Can I put a heating pad In this?

[Olorin]

Here is a sneak peak of my first cage, It's only a temporary cage until I build a rack later in life.

My question is, if I drill holes into the floor where I have the section boxed off (6 1/2 X 8 1/2) can I place a heating pad in there and cover It with this light wooden board (back panel to cheap furniture)... Or will It overheat/burn the wood?

[KMG]

The wood should be fine but drilling holes will allow urine and other liquids to pass through the bottom. Also I bet the liquid and high humidity are going to ruin that wood.

[Olorin]

Well my plan was to drill holes into the floor where the heating pad will go. The wooden top will not have any holes It will just protect the snake from directly touching the heating pad.

The moisture/water from humidity and urine will ruin the wood but I was thinking of painting the entire inside with a water resistant paint... everything is going to be water tight and hopefully can last me a year or so.

[KMG]

That sounds like a messy cage that will be nearly impossible to throughly clean. Which will lead to bacteria, mold, and odor.

Why don't you just buy a twenty gallon glass tank to use for the year. They are cheap and would serve you much better than what you are trying to adapt.

[The Serpent Merchant]

That looks like compressed wood (MDF/particle board) I would not use that in a snake cage for 3 reasons:

1. It is extremely susceptible to humidity/moisture. It will swell and cause major problems.

2. Heating these types of materials can be difficult.

3. In many cases there are toxic chemicals in them (the glues/binders) that when exposed to heat and/or moisture will be released into the cage.

Your heating pad will be regulated by a thermostat correct? Without a thermostat heating pads can and will get hot enough to seriously injure your snake (especially if they are covered like you are attempting to do) I've measured heating pads at 130+ degrees.

Here is some info on cage heating, and some recommendations on good thermostats:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

[kitedemon]

I am with Aaron on this one I would not either.


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[Jayrhamlin]

Yeah if that's MDF get it out of there it won't last. This may or may not work for your application but when I built my in wall enclosure out of melamine I cut out a square on the bottom of the hot side and adhered a ceramic tile over the whole using liquid nails. I put the tile upside down so the rough side was face up and the smooth side was face down. I then stuck my heat pad on the bottom side. It works perfectly and holds a constant temp like a champ. The only downside is it may look ugly unless you cover it with substrate. It looks like you have some room underneath to work with so it's something to consider. Just make sure the tile is sealed on the inside so no liquids leak through.

J


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