Help with heating... PLEASE

[peterm15]

ok.. heres what ill be heating...


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/peterm15/Picture080.jpg

and theres gonna be a third non attached enclosure on top for a ball python.. the 2 attached are for corns..

so above heat is not an option.. and putting het tape/pad under prob wont do much with 5/8 ply.. but i can put underbed heating INSIDE the cage under glass or tile or something ( all glass and tile i have on hand.... and its all free) is this a good idea.. and if so what method should i use... heat tape or pad or reptile heating pad... i plan on setting everyone up to a dimmer..

if its heat tape what size should i use.. 4", 11" what.. and it should cover about 30-40% of the cage bottom right..

please i need some help.. the quicker this is finished the better.. its taking up space not being able to house anythin in it.. lol.. :D
Thanks alot

oh and p.s. the dimensions of each enclosure is 36x16x12.. well for the ball is 36x16x10.. so.. thanks for any help..

[TheLionsShare]

Why is above heat not an option?? I would just get a couple ceramic heat light fixtures and attach them in there.

[Kyle Barker]

theres a cage above. look oogly im betting. probably doesnt want to muck with lights inside it either...i dont anyway.

if you got tile readily available and you look to be in the trades, put a subfloor in and have teh worlds smallest heated floor :D

i gave up on retile products. gave up on most specialty animals products that arnt food/medical type of things. i find there are suualy 10x better options for WAY less cash.

anyway, personally id be looking fo rthings that are made to heat and be put in somthing (like heated floors). ideally finding a heat rope or somthing of the kind and makign a little grout form of some kind or somthing would be effective and appealing.

[peterm15]

well the cage kinda matches the other ones.. so its not bad.. and above heat is hard and not as good for snakes imo...

the subfloring is an idea and i will look into it thanks...


any othre suggestions is apreaceated

[TheLionsShare]

Why do you think above heat isn't good for snakes? Just don't put too hot of a heat light in, and put some rocks under the light that will warm up.. Their heat source in the wild comes from above..

[Jayson]

Put some flex watt heat tape underneath andhookm it up to a dimmer switch.

Heating by light is not bad for snakes but heat lights do tend to dry the air out drastically, this makes it very hard to control the humidity.

[peterm15]

ya thats my point.. i have above lights on tanks.. nut there is not really enough room when you have 3" for the fixture 5" for the light and only 12 " of space.. its just pushin it...

jayson... put flexwatt under what.. under the wood or inside the cage under tile or glass... i figured inside the cage under tile or glass would be the best bet... what do you think...

[mykee]

"above" heat is not as good as belly heat because I am yet to see a snake that floats belly-up. Most of mine (actually all) crawl along the ground on their bellies, hence belly heat is the most "useable" heat for a snake. Also, ceramic heat lights, or ANY heat lamps dry out the air.

[peterm15]

ahh damn.. i was waiting on someone like you to help me out.. lol... what do you think of flexwatt with galss or tile on top...

[mykee]

Flexwatt with anything on top really is an option, as long as you have a dimmer-like device controlling the output of heat. Glass is a good option, as is tile.

[peterm15]

sweet thanks.. oh and would a ball ( being fed out side of enclosure) fare well on tile or would a substrate be nice to have...


thanks alot everyone.. the subfloring i thought of but the only stuff i know of has to be custom made ( the heating elements) and if sugested id like to use flexwatt so i can buy a few extra feet to use on some other tanks..

everyons been a great help... and dont think cause im thankin everone it means no more suggestions wanted./... if you have something to add please do..

[mykee]

I would not recommend feeding on a substrate, it can be ingested and become impacted. Best to feed on newspaper, in a rubbermaid, etc...

[peterm15]

oh i know that.. i wont be feeding in the enclosure either way.. just would a substrat in the enclosure ( not feeding tub) be benifical.. they do sometimes burrow right

[mykee]

Beneficial no. Yes, balls like to burrow, which from my experience makes keeping the proper temps much more difficult. For example, I had my first two snakes in thier own 30g w/forest bark substrate. I used Helix's back then, but which temp do you try to moderate? on top of the substrate, or on the floor bottom? If you do on top of the substrate (93-95) if your snake burrows, he might be on the floor with a temp of 115, and conversely, if you moderate the temps on the enclosure floor (93-95) and your snake decides not to burrow, he'll be sitting on temps of maybe 75-80. Tough call, some people do it, I don't or wouldn't.

[peterm15]

thanks alot.. youve been alot of help...

[Kyle Barker]

personally i would glass or tile or whatever teh bottom as well. i dont trust dimers or any other type of switch, and i certainly dont trust flexwatt.

doubt there would ever be a problem as tehre is no O2, but i think id still put a layer of somthing down under teh heat source. especially since there wont be any air exchange.


just re read my post above. in case you mis read it i wasnt saying your cages are ugly (they are very attractive) but that above lights are ugly. :)

[peterm15]

i might put the glass on feet so to say.. but i could always put it between 2 peices of glass.. ( my dad owns a glass company so its all just scrap cut offs....)

[Kyle Barker]

cant hurt to play it safe, especially when its free....

[peterm15]

exactly.. thanks...