Plastic tubs and heat

Gotcha. That makes sense. That's what I love about forums--always up to date. Thank you so much!

Anyway, the order is placed. We should have everything much more suitable soon.

Thank you again for holding my hand through this. I'm sure I'll be needing much more hand-holding soon, but this is a good start. :) Thanks.

Heather

if you get an Exoterra UTH and a dimmer, it will not melt your plastic. I've had mine on there for a long time with no worries. they are also sold at petsmart.

Thank you! I just placed my order though :P for heat tape. It's good to know for future reference though--what does the dimmer do?

Thanks!

well it can be used to adjust the temperatures, like a thermostat, but a lot less precise. It takes a lot of tinkering, but it works out if you take the time to adjust it.

I would just cut to the case, and get some Flexwatt. I currently have the ZM heatpads and rheostats, and while they work fine, I do plan on going Flex in the next few months. FW is thinner and will fit under my tubs in the rack better.. of course, make sure to research it all and ask questions from the experienced FW users, as you do need a quality thermostat with it.

Thanks, Genevive. Yes, we've ordered the flex watt and the Helix DBS1000 from Reptile Basics. So we should be set up pretty nicely here in the next few days.

Just moved the sensor for the cool-side thermometer so that it is right outside the cool-side hide Sammy is in and--ta-da, 81.7 degrees. So, that's just about right, right?

Don't worry--we'll continue to monitor it frequently until our permanent set-up arrives. Thanks again for the help! We're learning...

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Originally Posted by heatherhead42

Thanks, Genevive. Yes, we've ordered the flex watt and the Helix DBS1000 from Reptile Basics. So we should be set up pretty nicely here in the next few days.

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Helix is one of the best. You won't be disappointed and will get many years of use out of it.

You also won't be disappointed with the flexwatt. It gets hotter a lot faster than other heat mats so when setting up an enclosure you won't have to wait all night for it to warm up.

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Originally Posted by heatherhead42

Heat tape. For a 3 foot long, 1 1/2 foot wide, 2 foot tall Rubbermaid type enclosure, will I need more than a foot of the 3" tape? Should I order two feet to be on the safe side? Or do I need more than that?


Heather

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Hey Heather, how committed are you to a 2 foot tall Rubbermaid? 6 inches is really all the height that you need, as the rest would be wasted vertical space.

I use the Sterilite 1986 41 quart tub with one 1' section of 11" flexwatt, one set of clips and for one snake, a Johnson's or Ranco thermostat should be fine (make sure you order that wired as well).

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Hey Heather, how committed are you to a 2 foot tall Rubbermaid? 6 inches is really all the height that you need, as the rest would be wasted vertical space.

I use the Sterilite 1986 41 quart tub with one 1' section of 11" flexwatt, one set of clips and for one snake, a Johnson's or Ranco thermostat should be fine (make sure you order that wired as well).

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1986 is a 40 qt and is about 26 x 18

I think you are referring to the 1860/1960's:)