Worse nightmare...

I came home and smelled a slight 'hot plastic' and ran into the snake room.

Everyone was fine. However one of my heat tape strips burned out. The temp was 130 on the tape and 120 at the hot end of the tub.

This was not the tub that had the thermo sensor in it so the thermostat didn't shut off.

I'm not sure how this happened.

What can I do to make my snakes safer? I've always been afraid of a flexiwatt burn out.

For right now I've unplugged my whole system while I get the new tape (it's coming tomorrow).

I too would like to know what to do. I had one do the same thing a couple months ago. Luckily I caught it pretty quickly. Would foil tape across the whole strip help any?

I have a feeling that foil tape on the whole thing would lead to dangerous heat build up.

lack of air flow + heat tape running unregulated.

What kind of thermostat are you using?

This is always a huge fear of mine, and one of the biggest parts of me deciding to avoid belly heat as much as I can. I have one more rack to replace, but dual side heat and back heat are so much safer in a situation like this.

If there is a flame out on side heat it's safer?

I was using a herpstat. I've been told to get a Spyder.

I use Johnson Controls for racks and cages and Helix for incubators.

Flex watt tape is scary stuff, i dont like using it because its pretty easy to damage

What do you use for heat?