Well, I'd say he's almost 3 feet. Between 2 1/2 to 3 feet. :P
I would advise to seriously consider a nice thermostat. Don't even deal with dimmers or rheostats for this snake.
I use a johnson controls thermostat, they're about 80$ and work very well. I keep my BRB in a short rack right now (QT), but I can get a pic of my set up later tonight.