building rack

[new2BP]

i notice that most plans for racks i have seen, only place flexwatt under one side of the contianer. if i have 1' of 11w flexwatt under one side of a 36 x 18 x 6 rubbermaid contianer, will that be enough? and what about the cool side. is having the right amount of flexwatt on the hot end enough to heat the cool too?

nate

[muddoc]

1 foot of 11" flexwatt should be plenty. However, it depends on the ambient temperature of the room that the rack is in. If the room is say 70 degrees, you may want to add some sort of heat to the cool side as well. I have flexwatt on only the hot side of my racks, but the snake room stays at 82-84 degrees ambient, so this is the temps that are felt on the cool side. It all depends on the environment of the room the racks are housed in. The same goes for humidity. I try not to regulate the humidity in each individaul tank, I prefer to raise or lower the whole rooms humidity based on what I need. This however, is a matter of wether or not you have a seperate building or room for your snakes, or if they are in your bedroom or living room. I wouldn't suggest keeping your bedroom at 65% humidity and 83 degrees, or you might be miserable. Hope that helped.

[new2BP]

muddoc, thanks for the reply i will have my rack setup in a closet that is ventalated. Rght now i have my one and only BP in there. i am however putting a deposit on 2 Females from Markus Jayne this week. Anyway, the ambient temp in the closet stays in the mid too high 70's. I may buy some 3" flexwatt just in case i do need it. I am planning on building a new house next summer so i will difenetly have a seperate snake room. just gotta make due for now. thanks for the help.

[aaajohnson]

Tim is right on with his suggestions.


You may want to set up a small "test" to expirement. Our cages and new melamine rack are in our basement, and the ambient temps are between 70 and 75. When I set up our larger vision cages I had to use an 11" strip in the back and a 3" strip in the front. For the 28qt tubs in a melamine rack, I used 2 3"strips, one close to the back of where the tub sits and the other between 1/3 ant 1/2 way back. I also put a strip of reflectix on the back wall. I get 92 - 94 under the warm hide, and 80 - 84 under the cool side.

Hope this helps.

Neil