Heating a large boid cage

[crocsnhots]

Hey everyone

I am trying to figure out how I should heat the cage I am going to build my adult burmese python. The cage demensions will probably be 8' (96") long, 3' (36") deep and 1 1/2' (18") high.

I want to heat the cage with a 12.9' (4.3m) flexible heat rope from bigappleherp.com on one side under a subfloor in the cage. Here is the flexible heat rope.

Should I build the whole cage completely out of wood (except the glass front) as planned, then place the heat rope on the bottom and place a thin sheet of plexi glass over it and seal it with clear aquarium sealer, or set it up another way?

There will be a hole out the bottom to plug it in, and a thermostat set up inside the cage a few inches above the heat rope to regulate the temperature. Adding heat to the cage this way will keep the snake from the heat rope, and I wouldnt have to worry about cleaning it. I want to avoid heat lamps as the cage is being built as stackable and I am tired of replacing bulbs all the time.

Any comments/ideas appreciated.