Safety hazard advice on procedure.(Rack Heating tape)

[VereMyth]

Alright so I get home today and after a few(I take my shower and whatnot.)

I get on my pc. After a bit, however, my thermostat kicks on and I start smelling this weird burning smell not like in your face but just barely noticeable at first. Then it I start worrying.

So long story short I am 100% certain the heating tape I got with my rack is faulty. It has hot spots all over it when I smelt it I Immediately took all my noodles outside the rack and got and started temp gunning areas one of which was a whopping 132 degrees Fahrenheit with the lowest being 91(What my thermostat was set at)

I don't when I did exactly wrong :\(If it was even me)

I first noticed this in a post about my moving my thermometers and thermostat probe.(it was not this pronounced only a few degrees 5 at the most. But this is rather ridiculous. I don't think it should be normal for my heat tape to measure a different temperature every 6-12". Now I need advice on

1. Where to get better/more reliable heat tape.

2. What about my noodles heating the room they are in gets at lowest to 77(at night) throughout the day it reaches a maximum of 84 degree's Fahrenheit.

For spare heating, I have one unused terrarium with a UTH pad Which was regina's I will probably move her back into that enclosure. but now I have 3 other balls and one 45 watt heat lamp...

I do in fact plan to get shipping heat pads but have yet too *sigh*


Also going to call where I get the racks(It just now reached 30days today) So hopefully they can help me out and maybe refund me at least the installation cost.

But seriously this a quite the bummer and rather infuriating.

[VereMyth]

Alright, so I get home today and after a few(I take my shower and whatnot.)

I get on my pc. After a bit, however, my thermostat kicks on and I start smelling this weird burning smell not like in your face but just barely noticeable at first.

Long story short I am 100% certain the heating tape I got with my rack is faulty. It has hot spots all over it(between 5&40 degree differences) when I smelt it I Immediately took all my noodles outside the rack and got and started temp gunning areas and checking the bottom of tubs, one area of which was a whopping 132 degrees Fahrenheit with the bottom of the tub being slightly more malleable than should be not quite melted though.

I don't know what, or even if I did anything wrong.

I first noticed this in a post about my moving my thermometers and thermostat probe. (it was not this pronounced only a few degrees 5 at the most. But this is rather ridiculous. I don't think it should be normal for my heat tape to measure a different temperature every 6-12". Now I need advice on

1. Where to get better/more reliable heat tape(Have been looking at THG(PangeaReptile).

2. What do I do about my noodles heating, the room they are in gets at lowest to 77(at night) throughout the day it reaches a maximum of 84 degree's Fahrenheit will they be okay for a few days, Without those few degrees? If it helps I do live in Florida(Hot & Humid Climate already).

For spare heating, I have one unused terrarium with a UTH pad Which was Regina's, I will probably move her back into that enclosure. but now I have 3 other balls and one 45 watt heat lamp...

I do in fact plan to get shipping heat pads but, have yet too *sigh*


Also going to call where I got the racks(C serpents)(It just now reached 30days today) So hopefully they can help me out and maybe refund me at least the installation cost.

But seriously this a quite the bummer and rather infuriating.

So in my panic, I did not quite edit the post beforehand...Its edited at least much better. But I did pass the "Edit post time" So the "Edits" is in the quote.

Meanwhile, I need some sleep and will do research on tapes again, when I get up.

Any help from anybody who might have gone through a similar situation would really be appreciated! I love my noodles!

[artgecko]

Not sure on the heat tape, but you could get some CHEs and buy large "clamp lamps" from home depot or lowes.. Use dimmer switches from walmart and put the snakes in tubs. Setup the clamp lamps so that they are above one end of the tubs and use the dimmer switches to regulate the temperature on the warm end...It wouldn't be ideal, and you'd have to adjust the temps often as the room temps change, but it would be something.

I keep a long strip of ultratherm heat pad (it is a very thin under tank heating pad sold by reptile basics, the one I have is about 8" wide x 36" long) I use this for quarantine setups and it could also be used to sit multiple tubs on during a case like yours.

Other than that, shipping heat pads will work also if you can get them.

I believe Reptile basics sells wired heat tape that could be used to replace what is in your rack, but not sure on cost, etc.

[CALM Pythons]

I can’t recommend better Heat Tape. I dont know what brand you have and I do not like the fluctuation I have found with heat tape when I’ve tried to use it. I have used Reptile Basics and Ive used the kind Boaphile installs. Both have gone anywhere from 85 to 94 in certain places. Thats ridiculous and I wont use it. I have them in a box now and wont touch them or sell them as I would feel responsible if they burned someone else’s reptile. Tons of people use it without a problem so I don’t think its risky, but it obviously isn’t for me. Im strictly RHP’s now.


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[VereMyth]

Hmm okay thank you for the reply.

I did some live testing after checking the heat tape for visible damage and have come to a conclusion that it is possibly my THermostat I quit using a Exo terra 600W thermostat with them because its temperature probe was not accurate. But the Jumpstart probe is accurate however I think it is giving the heat tape too much of a "Jumpstart" As before the probe gets to the temp the heat tape has heated to about 94 ish So I have lowered the thermostats set temp and am currently okay I don't why I got that fluctuation or in my panic I possibly did not read the temp accurately will leave it on until I go to sleep and check periodically I don't want to blame a product if I was just jumping to conclusions. None of my bins were melted and the inside temps never reached danger level for the animals. The heat tape itself is embedded into the rack a good centimeter or two. out of direct contact. Because I felt it is the thermostat I decided to go ahead and get the Herpstat 2(Bought spare heat tape as well). Will get back to people on this post if everything turns out okay and it turns out to be how the thermostat allows the heat tape to increase output.

[CALM Pythons]

You might have a point, those Tstats are on/off and they blast then drop low. You’ll love the Herpstat as its proportional and all mine stay within .5 of the degree during cold winter nights and .3 on normal days.


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[artgecko]

Yeah, if you're using a jumpstart (on/off) type, then that could be the issue. You may want to invest in a herpstat..They are proportional and use a dimming feature so that it only ever runs the tape at the temp needed. This could help if you are getting temp spikes.

I have a couple jumpstarts and only use them for quarantine setups. I found that some worked better than others. I had one t-stat that I tossed because it had at least a 9 degree temp variance..It would allow the tape to get 9 degrees hotter than the set point before shutting off.

[RXLReptiles]

Personally I recommend using an accurite or similar thermometer to monitor the heat tape while the thermostat is running, it just gives me peace of mind to have a second reading on my heat tape. I have a small isolation (quarantine) rack that I use a Jump-Start on and I've found it can vary a little bit with how well it controls temp.

I also definitely recommend checking to see if your thermostat probe is still mounted securely in place, as if it drifted away from the tape it could allow spikes.

Lastly, I believe C Serpents use FlexWatt heat tape which I'm not a fan of, their racks are great, just the heat tape bothers me is all.

The THG tape that Pangea sells is WAY better in my opinion, and priced well too. In my experience it's more flexible, better constructed, and less likely to hot spot and will therefore heat more evenly.

I actually have just under 40 ft. of 6" THG tape on the way from Pangea right now for a new 9 high, 1/2/3 tub wide, combo rack I built, should be here Friday. I can't say enough about how much I like THG as a product and Pangea as a distributor.