moving, heating, rack

[blackula19]

up until now i have had the luxury of being able to regulate the temperature of an entire room for my animals and the make minor adjustments like hot spots with heating devices within the room, although this was somewhat imprecise it has always worked out for me with a variety of species, including balls....now i am moving and i will no longer have the option of an entire reptile room, furthermore, i feel it is time to put together some kind of shelving/heating unit....for now i will just keep my adults in glass cages with yet to be determined heating elements (i have a whole menagerie that i have been working with for years, so i am not concerned with this), but for my babies and juveniles, i have an idea for a combo shelf that will also work for other animals when they outgrow it and will be cheap enough to put together even with the expense of moving....right now, i am keeping them in sterilite brand tubs (some shoebox and some sweater depending on size), i plan to build what amounts to a wooden bookshelf that perfectly holds these size tubs, then to run 3" heat tape along the back part of the bottom of the shelves.... i was thinking of going with just an ranco thermostat and getting the whole deal from mg reptiles as i have heard good things.....so here are my questions.....
1. is this safe to do (presuming i pay to have the wiring done by mg reptiles)? will i risk a fire since the shelves will be wood (the other choices are tto heavy)? will i risk melting the tubs (the thermostat should prevent this, right?)?
2. i see that the ranco is like 60 dollars, but will i require other accessories to make this work (presuming that i plan to keep all levels at one termperature)?
3. also i have heard good thing about helix, but could not find them on the mg website, what is the equivalent thermostat?

any and all feedback is appreciated, and i have a few weeks to work out the particulars of the situation, i plan on having this setup for 16 snakes until spring at which point it may become a nursery setup, may still house some of the ones that are still staying small in the spring, or may serve a whole other purpose if i decide it isn't the best option for my pythons....at this point the goal is a combination of safety and affordability, but not necessarily longevity, as i have very few adults and am not expecting any eggs next spring, giving me a great deal of time to get something better

[mmchoppers]

The Herpstats by spyder robotics are Equivalent, if not better than the Helix. That is just my opinion, so check it out for yourself, go to reptilebasics.com, they have thermostats as well.

[TheAudOne]

The Herpstats by spyder robotics are Equivalent, if not better than the Helix. That is just my opinion, so check it out for yourself, go to reptilebasics.com, they have thermostats as well.

We use these for our large rack, baby rack and T3.

[blackula19]

thanks, guys, what about the safety and logistics of what i am proposing, does everything sound alright from that stand?

[sweety314]

Sounds like a home built rack to me......LOTS of good threads from others who have built their own.