Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do any of you guys put heat pad inside your enclosures? My cages are wood so i can't put the pads underneth. I just got some rhp's to put in my larger enclosures, but some of the small cages won't fit them.

Sure, with Ultratherm heat pads. Just fix them to ceramic tile and you are good to go, as long as the substrate is not wet where you are placing the heater.

I lay the heat pad on the underside of the tile, use a glue gun to dab some blobs of glue around the edges of the pad. Then I place some feet under the corners of the tile to elevate it a bit so water spills won't reach the heat pad. Works great. Acts as a heat mass to reduce hot spots.

If the cages are big, consider Kane or Stanfield heat mats. They can go right inside as they are sealed in tough polyethylene. Use common sense of course (control the heat).
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Mark

Mark,

Do you use a thermostat with this setup?
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Yeah, I used a proportional controller with the sensor on a spare heat mat. Then I plug all of the heat mats, including the spare, into the controller. About the easiest method I could think of without running the sensor into any cages.

Lately I switched back to CHEs for the cages. I know not as economical, but I just like the results. I have no proof of anything, but my theory is that the snakes use this type of heat source very efficiently, especially diurnal snakes like my hognoses. What I mean by efficiently is that they are able to fine-tune their internal body temperatures easily because the nature of the heater.

Cage shown is 24x12x12 for hognose snakes. I use a 30watt Pearlco CHE. It warms the cage floor (and objects below) very nicely without being harsh. The snakes thermoregulate more actively, adjusting their position relative to the heater. Although this time of year I only keep it on during the day and let those nights get nice and cool.

My kings and hogs can eat and not regurgitate even when the cage temps fall into the 60s at night. That is how I know they use these heaters effectively during the day.

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Mark