# heat tape for plastic bowl setup?



## farawayinn (Sep 29, 2011)

Hi everyone. New to the forum and betta breeding. Have a small batch of 1/2 inch fry that I will set up on shelves using square plastic 1 gal jars. The jars are clear pvc from ccw distributors. The fish are currently outdoors in a kiddie pool and it will be too cold within a month. I have an idea to use heat tape under the plastic bowls to maintain proper temperature. Is this feasible? Am I missing something obvious? Thank you in advance.
Oliver


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Not totally sure what heat tape is or how many jars it can heat. I thought someone here took out a room in their house to keep them warm by using space heaters? With such a small amount of water it will gradually keep the temp of the room they're in. That's how my heater works anyway (betta therm). 

Now unless I am mistaken, under tank heat pads will melt and ruin plastic. That's what a girl at the LPS tried to sell me for my acrylic tank -_-'' But unless heat tape is different I wouldn't risk it. For 1 gals you wouldn't need a lot of heat anyway, best to use a hot room I think.


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## TonyK (Apr 4, 2011)

I think it would work but, you would need somesort of thermostat to control the temp on the heat tape. The link is below to the thermostat. The only problem I can think of is the probe for the thermosat has to be in water to read temperature and I don't know if the probe can sit in the water.

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...mers/-/helix-dbs1000-proportional-thermostat/http://www.bettafish.com/chi-shooting-chicago-violence-southside-20110928/map.front?mid=65097145


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## farawayinn (Sep 29, 2011)

Thank you all for the advice. The heat tape I was considering is 4 inch wide and only 8 watts per foot and the pvc is safe up to 150 deg. I might ust try it out under a single bowl to see if it will overheat without a thermostat. I read on vendor site that a simple rheostat could be used to dial down the heat output. I don't have the luxury of a separate room or even closet to keep at the appropriate temp with a space heater. That would be the ultimate, but not happening anytime soon.
Thanks again.
Oliver


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## HatsuneMiku (Jul 29, 2011)

what's heat tape? .. and how long does it stay hot ? ..


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## Trobar (Aug 29, 2011)

Heat tape is what homeowners use to wrap around their water pipes in very cold weather to prevent them from freezing.


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## HatsuneMiku (Jul 29, 2011)

ooh !! that's kind of cool !! ..

live in so cali my whole life .. =D never could figure out what people meant in snowy areas when they would talk about heating their water pipes .. and always wondered how that was done .. lol .. yay i learned something new today


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## TonyK (Apr 4, 2011)

Alot of reptile people use it to heat their plastic container. Most people have multiple snakes and the easiest way to house them is using a plastic container like a sweater box, shoe box. They will build a rack to hose their containers and run the tape underneath the container. Its a verycheap but reliable way to keep the animal heated.

Farawayinn, please monitor temps before adding any fish just to make sure you won't cook them but, you probably know that.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Off topic, but how do people with a lot of snakes in sweater boxes reach the needs of all the snakes?! Aside from feeding, where's the enrichment? Do they live dismal lives in a dark box?


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## farawayinn (Sep 29, 2011)

Thanks for the advice TonyK. I've never worked with heat tape before, but I've seen it used in reptile encllosures. I will try it our for a few days on a single shelf before I add any fish. The thermostat setup may be necessary since the room temp will fluctuate quite a bit. I guess I could tape a probe to the outside of one container and see how that works.
Oliver


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

i'm planning a similar set up and i've been trying to find the DIY guide i saw for it over a year ago with no luck.

From what you say and what i know about it so far sounds good. When you have it set up can you take pictures and perhaps walk me through it?

I'm not a diy person xD


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## farawayinn (Sep 29, 2011)

I will post pics if I have any real success with it. Never tried anything similar so I don't know what to expect yet. Thank you for your support.
Oliver


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## TonyK (Apr 4, 2011)

Sorry farawayinn for thread jacking you but I have to answer this question.

A snake living in a sweater box is no different that a Betta living in a tank if the snakes needs are met. The sweater boxes used are opaque to clear so they are not living a dismal life in a dark box. A snake needs 4 things to live comfortably heat, food, water and a clean container with hiding spots. If not given heat they will not eat or throw the food up once they eat. If not in a clean container they get sick and not eat and sometimes with no hiding spots they won't eat. The sweater boxes or appropriate size container to the snake you have makes it very quick and easy to clean.

Snakes are a solitary animal they don't need "friends" or to be " cuddled" they don't need to be talked to. 

Oliver, once you get the setup going keep us posted I am very interested in how this works out. I was thinking of a rack system using Kritter Keepers and heat tape supplying the heat for the water.









Laki said:


> Off topic, but how do people with a lot of snakes in sweater boxes reach the needs of all the snakes?! Aside from feeding, where's the enrichment? Do they live dismal lives in a dark box?


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Thanks for answering! I just remember hearing about people keeping many snakes and I wondered how they did it. Obviously I'm not a reptile person but was curious


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## farawayinn (Sep 29, 2011)

No worries TonyK! 
I don't have time to play right now, just tying to get my thoughts in order. I will revive this thread once I get started.
Oliver


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