Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all:

I was wondering what you all use as far as heat mats go. (under tank) My heat mat (I have a cobra medium size) dosent seem to be getting warm enough. I only get about 80 degrees out of it when plugged directly into the outlet (no reostat). The instructions say that you will get a 20 degree increase over room temp. I keep room temps at about 70 so it seems to be a bit low in output. I wanted to get something a little better and was wondering what everyone uses. Thanks for the great help.
Ralph

How are you measuring the temperature, and do you wait long enough for it to heat up completely?
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chickabowwow

3.2.3 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)

Hi and thanks for the speedy reply

I generaly measure the temps with a digital thermometer that I keep outside of their cage. It has an external sensor that I keep inside of the cage. I read the temps after the heat pad has been on overnight and it reads a steady 80 degrees. Also I have a dial type thermometer that I put in the cage and it basically agrees with the digital thermometer.
Thank you

Ralph

Are you measuring the floor of the tank where the UTH is? That's terrific that you use multiple thermometers.
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chickabowwow

3.2.3 leopard geckos (Rosie, Locke, Lisa, Caesar, Tommy)

I use a Zoo Med UTH, though it really doesn't do much for my ambient air temperature. It makes the floor of the tank almost 90 (though it would make it even hotter if I didn't put cardboard and layers of paper towels on top of it), but to get my ambient temperature up I use a heat lamp with a 100 watt red bulb. Depending on if I'm at home or at my apartment (my dad keeps the house like an igloo), I'll put a carboard 'wall' up to divide the warm and cool sides with a hole cut out for my leo to walk though. Also, my vet advised me to cover up screen lid on the cool side of the tank to keep some of the warm air in. I just use a phone book.