Heat tape on wood vs. melamine?

[Thrush]

Say, theoretically, if I build a rack for my tortoises out of wood or melamine, I want to know if there's a difference in the heat that has to be out by heat tape to heat the internal cage temp to the same temp.

so basically, I'm asking if there's a difference in the insulating ability between melamine and wood. (say pine board)

I'm designing a display style rack for three cages stacked for Torties.
Probably with dimensions of about 5' x 2 1/2' x 14" high but I've never used heat tape before, and right now I just have the pet store variety of undertank heaters.

[Linds]

Tortoises benefit best from being heated with lights, rather than heat tape.

Melamine is just coated wood, so the insulating properties are relatively the same as other composite wood boards. I would assume it would be slightly more insulative than solid wood, since it is densely packed, however I would guess the differences would be minimal.

[Cookie]

Malemine wood is 110 times laminated and glues are uses and when the wood heats gives off an odor, There are no studies on this but i am sure pine would be a wiser way to go then malemine. Not to mention the least bit of water ruins the malemine. As far as heat tape goes i hate the crap but maybe that's because of the burned reptiles i see almost weekly due to HEAT TAPE... I would continue using the pads and forget about the tape BUT!!! Linds is right use lamps as she stated just monitor the tanks for abit as it's not hard to overheat a tank. malemines good though as far as looks go but line the insides with plexiglass i find they last way longer lined with plexi... every bit of info helps providing it's legit hope whatever you decide on it goes well for you

P.S I can't stress this enough forget the heat tape!!! it's not worth the little you save trust me. Not to mention most of the time as the tape gets older the chances of fire is greater but i have seen new tape catch fire and we actualy no longer sell heat tape in the store we have gone as far as to remove the tape from over 300 aquariums and replace it with more exspensive pads hope this helps in some way

[boa_Jay]

the only thing i have to say about heat tape on any type of surface: Get a quality thermostat!

[Thrush]

I was hoping that the under tank heating would be better the bulbs for torts, since I'd be giving them lots of fluorescent UVB, and not having to use the heat lights would save a lot of space, and I could layer 4 large enclosures above one another.