Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Looking at an earlier post gave me an idea. Has anyone ever tried to use a waterbed heater as an UTH for several cages? Might be worth a try to test under an empty viv to see if temps could be controled. They come with a thrermostat attached already. And the weight would be fine too. Just wondering if of you much more experienced people have an opinion. Draybar? Kathy?
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1.2 Ghost Corns, Beetlejuice, Casper and Spooky
1.1 Charcoal het pewter, Smokey and Flame
1.1 Hypo het lavender, Rosy and Rocko
1.0 Anery, Goku
0.1 Amel, Sunny
2.0 Tabby Cats, Daddycat and his son Brat
0.1 Australian Shepherd, Angel

Gypsy

funny you mention that, i was the one that posted about the "heat sheets" look like water bed heaters....... and i thought the same thing, even if not using the heater its self i wont about the thermostat....

>>Looking at an earlier post gave me an idea. Has anyone ever tried to use a waterbed heater as an UTH for several cages? Might be worth a try to test under an empty viv to see if temps could be controled. They come with a thrermostat attached already. And the weight would be fine too. Just wondering if of you much more experienced people have an opinion. Draybar? Kathy?
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I have never tried one but it should work well.
Especially considering it has a thermostat.
I've used human heat pads, heat tape, UTH's and lights. All have thier advantages and disadvantages.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes

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I looked at one today, and I kind of don't think it would be a good idea. One part of the instructions was to only use it with a mattress with at least 8 inches of water. Kind of made me worry.

Thanks for the input, I'll let you know if I go ahead and give it a try or not. They aren't cheep. The one at Walmart was $40.
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1.2 Ghost Corns, Beetlejuice, Casper and Spooky
1.1 Charcoal het pewter, Smokey and Flame
1.1 Hypo het lavender, Rosy and Rocko
1.0 Anery, Goku
0.1 Amel, Sunny
2.0 Tabby Cats, Daddycat and his son Brat
0.1 Australian Shepherd, Angel

Gypsy

Jeez for that much you can get three heat sheets...LoL But I doubt you would want the heat sheet.

if the heat sheets are what i am thinking they are they actually work pretty good, as long as you dont bend them up. when i had my collared lizard i had one on his tank, and it kept his warm side 90 degrees.
what i am thinking of is the hagen heat wave, its clear plastic and you cane see the little heating element inside..... thing is they are just like little mini water bed heaters, if you bend or break the element they no longer work, thats the hang up with the heat wave heat mats.

the only thing i will say i dont really like about the zoo med heat mats are they warp after time..... or atleast all four of mine have warped.

You have kinda the right idea, The heat sheet is a perfect Sqaure and is black with see through lines going up and down (heating element?). I'll just get the heat sheet, better to try it rather than not. It has to be OK since there was NONE left when I came back to the store. The guy said they were sold out, so I'm very curious as to how will they work and how high the temps can get. I'm not paying $40+tax for a heater unless I try every cheap alternative (except hot rocks ofcourse).

yeah i know what you mean, the one i had worked really well for me, kept my lizards enclosure at 90 degrees in the heated side.
but i made the mistake of sticking it to the glass bottom of the tank.... then when i got him a new enclosure i pulled the heat sheet off and broke it..... since then i have been sticking them to ceramic tiles, that way they can be moved, actually i have wonder if you could take tile grout and make a tile to stick them to......

Just got some from the shed, maybe I can put the heater under them. But won't the ceramic melt or something over time? Just curious. And how is it more easier to take it off the tile? I was thinking about putting Aluminum foil over it or something Instead.

I BELIEVE the crappy one I was thinking of was exxo terra. Just thin white plastic. doesn't heat worth a darn.
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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"

LoL phiber, Now I can buy my self a heat sheet without worrying about it being crap. The one I was refering to (not exoterra thin clear plastic lol) is totally different and looks kind of neat. I'm going to get it tomorrow.

you stick it to the ceramic tile and leave it there, if you need to move it, you move the tile and all....

i think you are right i was out yesterday and looked at the exoterra, thats not the one i bought before..... so i dont know any thing about them.....what i bought was a cobra heat mat, they seem to right next to zoo med in popularity.... but no where around here sells them i have to order them.....
four paws makes one..... dont know any thing about them, they are cheap and look kind of cheap to me, but im not sure.
what i want to know about is zoo meds heat cables?? any one here use them??

Yep, I'm using one of those heat wires, have threaded it through 2 shelves of a bookcase, then put tupperware in the shelves- you can double it where you want more heat, single for less...

It can build up fast though, you want to lay it parallel if you are doubling it- I have melted through the bottom of a standard ?polycarb? Kritter Keeper with it, kind of eye-opening...

I only use it instead of heat tape since it's cheap and locally available.

With the Zoo-Med pads- these days I just scotch tape them roughly in place, I've found that they easily get a tank up to 90 plus degrees if you stick them on real good, I have wound up with a mess of dimmers, etc- one winter project on my list is building an organized control panel...

I don't know if you were being sarcastic or not but an organized control panel for seasons,night,day,breeding,incubation would be the smartest thing built next to the digital camera. People would pay BIG BUCKS for one of those. But then again You might be joking so I'll stop ranting.

Hah! I think you're picturing something that looks like a sound mixing board, dial in temps, sliders set the humidity via mister units, and yes, there are people who would pay $5000 each for the prewired rack with wireless controller, etc, LOL

I have more modest aspirations, just a box to neatly contain the plugs/multistrips, with the labelled rheostat dials sticking out, now I have a big tangle, never quite sure which tank is plugged into which rheostat.

I've found the heat wire is actually easier to set and forget than undertank pads with aftermarket rheostats...each run of wire is worth about 4 degrees above room temp, so for example a doubled wire keeps my young rainbow boas consistently right about 78-80 on the warm end, but one run just warms up one end of my corn hatchlings to about 74-75...