heating the back of the rack?

[meezo]

Hi guys and girls. Id like to find out ow to properly heat the back of my snake rack. I have already done one rack and it isnt working properly. it has alaminium tape at the back with heat wire and more aluminum tape covering it. I am using the addis 26L tubs in the rack system.I have put my female ball pytthon in it but she is very cold and the tubs isnt getting warm? So my question is how do i get the temps high?

[Westley Price]

People have differing opinion regarding the position of your heat source.

I've always lived by heating the bottom of the tub, but only the back 1/3 so that the front 2/3 is not heated at all. That way the snake can be heated from underneath when it wants to or needs to.

Of course arboreal snakes are a whole other kettle of fish!

[meezo]

Thank you Westley for your info. But do u think if i add a ceramic wall heater a few cm away from the back of the rack system it will be better?

[Westley Price]

Ceramic wall heaters are good for keeping a room's ambient temperatures up, but the do very little to heat the tubs directly.

You could add the heater, but I would not expect miracles.

[meezo]

thnkx, What else should i do

[krah]

I struggled to heat those addis tubs too. The little leg/ledge thing makes it tricky. I hear some people file it off or set the heat cable into the wood.

[Kakibos]

Yes I must agree with Westley, those heaters are designed to heat the ambient temps with the heat moving upwards from the heater to warm the room so I do not think anything next to it will get sufficient heat.

[Eyelash]

The best way is to have grooves cut in the wood and then lay the heat cable in it. That way the cable cant be damaged by the tubs. I have a couple of racks and also build them and we've never had any issues.

Regards,
Louis

[meezo]

Thank you Eyelash and Kakibos for your input. i will do what Eyelash says.

Thanks

[meezo]

So should i remove the heated back of the rack and rather heat the bottom? Or can i leave the heated back on and also heat the bottom 1/3?

[Tyronen]

Hi Meezo,

I would say you can leave the back heated and just add some heating on the bottom 1/3 provided that you use a Thermostat to control the temps. I used 20w heating wire and it does an excellent job.

I recently put a little rack together, take a look at this link for some ideas: viewtopic.php?f=97&t=33493