I recently purchased a used AP rack to house adult ball pythons. It is old enough that it came with heat cable/rope. It looks to be in ok condition for its age, but I am used to using heat tape with a thermostat.

My question is this: why did the reptile industry move away from heat cable and go to heat tape? Is there some risk in using the cable? Is it more prone to overheating or to fires? I can’t seem to find anything on this topic.

Would you recommend using heat tape instead of this cable stuff?