt. Both hot and cool are controlled by herpstats and there is a back up T-stat on the rack as well, I have back ups on everything.

What I found was that the rack managed with just hot side heaters until the room got below 75-76ºF once it went below this the hot side dropped as well as the cool side. In my case the cool side temps almost always were 2 maybe 3 degrees above the room temps until I got below the 75 then I lost 3 and soon 4 -5ºF below they hot spot too dropped as the flexwatt simply was producing enough heat to cope. My average summer temps are in the 76-82ºF and the cool side heaters rarely kick on. The winter temps are a different story running 65-70ºF and the cool end heaters are often on.

Riches suggestion for each shelf being individually plugged is a great one. Especially in Canada where the laws require any and all electrical installations for commercial use to be inspected and or installed by an electrician. I run my own business out of my home and because of this I am required to have an electrician in to inspect the rack. It makes the racks very expensive, but the penalty for failure is extremely high.

I'm in NY as well and I can tell you that we use 4" heat tape to belly heat our big tubs. It's an open rack. If you want to go the belly heat route 4" is plenty. If going the back heat route 11" is what you need. If I can be of more help just pm me and i'll be happy to help you out. Tom