I don't understand where to put the flexwatt in a rack system. Help?

[tracy0416]

Hi there:

I am going to build a rack this month as I want to breed and collect. (Yes, severe state of denial to think I would only want to keep a few snakes.)

So I was searching around the forums here for designs and building ideas and I found this great thread:

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6027

What I can't find pictures of is where the flexwatt/heat tape get placed.

It makes sense to me to be at the bottom back of each shelf (so you can place a tub on the tape and it is heated in the back portion only.) but how to you run all this tape without having to cut and wire every section? Or do I have to do it that way?

Does anyone have good pictures of the whole heat tape extravagansa?
I am very visual and may not get what you are talkng about if you try to explain it without a visual aid.

links to threads with pictures would be awesome too.

Thanks everyone : )

 

[desertanimal]

Some people do cut and wire every section.

I didn't want to, so my flexwatt runs across the shelf under the bottom of one tub, the side to the next shelf, and then across the shelf under the bottom of that tub, up the other side to the next shelf, and so on. Some people use a router or something to create a wide, shallow groove so that the tape sits in it, slightly below the shelf surface. Others don't. Does that make sense?

 

[Blue Apple Herps]

What I did, is to just wire every piece individually with a cut off extension cord. These were then plugged into an outlet strip that was plugged into the thermostat. A lot of wires, but I like it this way because it gives me flexibility with heating. Because they're individually wired, I can have each shelf at a different temp if necessary (obviously connected to different thermostat) which allows different animals with different heat requirements to be kept on the same rack.

But, if you know you're only keeping corns on it, then I'd wire it in parallel.

 

[tracy0416]

What I did, is to just wire every piece individually ... because it gives me flexibility with heating ... allows different animals with different heat requirements to be kept on the same rack. But, if you know you're only keeping corns on it, then I'd wire it in parallel.

Brilliant! I would not have thought of that until it was WAY too late!
Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you!!

Some people do cut and wire every section.

I didn't want to, so my flexwatt runs across the shelf under the bottom of one tub, the side to the next shelf, and then across the shelf under the bottom of that tub, up the other side to the next shelf, and so on. Some people use a router or something to create a wide, shallow groove so that the tape sits in it, slightly below the shelf surface. Others don't. Does that make sense?

Yes I think it makes sense. So do you mean it creates one long shape running top to bottom of the rack (at the back) like multiple, connected S's? This is kinda what I was envisioning. The slit in the "shelf" was the thing that was puzzling me.

I have corns and ball pythons so a happy medium between what both of you have suggested. One long strip (across 3 shelves) for balls, one long strip (across 3 shelves) for corns, 3 short strips (across 3 shelves) for "the unknown..." Super! I love it!

Can anyone see problems with the happy medium idea?
Thanks alot you guys : )