RBI Rack Heat Tape Questions

[JoshSloane]

Hey All,

I am going to be purchasing a CB-70 3 level rack from RBI. It comes standard with 4" heat tape as belly heat for the Iris tubs. Tub dimensions are 34" 17.5" x 5.3". I have seen that most racks with that size tubs come with larger heat tape, usually two strips of 4" or a 12" heat pad. Is a single strip of 4" heat tape enough? I don't have a dedicated snake room, and my room temps hover around the 65-68 degrees. I will be housing sub-adult boas and dwarf retics.

[PitOnTheProwl]

With those room temps I going to say probably not.

[Albert Clark]

Why don't you ask rbi to customize your order and request additional heat tape? You could also get a extra che and put it on a dimmer and point it in the direction of the rack. Monitor the temps and adjust it accordingly. Peace.

[JoshSloane]

Yeah, I emailed with Bobby about the issue. He said the tape was fine for down to about 70 deg ambient room temps. Just asked him if we could up the heat tape due to my situation. Its confusing because in the RBI heating tutorial it directly says that for larger sized racks, that the larger heat tape is needed, yet they don't use it standard on their pre-made racks. Everyone seems to love RBI and trust them, just trying to figure it all out.

[JoshSloane]

Do yall think that 6" heat tape is sufficient?

[JoshSloane]

RBI is now saying they can't offer any "custom racks" with bigger heat tape. All I have heard is great stuff about this company. Why am I getting stone walled? I assume each rack is made to order, and I would gladly pay the up charge for larger tape.

[tbowman]

The heat supplied by the rack is only supposed to cover the hot spot. I have that rack and I wouldn't trust it with ambient of 70.

If you're not able to raise your room temp I'd look into something else.

[JoshSloane]

The confusing part is that RBI even states that forthat size tub that a large 12" pad is necessary, yet they don't provide that in their racks. What te hell?

[tbowman]

Who knows. I've used both, and am currently using the 4", haven't noticed a difference in snake behavior. However I have my room at 80 degrees so there's never much chance of them being too cold.

[JoshSloane]

In my last email with RBI they said that they couldn't customize because they would have to change the computer aided drawing specs for the rack. Feels like I'm getting the run-around. Definitely not what I expected from my first experience with this highly touted company. I was going to order from Beeger Boxes but there is a giant mess going on with them currently. Where to go now?