Fire Prevention

[mainbutter]

SPRINKLER SYSTEMS

I had the opportunity to talk to a local fire chief, and we got on the topic of sprinkler systems in homes. They aren't prohibitively expensive, especially considering the cost of some of your snake collections.

If I ever build my own home, I'm definitely putting a sprinkler system in it.. too bad I'm just renting right now.

[Hypnotic Exotic]

I just talked to Tracy Barker at the Houston expo and she said something that may make many of these tips irrelevant. She does not provide belly heat at all except for ovulating females. She keeps the ambient at 81 degrees and they are fine. She even said she doesn't have females hitting the "wall" and refuse to keep eating and thinks that's due to them not being kept as hot as most keepers keep them. She does this with both ball pythons and boa constrictors (not sure about her bloods since she didn't mention those). Obviously the absence of Flexwatt or heat cable means there is no more fire risk than what's in the rest of your house unless you have to use space heaters to get it to 81 degees. What's everybody's thoughts on this? Since I can keep my reptile room at 81 degrees without a space heater (it has a window unit that has heat), I think I'm going to try it but I'm going to lower the belly heat slowly rather than just cutting it off abruptly. Tracy's been breeding longer than pretty much anybody so I trust her take on this. She's obviously doing something right.

[ShockBunny]

Very interesting thread, I'm a bit of a worrier so this has been on my mind a lot lately.

I'm looking into building my first rack and using flexwatt for the first time. The current plan is to wire up a strip of heat tape for each shelf separately using a cut-off extension cord for each strip. Then plug all of the cords into a power strip, power strip into the thermostat, and thermostat into my hydrofarm as a backup. Is that too many plugs plugged into too many things?

It seems easier to me than running the tape in parallel, but does adding that powerstrip into my "line" of plugs make things more dangerous? I know next to -nothing- about this sort of stuff. XD

[Hypnotic Exotic]

Very interesting thread, I'm a bit of a worrier so this has been on my mind a lot lately.

I'm looking into building my first rack and using flexwatt for the first time. The current plan is to wire up a strip of heat tape for each shelf separately using a cut-off extension cord for each strip. Then plug all of the cords into a power strip, power strip into the thermostat, and thermostat into my hydrofarm as a backup. Is that too many plugs plugged into too many things?

It seems easier to me than running the tape in parallel, but does adding that powerstrip into my "line" of plugs make things more dangerous? I know next to -nothing- about this sort of stuff. XD

Mine are wired in parallel. I would not want that many plugs myself. Make sure you get the plastic clips to go over the metal Flexwatt connectors, electrical tape on the opposite end to avoid exposed connections and cover with aluminum tape. Personally I am looking to abandon belly heat but I have a dedicated building I can control and prior experience keeping snakes this way.

[ShockBunny]

Mine are wired in parallel. I would not want that many plugs myself. Make sure you get the plastic clips to go over the metal Flexwatt connectors, electrical tape on the opposite end to avoid exposed connections and cover with aluminum tape. Personally I am looking to abandon belly heat but I have a dedicated building I can control and prior experience keeping snakes this way.

Ah, ok. So if I wire in parallel, what type of wire should I be looking for? Also, my boyfriend was going to solder the connections and cover them with electrical tape, will that word as well as the clips?

Thanks for the help! I definitely want to get this 100% figured out before I buy anything.

[Hypnotic Exotic]

Ah, ok. So if I wire in parallel, what type of wire should I be looking for? Also, my boyfriend was going to solder the connections and cover them with electrical tape, will that word as well as the clips?

Thanks for the help! I definitely want to get this 100% figured out before I buy anything.

The clips and plastic covers are cheap. I would use those. You can get them at. Bean Farm online along with Flexwatt. I used electric cord and just cut it into pieces. There are lots of places online that show how to wire it. The issue I have with electric tape covering solder is it coming loose. The plastic covers snap over the connectors.

[ShockBunny]

Alrighty, thanks.

[Raptor]

I just talked to Tracy Barker at the Houston expo and she said something that may make many of these tips irrelevant. She does not provide belly heat at all except for ovulating females. She keeps the ambient at 81 degrees and they are fine. She even said she doesn't have females hitting the "wall" and refuse to keep eating and thinks that's due to them not being kept as hot as most keepers keep them. She does this with both ball pythons and boa constrictors (not sure about her bloods since she didn't mention those). Obviously the absence of Flexwatt or heat cable means there is no more fire risk than what's in the rest of your house unless you have to use space heaters to get it to 81 degees. What's everybody's thoughts on this? Since I can keep my reptile room at 81 degrees without a space heater (it has a window unit that has heat), I think I'm going to try it but I'm going to lower the belly heat slowly rather than just cutting it off abruptly. Tracy's been breeding longer than pretty much anybody so I trust her take on this. She's obviously doing something right.

That's basically what I do with my corn. I keep my room in the lower to mid 80s, since that's comfortable for me. Besides a UTH on one side, my snake has no heat. She stays entirely on the cool side and is active in a proper amount (she comes out in the evening and wanders around a bit before hanging out at the front of the tank). I have absolutely no issues with her. She eats properly, has never gotten sick, etc.

On the topic of fire prevention. Everyone mentions equipment, but rarely what to plug into. Extension cords are obviously something to stay away from. However, if they must be used, use heavy duty cords. Stuff that's designed to take a big load. The same goes for strip bar plugins.

[SpartaDog]

I don't know if this has been addressed yet, but if you're using heat lamps on screen lids (for the species they work for, of course), don't let the lamp touch the plastic edges of the lid or enclosure. I've melted lids before, thankfully only to the point of warping and not dripping, but it's still not a pretty thought.