RBI Radiant Heat Panels
 

I have never really used heat panels, always went a basic method such as bulbs or flexwatt... the closest thing that I have ever really used came original in our 4ft. boaphile cages... and needless to say, I was not impressed, and they do not work for much besides colubrids.
That being said, I have been reading up on RBI Radiant Heat Panels, and they seem to be a decent product, with promising heat results. My questions are...
For those who have used them, are they safe to use in a plastic caging? We use alot of "boaphile" style cages, most of them are in the design of being in one unit, w/ 3 sections. Or would they melt or cause issues to the plastic cage itself?
Do they heat as well as a traditional style? Meaning do they create a warm enough cage for most animals requiring a 85-95 degree cage?
Any info or thoughts are appreciated!

I was to use radiant heat panels, I would use Pro-Products panels from Bob Pound.
They're UL listed unlike the RBI panels.

Ive read a little bit on them also, though they do not advertise their different sizes or prices online... which is a little annoying as far as shopping around goes, other than actually having to call in and speak to them directly, but as far as quick look references go its not awesome. Though Ive heard that they dont put out a much ambient heat as the RBI panels?? Just trying to figure out some price ideas and such, this would be a big spending project in the sense that I would be eventually needing apprx - 15 to 25 of them for our exhibit... and either way its not going to be cheap at all, but neither is having to adjust bulb sizes constantly throughout the year to accomidate with the season, In our shop if its extremely hot outside, it gets hot quick in the exhibit area, and you can also tell when its cold outside... more on the hot than cold though.

i have a heat panels in my AP cages, seem to work out pretty good. just make sure you use a thermostat, they can get pretty hot

Matthew, What kind of heat panel do you have?

I'd have to double check, I have 3 animal plastic cages that already had the heat panels installed
When I bought them. The only problem I have had with them is that they have an on/off switch and it messed up on all of them, so I just rewired it and bypassed the switch. But other than that they do pretty good

I bought one from Reptile Basics once, just trying it out before taking the plunge and buying them for all my cages, but my problem was the opposite of it getting too hot - rather it warmed up well close to the panel, but then the heat wouldn't reach farther down. While it might have been 120 right near the panel, I could barely get it over 80 degrees on the substrate after running it full power. No good there...

It was the 80 watt they recommended to me for my 4'x2'x2' critter condos.

This was winter and that room in the house could get around 75 degrees at times, so I chalked it up to the overall room temp getting too low and the 2' height of the cage.
Also just adding - it came to me with a minor cosmetic issue, the red light on the front that tells you when it's running never worked. I called them up and they offered to have me ship it back for a replacement, but I didn't want to spend more money on it at that point. Still the 10 year warranty was very nice anyways.

So my experience with them was poor, but I think they might work well in a room that doesn't get very cold or for for a 1' tall enclosure anyways. I guess if the cage has to be taller then it might work for an animal with elevated basking spot/perch.
I really did like how "safe" it was compared to other methods, so it was a shame that it didn't work out.

BTW While I didn't use it in a boaphile plastics cage, I don't believe it would ever get hot enough to melt them or cause problems. Boaphile plastics use their own heat panels and RBI's heat panel FAQ is fairly proud about how they don't reach overly high temps. It also mentions being safe in PVC caging http://www.reptilebasics.com/radiant-panel-faq
Hope that helps~

Interesting, I know the panesl that come in the boaphile cages absolutely suck, they barely warmed up directly on the panel itself. Its very difficult to see which way to go because there is so many up and down stories.... not sure which way to go really

cant really go wrong with heat tape

Heat tape doesnt really work in this situation really, its been attached before and just doesnt work. For one, if you do it under or behind the actual enclosure, it doesnt make it through to the animal and doesnt get very warm, inside the cage on the other hand gets a specific area warm but not any other area, plus it wouldnt go to well with any of the monitors claws on it. Really just looking at things that warm up a much larger ambient area, rather than just a spot. But yeah, we tried the heat tape thing, and it just didnt work very well in this situation, unlike how well it works in rack systems.