question on tank heater

[amc0405]

Hello, everyone! I just bought a reptile cage that is all wood with sliding front glass doors. All my other tanks are all glass and I use the UTH heaters and love and prefer them over anything else. But they all say for glass tanks only. Is there some other type of heater pad or tape that is electrically safe (UL certified) that I could put on the inside on one side and then lay a Zoo med tank liner over it and use safely for the snake and that will not catch fire or what ever. I have a light in the tank but I only keep the lights on for about 10 hours. I also don't want to use heat rocks, heat lamps or thing like them. I know you guys have great ideas and what has and dose work for you all with wood or plastic tanks. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[bitsy]

I use wooden vivs and I use UTHs with them. I prefer my UTHs outside and underneath. As long as you can raise the cage up slightly so that the weight of it doesn't rest on the UTH, they work just fine. The stat probe is inside the viv, immediately above the position of the UTH and underneath the substrate.

I also use them inside the vivs when unavoidable. You need to cover them with something to a) stop the snakes coming into direct contact with them and b) prevent the UTH accidentally getting wet from faeces or drinking water (especially important at the junction where the power cable meets the mat). I make a little shield of rigid plastic and tape it just over the junction point, then cover the entire UTH with a layer of ceramic wall tiles. These are ridged underneath, so you still get airflow over the surface of the mat which helps prevent overheating but are still good at transmiting the heat.

In both cases, I place the thermostat probe immediately in top of the position of the mat, under the substrate.

 

[amc0405]

thanks, that would for sure work.