Back Heat or Belly Heat

[Nick]

Which do you guys use for your racks back heat or belly heat?

[Peter Williams]

Belly heat for adult racks, back heat for hatchling racks for me.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Which do you guys use for your racks back heat or belly heat?

Belly heat will be more efficient, especially if the room where your rack is, is not in the low-mid 80’s

[Mr. Constrictor]

I just got my first rack. it had back heat and I tokk it out and added belly heat.

[atp151415]

i have heard back heat works just the same, just not on their belly

currently i use belly heat but will use back on my hatchling rack

[TooManyToys]

I just purchased a RBI rack with back heat. This is copied off of his FAQ section on Racks:

Do these racks use belly heat or back heat? Which is better?

RBI Plastics Shoebox and Sweaterbox racks come standard with back heat. Which is better? We have found back heat to be every bit as effective, if not more so, than belly heat. The back heat in these racks will easily warm the back 1/3 to 1/2 of the boxes to a cozy 88-90 degrees. Actually it will get hotter than that if you don't use a thermostat or rheostat which is why one is required. The heat tends to be more even than belly heat which is usually in a more concentrated 3"-4" wide strip across the bottom. The heat gradually tapers off to about 80-82 in the front of the box. Our animals very easily thermoregulate with this setup and we have switched over to entirely back heated rack systems here. Is belly heat bad? We dont think so, we just like this better. If you will be setting up the 32 Qt. Sweater Box Rack in a room that is regularly below 74 degrees you may want to consider the belly heat option. On the Shoe box and STC 410 tubs the back heat will provide great performance in all but the coolest of rooms (below 65 degrees). One note, with belly heat racks you MUST place your thermostat probe on the heat tape itself. NOT inside one of the tubs. On the CB-70 rack we install belly heat standard. The extra long CB-70 makes back heat ineffective. To help give your animals a more even heat and a larger basking area we use two independently wired strips of three inch heat tape (80 watts each) placed about 6 inches in from the back. NO HEAT CABLE is used, only flexwatt heat tape. The heat tape is recessed into the shelves for years of maintenance free use.

[Schlyne]

Belly heat for adult racks, back heat for hatchling racks for me.

I have the same. My arboreal rack also has back heat.

[dsirkle]

I have a rack with back heat (11" 20 watt flexwatt) and I must keep the room temperature at no less than 74 degrees.This necessitates me using an electric space heater in the reptile room in the winter. Belly heat is more expensive to purchase but if you live where the winter is mild, belly heat isn't necessary. I will consider belly heat the next time that I buy a rack.

[anendeloflorien]

I use back heat on my hatchling corn rack and it works fine for them since they don't have as stringent of heat requirements but for my RBI ball rack I got belly heat since the room they are all in stays about 75 degrees year round and I don't believe back heat would really cut it in that environment.

[waltah!]

I just ordered mine with back heat since the room is always around 80F. For cooler rooms I would go with belly heat though.