Reptile & Amphibian Forums

anyone ever use human heating pads to heat a vivarium???im thinking of using one but am unsure if they heat the air much,or only heat the substrate.a second concern is,my false bottom is very shallow(less than an inch)and i was worried of them getting too hot and damaging the roots of my plants.i figure while i may crank it up becuase it may not seem to be raising the overall temp in my vivarium,i may be cooking my plant roots that are basically right on top of it.anyone have any advise??oh,please dont reccomend an underwater heater because my water feature is self contained and i keep little to no water in my false bottom(its maninly used as a drain)thanks

Unless your tank is getting colder than 65 F then you will not need any supplemental heat. Also as the lights will heat the tank to some extent during the day, heating the bottom can be risky as it can cause the tank to get too hot and remove the option for the frogs to move to the bottom to get to cooler microclimates.

Also heating pads for people are not made to be placed under an item like a tank where there will be pressure on cords/wires.

Ed

i dont know how true that is,i have read many reptile articles that all state that human heating pads are very underestimated.they are usually used under the tank with no problems and unlike reptile heating pads,these can be adjusted in regards to heat output.has anyone here used them for dart enclosures???oh by the way,im not housing darts so yes,is is important to get the temps up to the mid 80,s.i really am pretty sure it will work in combination with the lights to get the cage to 85,im just worried that in the process it may heat my plant roots too much and cause plant death.my false bottom is very shallow(1/2"then goes straight to soil.besides i keep no water in the falsebottom and only use it to drain..thanks.

it is pretty easy to control the temps in the ones made specifically for heating reptile cages as you can buy a plug in dimmer switch at Lowes to control the temps (see http://www.farm-home.com/cgi-bin/miva?/mn/t7_main.pl frgl ECB 001117 selectldr 0910 JDISTRIB1065-2527~~~~~~~ for an example of one) or if you want to wire one in line this can also be accomplished.

The heat pads I have seen for human use are not water resistant and any spillage in and around a cage can risk a short and or an electrocution.
Also as this is not an approved usage for the heat pad, any damage that results of it shorting out may not be covered under homeowners or renter's insurance.

With respect to the false bottom, water transmits and holds heat better than air so heating the bottom of the cage and having a false bottom is basically the same as having a dead air space which will insulate the bottom from the rest of the tank. You have a insulation barrier. If this was filled with water, the water would heat up and conduct this better into the tank as well as increasing the ambient humidity

Ed.

thanks for the advise ed,ill give it a shot.it regards to the water in my falsebottom,well id love to be able to keep it filled but caused by a designing error(this being my first vivarium),i had a section of my false bottom cave in and now i have very little space between the soil and bottom.so i have found that if i keep any water inside,it saturates my soil.it sucks but as long as i keep it drained ,it seems ok.when this happened i had to abandon my falsebottom fed waterfall and create a self contained one.thanks again for the advise and ill keep you updated.

I agree with EdK about the temp. Unless your tanks are getting much lower than 65 I wouldn't worry about supplemental heating. If you feel you need more heat during the day put your lights closer to the top of your tank.

I will disagree though about the heating pad. I have never used a "reptile" heating pad. A heating pad is a heating pad. It all works using the same principals of electricity; current through a resistance produces heat. What I look for in a human heating pad is that it has an always on setting, heat adjustment, and prefferibly an analog controler. As far as the cord is concerned, there are many ways to releive pressure on the cord, and in all truthfulness, the weight on the cord really isn't important, but what is important is that the tank sits flat with the pad under it.

I will question though the effectiveness of heating the water under your tank though. Even if the water reaches the same temp as the heating pad (roughly 110F), you still have the dirt that will provide insolation from heating the air in the tank. You also might, possibly, risk cracking the bottom of your tank. With the water pulling the heat from the glass it will reduce hot spots that will cause cracking, but the difference in temprature from the top of the glass and the bottom may still be enough to crack the glass. I have cracked a tank with sand in it, but not water.

What I would do is go to Walmart or some other large retailer and buy a heating pad you like. Try it for a day or few, and if you don't like the way it heats your tank then take it back.