Heat tape and melamine boards

I have my plans together for some cages I'm going to build out of melamine. I was watching YouTube and saw a guy put heat tape inside the cages, on the floor, on the hot side. He covered it with ceramic floor tiles and sealed it with caulk to make it water proof. I seem to remember that you shouldn't sandwich heat tape next to wood because there could be a fire hazard. I also think I remember discoloration on the outside of my last melamine cages where the heat tap was. Am I miss remembering? It seems like even with a good thermostat there would still be a big risk of combustion.

I would not do that either. If an in-enclosure heat pad is needed then there are brands designed to be durable, waterproof, and easily cleaned that can be put into the enclosure.

I used Kane heat mats in the past and liked them. I'm also just learning about RHP's. I'm going to have to do some research on those. Thanks for letting me know that I am not completely guano crazy yet.

Kane mats are awesome but pricey. I have some of the larger ones for my bigger pythons in some enclosures where installing an RHP isn't really feasible. Big Apple Herp also has "IntelliTemp" mats that are decent.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll look into them.