Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This isn't about amphibians, but I thought you guys might be able to help with under tank heating. Thanks.

With the colder months coming, i'm starting to get a little worried about being able to keep my scorpions warm enough. Right now it's about 75F in my room but I want to make sure My scorps are warmer before it gets really cold outside. I have the scorpions in plastic "Kritter Keepers" and cant have heat pads under all of them. The Cages are sitting on a metal shelf. Do you think I could get a lerge heat pad on put it on the bottom of the shelf? Do you think that would heat the cages enough? More importantly, do you think that'll be safe? I don't want to cause a fire.. Thanks alot.

no, that probably wouldnt work at all. UTHs can lose a lot of heat when applied right to the tank, so none would make it to the tank. and yes it probably would be a fire hazard. maybe some heat lamps above the area pointed at all the tanks. why cant you put UTHs under all the critter keepers, too small? one or two heat lamps should be able to keep them comfortable. how many do you have? what size critter keepers and how many of each?

I have three of the "Large" sized Kritter Keepers. Heat lamps I think would be difficult to set up right, leaving a bit of a heat gradient on one side. I don't know why I can't use UTH. I remember reading that It's not a good idea using them with plastic cages. I don't know. I appreciate your help.

go to the pet shop and look on the packaging for UTHs. if it doesnt say you cant use them on plastic, get one small one, (thats all you will need anyways) and try it. put it on the critter keeper, turn it on, and leave it in the bath tub or something like that so even if it does catch fire it wont burn the house down. if it works, which i think it will since im pretty sure i have heard of them being used like that if i havent seen it, then go get other ones for the other cages. i would get the smallest ones that are made for 5-10 gallons i think.

Unless you have something flammable in contact with the heat pad(s), there is little danger of fire. As far as being warm enough goes, I doubt it. I can't say for sure because I don't know how warm your heat pads get or even what ground temp your inverts need, but I'm willing to bet it will not be near warm enough.

You could move the cages to a warmer part of the house, or simply buy heat pads to put under each one. The heat pads made for humans are not that expensive, and will not get dangerously hot, if put on the right setting. You may also consider using heat tape, but I don't know if that would be warm enough or how much it costs.

Also, about the overhead lamps, I do not think that overhead lamps of any kind are reccomended for inverts, due to the danger of them drying out. Though you may check me on that, I'm not an invert guy.

I appreciate the help you guys are giving me. And thank you for not biting my head off for not posting this stuff in the Amphibians forum.
I believe the head pads I use are the ZooMed brand. I have a medium sized one on a larger tank I use, and to the touch it feels like it's about 100F possibly more. Now I know it's not that warm in the cage, going through glass and substrate. The scorps right now are at about 75F. I don't need to heat them much. They're fine right now, but i'd like to get up to around 85F-90F. I don't fear fire to much. It's a metal shelf and I doubt the Reptibark will catch fire in only 100F. I AM afraid that it'll damage the cage, possibly melt it.