Do different sizes of heat tape emit different amounts of heat?

[Spikeanoid]

My current collection is housed in a homemade rack with 12 inch wide THG heat tape, since all of my pythons are pretty big. I use a Herpstat 1 to control the heat tape, and each tub is within a degree of the next and everything works great.

However, I'm looking to add some juveniles to my rack. My rack is a modular style so I'm free to add shelving, tubs, and heat tape to suit my needs, but nothing is currently in place. For the size of snake I'm looking at, 6 inch tape would be best suited. My concern is that this tape will emit more or less heat than my current 12 inch tape and I won't be able to just plug it in to my current thermostat that only has one temperature probe.

So my question is: if a strip of 12 inch heat tape is regulated to 92 degrees, will a strip of 6 inch heat tape given the same amount of power also output 92 degrees of heat? If it will differ, by how much? A couple of degrees or several degrees?

Thanks!

[piedlover79]

I've never tried it but personally I would not plug two sized tapes into one thermostat

[PitOnTheProwl]

It doesnt work that was because they are not only different widths but wattages also.
Two different heat sources need two different controlling devices or a dual zone unit.

[Oxylepy]

The amount of power going to each strand of heat tape is going to be roughly equal.

For example's sake lets say each foot of 4" wide heat tape uses 6w, and each foot of 12" heat tape uses 15w.

If you have a thermostat connected to and the probe on 5 2' lengths of 12" heat tape as a rack, and your thermostat needs to control that to 40% power to maintain the right heat, you are running 60w to that rack to maintain your temperature.

If you also have 5 2' lengths of 4" wide heat tape connected to that thermostat, it will send 60w to those 5 lengths of heat tape, which is the maximum amount of energy for them, which then runs them at a higher temperature than the other 5 strips of heat tape. If the 12" heat tape needs 60% power, the 4" heat tape will now be getting more power than they can handle, which will likely result in them breaking or catching fire

[Spikeanoid]

What do guys with a rack run? A continuous strip of heat tape or multiple thermometers? Even if you had a herpstat 4, you'd still only get 4 different sizes of heat tape to work with, assuming one thermo control per rack. Does anyone keep snakes with a large size difference in the same rack (obviously with different size tubs)?

[PitOnTheProwl]

Identical heat sources.
Same size and watt per shelf.

[Oxylepy]

I prefer a continuous strip (the tape needs to generate heat in both directions) that has been snaked along the rack, everything else identical, except you can get away with different width tubs (not so much depth, though). It also works with the same length and size strips. I prefer the one because its easy to tell of the whole thing goes belly up, instead of just part of it.

[Spikeanoid]

Thanks guys. What size of tape do you usually use for adults? 6" or 12"? Or do you do double rows?