Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I thought I would try something new...I tried putting a heat pad under one of myplastic bins. Its the kind you use for a sore back and whatnot. (they are cheap....$15 at the drugstore)I turned it on med, plugged it into a t-stat, and for the last 24 hours it has worked great. They are super cheap, and a lot easier to work with than cable. My question is: does anyone know of a good reason NOT to use these? It is under the bin, so there is no risk of it getting wet, plus, when set on med, it never gets hot enough to melt the plastic, so even with a t-stat malfunction, I won't end up cooking my snakes. (obviously I would do all I can to prevent that, but hey, a little extra insurance never hurts!)
The reason I ask about it, is that I have never heard of anyone doing this before, so I am trying to figure out if there is some flaw that I have over looked.
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James.....
"Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought the beast back."

There are plenty of people that use this, at least as a temporary solution. While I don't see any reason to not use it long term, I also have not tried it out long term, and don't know if someone else has had negative experiences.
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-Jaime Palma
Mad-City Constrictors

I've used them for temporary situations - but found they burn out rather easy - they weren't meant to stay on for extended use. For a fraction of the cost you can buy yourself flexwatt.
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Tosha
JET Pythons

Like Tosha said - they weren't meant for extended use.

One of the first snakes I rescued was being kept on a human heat pad... The pad did almost nothing to heat through the glass of the cage. This may have been a function of it being about to burn out... but I wouldn't trust them to be consistent over a long period of time.

~jenny
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"Polysyllabism in no way insures that what you're saying is actually worth being heard." - Blake (an e-friend of mine)

"I have never made but one prayer to god, a very short one: "O lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And he granted it." - Voltaire

only problem that i can see is if it is a heat pad for a person they are not designed to be left on 24/7 and could possibly over heat the insulation causing a fire

hope this helps

Some very good points. I will stay away from using one. I thought there had to be good reasons for not using them, but you know what they say about curiosity.
Thanks guys!
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James.....
"Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought the beast back."

actually i have been using a normal heating pad for over a year now. I'm working on building a rack and will use flexwatt for that but the heating pad has been working great so far. i only use mine on low and according to the readings temp and such have been consistant and where they need to be.