Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went and got 2 human heat pads from wal-mart and am VERY dissatisfied. The only reason is because it has a 1 hour auto timer. I looked for 45 minutes but they did NOT have any without the auto off. any way to disable it? Other than the irritating timer it is a dream! spent $9 instead of $60 on the "cobra" heat matt. If you can't turn off the timer is there any other place that would carry heat pads?
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Redtail "Kilo"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"

It has a timer because its not made to be on 24hrs a day 365 days a year. Stop being cheap..spend a little cash and buy one from bean farm or somone similar.

Heat tape is much less expensive than heat mats. You should look into it.

- back when there was no such thing as a reptile heat pad or reptile heat tape! I always heard cautions about fires or overheating, but was always careful to make sure that it only covered about 1/4 of the bottom of the cage, and that there was a small airspace between the pad and the cage bottom.

I never saw one (at least back then - haven't bought any in recent years) that had an auto timer. But we also used heat tapes meant for hot water heaters, and they had thermostats built in that only allowed them to turn on just above freezing. So Bill cut that out and wired the tapes to a ceiling fan switch, which worked great. There is probably a way to bypass the timer in a similar way, and then to just put it on a regular timer, so that it goes off for a while every day, but is on most of the time. BTW, most of my 15 year old pads and tapes still work today!

But I have no electrical training, and it could pose some kind of electrical / fire hazard to do what we did. So you should consult with an electrician or somebody who knows about such things. Just because I did it for many years without a problem doesn't mean I encourage anyone else to do it without checking out potential risks for themselves.

Good luck!

FIRE!!!
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LOL but seriously, J/k nobody try that

I use human heat pads which I picked up at Walmart and pharmacies. You have to look for the heating pads without the auto off switch. To help prevent overheating or burning out the heating pad, I have it on a timer that turns it off for a couple hours every 6 hours.
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PHLdyPayne

I went to the petstore yesterday expecting to get a heat mat but when I opened up the box (they always let me open stuff ) It was a heat sheet... Picture a plastic sheet much like a plastic folder but more thin. Its made by exoterra or something I believe. I'll buy it tomorrow just wanted to see if anyone heard of it before.

they look like a small water bed heater

n/p

they were talking about, the hagen exo terre heat wave, i had one before, i liked it, it worked really well, but the only hang up is like a water bed heater if they get bent it breaks the element and it doesnt work, being they are so slim they do break easy...... but mine got heated really nicely
heat mat

I have bought a couple of heatpads from walmart, and they are always on, since the day I bought them ,(2 month ago) . They are workin perfect, I took the original switch out, and install a dimmer.

I was actually going to buy it, good thing you knew what I was talking about. *Sigh* the pet stores around here are cheap and when I asked one guy for some pinkys he thought I meant human fingers. I guess I will have to make a journey to walmart or Riteaid or wherever to find a human heat pad as I doubt I will find a reptile heat pad at my pet store.

Look around your shop..... most everyone has zoomed. it is one of the most common products out there. has an iguana on the cover (I think)
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Redtail "Kilo"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"

hahahahaha thats the greatest, human fingers, omg lol
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1.0 Albino Corn "Lucky"
1.0 Snow Corn "Snow"
0.0.4 Southern Ringneck "Collar", "Bc", "Lazy", "Biggie"
1.0 Green Amevia "Gizard"