Question for AP cage users

[RWillinnable]

I love my AP cage and so does Shahrazad. (I think she just likes it because its dark inside.) But unfortunately, the undercage heating coil does run up my electricity bill a bit. I was thinking of going to the flexwatt tape heating system. I am pretty sure that using the tape heating on the outside of the cage would be somewhat pointless and useless because the heat would probably not penetrate the plastic so therefore I would most likely have to put the tape inside of the cage. So my question is this. Has anyone here ever done this before? Is there a way to do this safely and not endanger my reptiles with electrocution? (I also have a blue tongued skink who I keep in an AP cage.) I am in no way mechanically inclined so if you have any ideas, some well explained steps would be appreciated.

If not, I may need to go back to conventional glass cages because it is pretty expensive to run the undercoil heating.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Rachel

[elevatethis]

I really doubt that the heat coil is running up your bill. I bet the heat cable uses much less power than a 50-75watt bulb running 24/7!

I think your electric bill has more to do with it being July than 2 feet of heat rope on a tstat!

[AlCapone]

I use 10 boaphile cages with flexwatt and 12 ap cages with heat coil. And my bill went up only $7 bucks a month.


Sounds like something else may be wrong.

[cassandra]

Our electricity is through the roof...but then it's a) summer in b) Southern California where it's been c) 100+ degrees a lot...

A couple of UTHs aren't making a big difference. =)

[phoenix-dancing]

I have an AP cage with the cable and have not experienced a jump in my electricity. I do have a rheostat on it too.

[jglass38]

Agreed with all. The heat cable has nothing to do with your power bill going up. Its the middle of summer and that is when electricity costs go up.