Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was in a local hobby store today getting some cheap fake plants for some of my cages.
I occasionally put together model cars and airplanes, so I always venture down the model aisle.
I passed by the model train section and found some rubber molds to make fake boulders and cliffs for a model train set.

I was wondering if I could use something like plaster in the mold, and lay a 2-3 inch long piece of 1 inch flexwatt in it and let it dry to make a safer heat rock.

Has anyone else ever tried a DIY heatrock???

Im just looking for some thoughts positive or negative
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0.1.0 albino burmese
1.0.0 normal burmese
1.0.0 redtail boa
1.0.0 albino corn
0.1.0 creamsicle corn
0.1.0 okeetee corn
1.0.0 black rat snake
1.1.0 leopard geckos
0.0.7 northern copperheads
1.0.0 southern copperhead
0.0.1 broadband copperhead
0.0.1 timber rattler
1.0.0 green iguana
0.0.1 veiled chameleon
2.1.0 ball pythons
0.0.1 mexican red knee tarantula
0.0.3 emperor scorpion
0.0.1 cobalt blue tarantula
0.0.1 orange baboon tarantula
and a bunch of breeder mice and rats

It's an interesting idea, but I fail to see how a home-made heat rock is going to be any safer than a store-bought heat rock. I feel the concept for a heat rock is flawed in general, since the heating element is buried within an insulating material. The unevenness of the 'rock' makes for an uneven heat distribution (since some areas will be much closer to the heating element than others), and the heating elements have a tendency to burn up because they are embedded in the material.

If you do attempt it, I am sure that there is probably a specific type of plaster you would need to use, and a particular kind of finish you would need to use. What use do you have for a heat rock anyway? Just curious.

When I first got into this hobby a local breeder built his own heat rocks for Leopard and Fat-Tail geckos. Unfortunately all I can tell you is that he used concrete -- no idea on what he used for a heating element.

Regarding the previous poster's comments, he is sort of right and sort of wrong.

He is right in that it would be a bad idea to have the heating element embedded in an insulative material.

He is wrong in saying that the materials used in heat rocks have an insulative effect, as that is not really true. In reality the concrete or plaster acts as a thermal mass source and increases the efficiency of heating element.

This is little different than somebody placing a piece of tile or clay flowerpot over a UTH in a cage. The heat from the pad can move conductively through the tile or pot and then there is a larger surface area for the heat to radiate from.

The principal behind heat rocks is sound, it's the execution that leaves so much to be desired. Unfortunately I don't have any ideas to help you with the execution.

I'd rather see you use those molds and plaster to make your own racks and heat them from above with a bulb, CHE or RHP. You'd essentially be turning those rocks into heat sources the same way nature does.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I'll let you know, since I purchased some plaster to do just that.

A great heating element is heat rope. The watt density is low so even at full blast, there is little danger of reaching dangerous temps. It is already encased in a silicon jacket and can be imbedded in wet soil with no worries. I have a few to experiment with.

I can offer you an easy solution: get a heat pad of the type that is laminated in plastic (Ultratherm, ESU, etc) and tape (aluminum foil tape) it to the bottom of a piece of ceramic tile. That is a heat rock of sorts, and it works great for geckos and such.
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Mark

Thanks everybody for the suggestions and input!

I hope everyone has a great holiday season!!
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0.1.0 albino burmese
1.0.0 normal burmese
1.0.0 redtail boa
1.0.0 albino corn
0.1.0 creamsicle corn
0.1.0 okeetee corn
1.0.0 black rat snake
1.1.0 leopard geckos
0.0.7 northern copperheads
1.0.0 southern copperhead
0.0.1 broadband copperhead
0.0.1 timber rattler
1.0.0 green iguana
0.0.1 veiled chameleon
2.1.0 ball pythons
0.0.1 mexican red knee tarantula
0.0.3 emperor scorpion
0.0.1 cobalt blue tarantula
0.0.1 orange baboon tarantula
and a bunch of breeder mice and rats

Where are you getting heat rope and how do you cut it and connect it to the electrical cord?

Where are you getting 1 inch flexwatt?
Jay