Zoo Med Heat Cable

[azpythons]

Does this suck??
Is there a reason i never see anyone here using it....

[Jsh]

I've thought about posting this same question before. I have a small melamine rack with a pegboard back I made in high school but it has no heat and its missing a tub or two. I figured it would work well with the pegboard but couldn't find much about it. Thanks for posting. --Josh

[azpythons]

Yeah ive seen some reviews people say it works fine, but they also say they have lizards....so i dont know if it would be the same for snakes??
Hopefully someone here has had experience with the product....

[iCandiBallPythons]

Im mixed about it. I havent heard or read enough to form an opinion about it. I would probably contact Rich at Reptilebasics. I'm sure being an enclosure builder he would have some opinions on the heat cord.

[juddb]

I have one rack heated with a heat cable. Its a vision arboreal rack. Personally i dont like it. The reason being, is the tubs are taller than most and harder to heat from the bottom, so i've had to modify the rack to make it work for me and the snakes that occupy the rack. However im sure a vision rack with tubs for terrestrial snakes would work well! Animal plastics works with heat cable as well for the racks they build. Good luck

[azpythons]

OK well i have a wooden rack with 41 qt sterilite tubs, if i put two strings of heat cable on the back with aluminum foil or something covering the back would it hold the heat in the rack do you think?

[juddb]

Yes. However, your room temperature will have an affect on the stability of your temps, I suggest keeping the room around 70-75 for success with the heat rope. If you go with flexwatt you will have better results if you keep your room on the cooler side. Another thing, instead of aluminum foil, try reflectix! You can buy it by the ft at any ace hardware, it basically pushes the heat in one direction. So tape it to the back of the rack and have the heat rope or flexwatt on top of that so your tubs are taking all the heat! Good luck.

[azpythons]

I live in tucson so getting my room cooler than 80 degrees is next to impossible without killing myself on elctric so my room temps are generally 75 to 85, mostly prolbably right around 80 though...so you think the heat cable would work for back heat??
or if i was gonna use heat cable should i buy a extra big size so i can wrap it around for belly heat?

[juddb]

or if i was gonna use heat cable should i buy a extra big size so i can wrap it around for belly heat?

One suggestion, i would cut grooves in the shelves deep enough so i could have foil tape underneath the cable, precautionary of course so as not to heat the wood or material too much and cause it to warp or even worse catch fire somehow. Make sure you use these heat sources with thermostats as well! Good luck. I hope it works out for you!

[Darkice]

I have a 27 foot long big apple heat rope and it works fine. i never tried the Zoo med ones.
I keep my basement at 80 degrees and my wooden rack is working perfectly. Im building another rack and using the big apple stuff again. They also have a new heat controller i want to test.
The Heat rope i have runs at 115 degrees. under the tub the heat transfered inside is only 90. I have a helix on it but its not really doing anything. I think just the heat rope would be fine. My tubs are like 27 quarts. And they dont sit perfectly flat. Like a quarter of an inch from the rope.