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Rack system and heating

N

neuman

New member
Thinking of building a rack system.

Based on Rubbermaid Blanket Boxes. Planning on 6-7 in the rack.

Questions:

Under box or back wall heat?

If underbox should the tape wind from the bottom of the rack to the top in one strip
OR be a shorter strip per each shelf (increasing connection points)?

Best source(s) for heat tape?

Any advice or opinions from rack builders?

Thanks.
 
Links for flex watt heat tape and use instructions

www.beanfarm.com
www.bigappleherp.com
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/flexwire.html

And this one on:
The Risks of not Using a Thermostat :
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/flexburn.html
While your at it, check out this guys homepage, some interesting reading available there :)


There are other companies that sell flex watt, all seem priced within pennies of each other, it comes down to shipped price as to who to buy from :)

I'll let others answer your more specific questions :)
 
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I have Flex Watt run down the back and it works great. Originally we had it taped to the shelves but it made a slight crack of space in the front of the bin(not a problem for the larger snakes but the hatchlings) also I read that there were concerns that the glue in the Melalin(or any pressed board) could cause harmful fumes for the snakes as well as humans, when it was heated. Also even with many holes in the bins and my therastats on low it was too warm all over the bin, with it in the back the heat seems more graduated for them.


THats what works for me anyway. Hope it helps!

:cool: Colleen
 
Colleen...

how do you attach the heat tape for back heating? I've got a couple of racks and I did the shelf heating on them both. I have noticed the crack this makes...one baby escaped and turned up in my bathroom at the other end of the house. Also, how much space do you have to leave between the rack and the wall to keep fire risks down?

neuman...rack systems are wonderful! They make things much easier and more compact!

If you need to buy a lot of FlexWatt...then you'd be better off buying it directly from FlexWatt. It only comes in 100 ($205 for 4" and $322 for 11") and 500 ($790 for 4" and $1,240 for 11") feet rolls, however. And you'd have to buy the clips from somewhere else unless you want a lot of them. They only sell them in bulk as well...500 per box @ 40 cents each ($200/box). The plastic insulators come in boxes of 250 and they are also 40 cents each ($100/box).
 
I used heat tape on the back and it works for me too.

I used peg board on the back so I have ventiliation. I used foil tape and secured it with that.

Like Terri said, racks are so much easier and space effecient:D
 
Alicia said:
I used peg board on the back so I have ventiliation. I used foil tape and secured it with that.
Click to expand...

OK...so I'm confused...do you put the peg board on as a back for the shelf and then put the heat tape on. Or do you attach the heat tape to the back of the rack with the foil tape and then put on the peg board? Also, do you do separate plugs for each strip of heat tape, or do you connect them all together and use one plug per rack?

Thanks!
 
We attached the heat tape to the peg board and then attached that to the back of the rack. On my adult rack I used two 11" strips of heat tape, so I used two seperate plug sets. This way I have heat running behind both rows of boxes. I also didn't want to exceed the wattage limit on my thermostate (or rheostate if you use those).
 
So...

Is the heat tape on the side of the shelves or on the very back (between the peg board and the wall)? It's hard to picture it without actually seeing how you did it.

Thanks!
 
Re: So...

CornCrazy said:
Is the heat tape on the side of the shelves or on the very back (between the peg board and the wall)? It's hard to picture it without actually seeing how you did it.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Maybe this will help. I'm not describing it too well....lol
 

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Thank you VERY much!! That helps greatly! I'll have to try it with my next rack. I'll have to build another one in about 6 months or so.
 
Controlling temperatures of the actual room...

I probably can guess the answer to my question here, but I would like to hear from the horses mouth if possible...

My question is;
What are the actual ideal day / night temperatures to strive for?... if one were to not use a heat source (flexwatt) and instead were to maintain an appropriate ambient air temp. in ones Corn Snake keeping Room.

I understand that one of the main "secrets" to such a technique is to move the snakes themselves to the appropriate level / temperature zone on the racks that they seem to prefer...

(I have taken the liberty of posting the following old, 3/2002, Rich Z. response to a similar rack heating inquiry)

"I haven't used heat tapes for years. Not since I moved down to Florida, anyway. But when I lived in Maryland I used them quite frequently.

I had to use three different heat tapes, each one on it's own thermostat and rheostat (dimmer). That broke up the rack vertically into three separate regions, each with it's own control. Otherwise, as you pointed out, it was pretty darn difficult to keep a uniform temperature top to bottom on a rack.

One alternative to using multiple tapes is to circulate the air in the area where the rack sits. Remember that the ambient temperature of the air itself will be warmer near the ceiling than it is near the floor, so if you use a moderately sized fan sitting on the floor and pointing upwards, this will help to equalize the temperatures in the room. The warmer the air is around the heat tapes, the warmer the total temperature will be within the cage.

Not that I am in Florida and only working with a single species of snake (Corn Snakes, of course!), I just control the temperatures in the rooms themselves and do not do anything else for temperature moderation. Each room has it's own combination air cleaner and circulator that draws air in at floor level and blows it up towards the ceiling. There is still a slight difference in temps from top to bottom of the racks, but I use this to advantage by moving the snakes themselves to the level that they seem to prefer. Remember that they are all individuals and some will be more comfortable than others at a particular temperarture. Kind of like my wife and I being in the same room and she'll feel cold and I will feel too hot. This goes for animals as well. So if an animal seems uncomfortable, move the cage to a different spot and see if that is more to it's liking.

Another thing: Minimum/maximum thermometers are invaluable! unless you want to physically monitor the temperatures at a given spot at 3 am, use these to tell you how low it actually got during the wee morning hours, and how high the temps got during the day.
Also, the new temperature sensor guns are worth their weight in gold, so buy one when you get the chance. You'll wonder how you ever lived without one before." ~Rich Z~
 
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