Belly heat- FlexWatt help!!! Pleaseee

I recently purchased an animal plastics t8. I put it all together and taped on the flex watt that I ordered with the t8. The ambient temps and humidity is great, but the belly heat is not where it needs to be at all. It is running about 80 F and I have even turned my thermostat controlling the flexwatt up to 105! When using the heat gun directly on the flexxwat it is reading about 100 but it is not making its way through the tank to get any higher of a hot spot for my buddy.

Any advice or solutions greatly appreciated, I want my boy to be happy, healthy, and comfortable!!


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Give it a little while to heat up and keep checking it. You may have to set it to 110-115* to get a 90* hotspot


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Give it a little while to heat up and keep checking it. You may have to set it to 110-115* to get a 90* hotspot


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I have had it running for about 24 hours and the last number the thermostat reads is 105 and it's past that for sure, as far as it goes really. Still only reading 83 at hottest inside tank hotspot


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Hmm... is the heat tape in full contact with the bottom of the cage? What is the cage supported by/sitting on? If there's any space between the tape and the cage floor it might not get up to temp. You may need to put a board or something else firm underneath the cage to prevent the heat tape from sagging and not making full contact with the cage.


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What temperature is your room?


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Hmm... is the heat tape in full contact with the bottom of the cage? What is the cage supported by/sitting on? If there's any space between the tape and the cage floor it might not get up to temp. You may need to put a board or something else firm underneath the cage to prevent the heat tape from sagging and not making full contact with the cage.


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The cage is actually just being held up by two A frame wooden stands right now. So the flexwatt is not in contact with anything besides the tank, I tried to make sure it was in full contact but I'll take a better look and possibly put a board under it to secure it further. Is there any fire hazard to doing this?


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Originally Posted by BPGator

What temperature is your room?


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The ambient temperature in the tank is 80 F. Humidity at 55%


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Originally Posted by Christiane

The ambient temperature in the tank is 80 F. Humidity at 55%


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But what's the room temp?


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Originally Posted by BPGator

But what's the room temp?


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Right around 70


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Originally Posted by Christiane

The cage is actually just being held up by two A frame wooden stands right now. So the flexwatt is not in contact with anything besides the tank, I tried to make sure it was in full contact but I'll take a better look and possibly put a board under it to secure it further. Is there any fire hazard to doing this?


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So long as it's thermostat regulated it will be fine. The heat tape won't ignite anything as long as it's in a safe temp range. I had mine pressed against the cage with a sheet of plywood when I used belly heat previous with no issue.


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Originally Posted by jmcrook

So long as it's thermostat regulated it will be fine. The heat tape won't ignite anything as long as it's in a safe temp range. I had mine pressed against the cage with a sheet of plywood when I used belly heat previous with no issue.


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That's my concern as I have my thermostat set at max right now, but hopefully if I have it pressed up against it, it will allow me to lower the thermostat.

How did you secure the plywood onto the bottom of the tank safely?


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Originally Posted by Christiane

That's my concern as I have my thermostat set at max right now, but hopefully if I have it pressed up against it, it will allow me to lower the thermostat.

How did you secure the plywood onto the bottom of the tank safely?


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Plywood set on the shelf/table, cage set on top. Good old gravity works just fine.


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Originally Posted by Christiane

Right around 70


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So do you have another heat source, or when you said your enclosure ambient is 80 you meant the surface temp? I think if your room is 70, your best bet is a RHP to bring your air temps up; you also won't need the flexwatt.


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What type of thermostat are you using??

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Originally Posted by L.West

What type of thermostat are you using??

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Zilla thermostat.


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Originally Posted by BPGator

So do you have another heat source, or when you said your enclosure ambient is 80 you meant the surface temp? I think if your room is 70, your best bet is a RHP to bring your air temps up; you also won't need the flexwatt.


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So with the RHP I won't need the belly heat? I'm new to this so forgive me, but I thought that BPs needed more belly heat rather than air temps being higher. Just a little confused about how that works best, any advice is so helpful so thank you for responding and helping. Also - is it possible to install an RHP after already assembling the tank ?


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Radiant heat panels work like the sun, it radiates heat into the surfaces below it. So it will provide a hot belly spot for your animal. Think about how hot the sidewalk gets during a sunny summer day.

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Originally Posted by Randall L Turner Jr

Radiant heat panels work like the sun, it radiates heat into the surfaces below it. So it will provide a hot belly spot for your animal. Think about how hot the sidewalk gets during a sunny summer day.

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Well that makes plenty more sense. Guess I was thinking too far into it. I feel silly haha!

Last question, would my zilla thermostat be able to handle an rhp? I want what's best for my boy but also I've spent quite a bit recently. If it is needed for sure I will absolutely spend the money but wondering if it will do fine.


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Originally Posted by Christiane

Well that makes plenty more sense. Guess I was thinking too far into it. I feel silly haha!

Last question, would my zilla thermostat be able to handle an rhp? I want what's best for my boy but also I've spent quite a bit recently. If it is needed for sure I will absolutely spend the money but wondering if it will do fine.


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Yes, the Zilla thermostat will work. Most on here, including myself, would recommend a Herpstat thermostat though. Use a temp gun to zero in on the temp with your thermostat.


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I would upgrade your thermostat. You can get a good thermostst from reptile basics for a reasonable price - check them out. I have many of These thermostat and they work great.

A thermostat is really the most important equipment You need

You are taking the temperature under the substrate.