Cable vs. Tape

[Dastoten]

OK, so I am almost done with building a few tanks for my Ball Pythons. All i need to do now is heat the tanks. I was going to get heat tape and set that up, but in the process of looking for some I saw a product called heat cable. I have no idea about how it works or how it compares to heat tape. If possible I would like to hear from someone who either has used or is using heat cable now to give me a rough idea about how it works/compares.

Should I use that instead? If so, does it work like heat tape, or do I have to set it up different?

Thanks guys

[Wildman09]

Idk, I'm curious as to how it works to.....Anyone?

[WingedWolfPsion]

It's a rounded cable, instead of a flat tape.
Heat cables are sturdier than heat tape, but can be harder to install (you usually want to put it in a routered groove). They don't heat as large a surface area, but they get the job done.

I have Animal Plastics racks with heat cable, and they're great. I also have one now with FlexWatt. I don't know how it will be for durability, as I just got it.

[Gloryhound]

All our Vision racks use the heat cable and it appears to work fine. One thing to note though it the tubs do not actually rest directly on the heat cable. With that said you have to understand that it kinda works in a radiant type fashion, so the heat gets spread out a little. Probably about 1/8" to 1/4" gap would be best.

On all the home made racks or display type enclosures we like to use Flex watt type heat tape. It spreads the heat out over a larger area while maintaining direct contact with the bottom of the tub.

Unless you have a router or another device to cut the grooves in the surface for the heat tape or are planning on a back heat configuration I would go with the heat tape. No serious problems with mine yet, but I will say we are slowly switching over to all vision racks which means eventually only the large display racks will have flex watt.