# Heat Cords?



## sharky (Mar 24, 2013)

Apologies for posting so much, I just need some help and advice!

What size and wattage heat cord will I need to heat a 180x55cm enclosure?(Temp needs to be sitting at 32 degrees) And how do I use one? Do I stick it underneath, do I use aluminium heat tape? What do I do with the excess chord if there is any? And is there a certain way/pattern I should stick it to the bottom of the enclosure? And what is the probe at the end for?

Thanks guys! Sorry for the stupid questions, I'm not an expert and I don't want to cause a fire or something just because I pretended to know what I was doing.
Cheers


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## Ramsayi (Mar 24, 2013)

Short answer is "it depends"

What are the temps in the room that the enclosure is in?

What type of reptile is it going to be for?


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## sharky (Mar 24, 2013)

Room temp varies...normally sits around 18-21degrees in my room (Where the enclosure will be kept.) Enclosure is for a spotted python...could probably fit something bigger though :/


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## Trimeresurus (Mar 24, 2013)

How much of it are you trying to heat? Get a piece of string or something and lay it down in the area you want it, put it in a spiral patern or whatever you like and you'll find your length. The closer the cord is together the more focused the heat will be. You could route out grooves for it to sit in or you could drill holes in the enclosure and fix it down with cable ties, shouldnt really matter how you do it if you put a tile ontop of it and use a thermostat. I imagine the smallest size & wattage heatcord would do for a sigle tank though.


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## sharky (Mar 24, 2013)

Heating half the enclosure. Ah thank you! I'll use the string idea, very useful!  Thanks Trimeresurus


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## Trimeresurus (Mar 24, 2013)

No worries. Is the enclosure 180cm in length or height? Either way I would only try and heat 1/3 of the enclosure or less if you can, just stops the ambient temp climbing too much on hot days, not that ground level heating raises it too much.


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## J-A-X (Mar 24, 2013)

Trimeresurus said:


> put it in a spiral patern or whatever you like and you'll find your length. The closer the cord is together the more focused the heat will be.



Ok, I'd like to correct the two statements made above: DO NOT lay heat cord in a spiral pattern. Excesses heat cannot escape and could result in scorched timber or a tile that is too hot an burn an animal. It should always be laid in a 'Z' type pattern
The closer the cord is to each other you will have a smaller area of heat and it will be hotter


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## BIGBANG (Mar 24, 2013)

i used a 25watt heat cord to heat a 300mmx300mm tile i cant remember the length but i had about 1mt left which just sits out the back of the enclosure in a straight line, is is in a S shape every 25-30mm under the tile


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## Snowman (Mar 24, 2013)

Heat cord will NOT heat your enclosure. It will create a warm spot for the snake to sit on. The ambient air won't be greatly effected unless you make a heat panel from the chord that is.


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## Trimeresurus (Mar 24, 2013)

J-A-X said:


> Ok, I'd like to correct the two statements made above: DO NOT lay heat cord in a spiral pattern. Excesses heat cannot escape and could result in scorched timber or a tile that is too hot an burn an animal. It should always be laid in a 'Z' type pattern
> The closer the cord is to each other you will have a smaller area of heat and it will be hotter



Yeah ok, without a thermostat or in the case that one fails the spiral patern could be bad, but does that also mean anyone who's routed heat cord into wood and placed a tub or tile ontop is going to have their enclosure burnt aswell, isn't it the same concept?

What was the second statement you were correcting? That the closer it is the hotter it will get? As in the more focused the heat will be...?


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## sharky (Mar 24, 2013)

I'm putting the chord in a kind of S pattern. I had planned to do it like that origionally (Just based on where the legs are on the enclosure) I'm going with aluminum tape to stick it on because my dad already has some 



Snowman said:


> Heat cord will NOT heat your enclosure. It will create a warm spot for the snake to sit on. The ambient air won't be greatly effected unless you make a heat panel from the chord that is.


Excuse my ignorance, but does this mean I will need a heat lamp, etc as well? Or will she just be fine with a warm area to sit on?

Thanks guys


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## Snowman (Mar 24, 2013)

Depends. Do you want to feed through winter? If so, forget the heat cord and use a ceramic heat emitter. 
If not just use the cord. 
If using a cord in a smaller tub you can keep ambient temps high enough to feed right through winter. Not in a large enclosure though.


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## RedFox (Mar 24, 2013)

If you go to ozimid's profile he has some pics of his enclosure build that show the heat cord routed in. Living in a cold climate I used a 25w heat cord from herpshop. I zig-zagged it quite tightly (about 1.5 to 2 cm apart) then had a 35x35 cm tile over the top. As I routed the melamine before I joined the box together I routed a few lines from the heat cord to the back of the enclosure so some of the excess heat could escape. 

During winter I added a basking light to bring the ambient temp up and at night I only had the heat cord on at a lower temp. My room could get really cold though, about 15 degrees during the day and 7 at night. Depending on what you are housing extra heating during winter may or may not be necessary.


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## DaReptileBoy (Mar 24, 2013)

i just opened my one from URS i plugged it in andcame back 5 mins later and it was really hot to defonatly use a thermostat and also the sizes for the URS ones are:
Small: 4 metres 15 watts
Medium: 4.3 metres 25 watts
Large: 6 metres 50 watts
Extra Large: 9 metres 80 watts 
and i think thats about it


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## congo_python (Mar 24, 2013)

A couple of pic's of how I did my cages under a 450x450 sealed ceramic tile with a 4.3m 25W cord for all 14 enclosures. Thermastat under one enclosure tile of each bank of cages controlled. 
This is the best way to heat your python IMO as they can lay on a 32c hot spot or as mine do - spend 60-70% of their time laying on the ambient end of the cage.
Pic's show one cage just routed out for cord and second pic of one cage routed out for cord and Thermastat probe ( dimming ).
Third is the finished product.

Cheers
Congo


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