Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Note: I am posting this here because it is one of the top forums. General heating is a concern and shouldn't matter TOO much on the type of snake... so I hope I don't offend you. (I have garters and yes I posted there too...)

Well I've had no success with my general post so I'm trying to get more specfic.

I am getting custom cages... I don't know what yet but the kind of heating "thing" I use currently is the kind you stick to the bottom of the glass in aquariams... and that won't work for a non-glass bottom.

So I have been looking at heat pads. I would like some recomendations. I Don't want to use a thermostate and I don't think they should need one. (ie if it was constructed right in the first place...etc etc)

What kind of substraite do you use with them/it?

CAn you get the particular brand you use wet?

If you put a papertowel over it would it catch on fire? or in other words, how safe is it?

How hot does it get? Temp MUST be constant no matter how long its been on (acctually I keep my under the tank heaters on 24/7 without a variance) Would you trust your reptile laying on it bare? - without substrate inbetween?

I'm exp looking at big apple's dragon lair heat mats... anyone use one of thouse?

Thank you for your time. I will probally post this in more then one forum to try to get a wide varity of responces.
PLEASE don't be generic...

like "oh yeah I use a heat pad" or "I use both pads and lights" or " I would never use a heat pad"
Please give me details of why or why not and brand names. I REALLY need brand names!

Thank you.
- Sharon

I do like the Dragon's Lair Heat Mats from Big Apple.
However I use them under glass aquariums and rubbermaids (not inside the enclosures). They are not stick on type.

I use Aspen or paper towels as substrate

They get to 100 degrees or more (so no I would not want any of my snakes laying directly on them) But with substrate and the enclosures elevated up off of the heat mats I have not needed to use a thermostat.

I also have TRex Cobra heat mats and they get even hotter than the Dragon's Lair. One in particular got super hot so I did plug that one into a rheostat.

Thanks for the reply.

I thought on the website it said only 90.

Well these cages are going to be stacked on one another so I can't put heating stuff underneigh.

I was also thinking about useing a paper thin "flooring" from a sit eI found on here... I'll probally post a question about them as well...

- Sharon
PS do thermostate regulate the heat in the CAGE or the heat on the PAD? also never heard of ... what were they retrostats?

they do say 90 on the website (and TRex claims 100 for theirs) but they get hotter. Plus I'm thinking that being underneath something causes them to build up even more heat (even though my cages are elevated up off of them.)

I think if you use a thermostat with a probe inside the cage then that would regulate the heat IN the cage by turning the heating device on and off to maintain the desired temp. But if you use a rheostat that just cuts back on the amount of electricity going to the heating device, therefore it doesn't get as hot as if it were being used by itself.

I sure hope that helps somewhat!

Good luck!
Traci

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I use flexwatt heat tape on all my racks. Some with dimmers and some with rheostats. The racks that hold my colubrids are setup with dimmers and the ones with boids are setup with rheostats.
For a couple of tanks, quarantine rubbermaid/sterilite boxes, etc. I make my pad from a piece of flexwatt. I glue a section of ensolite pad (backpackers blue insulation pad)to a piece of pressboard. I then cut a section of flexwatt, wire it, and tape it to the pressboard. Place this under the tank, box, etc. run it for an hour or so and check the temp. I can then cut down the flexwatt to control the temp. Just cut off an inch at a time until you have a hotspot of the desired temperature.