PVC Husbandry (Animal Plastics, Boaphile, Vision Cages)

[LittleTreeGuy]

Whoops, I thought of something else and it won't let me make edits to my message. Would I be able to use a UTH instead of Flexwatt heat tape or is this type of cage only compatible with the Flexwatt?

I currently have a T8 setup with an RHP in the enclosure, mounted to the ceiling and heat tape mounted to the bottom outside of the enclosure. Both run on a Herpstat II thermostat. I have played around with both heat sources. Here is what I have found....

1. The RHP is awesome. If you go with a divider for whatever reason in a T8, two 40w RHP's are great. If you don't use the divider, one 80w will work. I've had mine about a year with no issues.

2. Heat tape alone would be disappointing. I found that in my house (usually around 68 degrees F), my 24"x12" heat tape has to work pretty hard to keep the surface temp where I want it. This makes sense, as there is a lot of surface area, and the heat tape has to heat through 1/2" of pvc.

3. Like you, I like having a "backup", so I chose to run the RHP and the heat tape. I have heat tape only under the warm side, and I have it set so the surface temp would have to drop to around 85 degrees before it will kick on. My RHP runs about 30% most of the time and keeps the entire cage pretty spot on.