UTH or Tape for Melamine Plywood?

Hey Guys.

I recently acquired a ball python a week ago and built a 36x24x16 enclosure out of melamine plywood and I am having trouble keeping the humidity using an overhead heat light. I know a UTH or tape is best and so I'm going to switch it.
BUT, my major concern is fire risk. Anyone have any experience on using a UTH or heat tape on plywood? And if so which is preferable?
And of course I'm getting a thermostat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wearentfree

Hey Guys.

I recently acquired a ball python a week ago and built a 36x24x16 enclosure out of melamine plywood and I am having trouble keeping the humidity using an overhead heat light. I know a UTH or tape is best and so I'm going to switch it.
BUT, my major concern is fire risk. Anyone have any experience on using a UTH or heat tape on plywood? And if so which is preferable?
And of course I'm getting a thermostat.

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Neither a UTH or tape will transmit much heat through plywood or melamine. They work too well as insulators.
Since you are using a lamp I am assuming you have a screened top. Cover most of that to retain humidity.

What we did for our wooden enclosure was cut out a square in the bottom of the enclosure as large as our heat pad. We then drilled a piece of plexiglass against the hole, and attached the heat pad to the glass. That way it only has to heat through the plexiglass instead of the wood.

I agree with Raven. I have been using heat tape for a while and have never had a problem with it being on wood. I would be care full about setting the heat on wood that has a finish on it. The heat may mess up the finish but it wont get hot enough to start a fire. I can hold my hand on my tape with out a problem. I would use some metal/aluminum tape to secure the heat tape to the bottom. This will give you a little heat barrier.

I also started with a tank and covering the screen around your heat light will help retain heat and humidity jet be careful not to get things to close to the bulb. That could start a fire depending on what you use. I used a ceramic heat element in a metal hood and it worked good for me. I'm using a tub now because my girl out grew the tank.

Wait, is the bottom of the cage plywood? the heat tape probably wont work well threw plywood and you don't want it on the inside where the snake will lay on it directly.

Yes the cage is solid melamine plywood, including the bottom. I don't have access to tools or a seperate enclosure to keep my python in while I did it, so cutting a hole for plexi isn't viable.
Any ideas? I'm using a small 5.5 dome for the heat light and there's not much room left on the screen of the hole but ill try to cover what I can. I put some moss in there hoping it would hold humidity but it just drys out. I can spray the hell out of the cypress and get the humidity up but it only lasts for a little while and just goes back down to 35%. 😠

If you have no access to tools, in a bind you can go to your local hardware store and buy a tube of 100% silicone(with no algicides) and a sheet of thin plexiglass that is larger than the heat tape by about 1"-2".

Then you place your heat tape in the enclosure and secure it with foil tape around the perimeter leaving about 1/2" of the tape sticking over the heat tape. If you are using clips instead of soldered connections(don't know if you bought factory installed or not) you need to make sure you use soldered connections for this method.

After that is taken care of you lay a thick bead of silicone around the heat tape and both over and under the power cord. Once you have a thick bead laid, you place the plexiglass on top of the silicone and heat tape and press evenly around the perimeter. Give it a solid 24 hrs or until no smell persists and you are good to go.

It won't be as pretty as some other methods but it will work.

Also make sure you take the appropriate steps to regulate the heat via a thermostat or at very least a rheostat/dimmer and a watchful eye.

Hope that helps


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