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Heating Pad, Fire Hazard?

SQUID67

SQUID67

New member
I am new to snake keeping, and have been concerned about maintaining the right temperature in the tank. I have two terrariums for my snake. As I am a teacher, he spends most of his time in the classroom, and the surface he is on is heatproof, so I have attached a heat pad to the bottom and as of now am not worrying about it.

However, on the summer time and winter break I will need to move the snake back to my house, where his terrarium sits on a glass table. I was concerned that a heating pad would damage the glass table (just like how hot water occasionally can crack glass pitchers and cups) and that it might be a fire hazard if I placed the terrarium on top of carpet, wood, or another surface. As such, I saw in the instructions for the heat pad that it can be mounted on the side of the terrarium, however this seems like the heat may not transfer well from the side of the aquarium to the inside. Thoughts?
 
There should be spacers underneath the terrarium, raising it about 1/2" off the surface. You can buy rubber spacers, or I have also used four paperback books of the same thickness under the corners of the tank. I don't think there's a significant fire hazard anyway, unless the heat pad is damaged and shorts out. You should have the heat pad on a probed thermostat so that it doesn't get warmer than 89 degrees.
 
Okay. I have placed the rubber pieces which came with the heat matt on the corners of the tank, but they only lift it slightly off the ground. The surface the tank is on is heat resistant, however I am concerned if the heat may damage the glass table at my house if I move the tank there on the summer times. Unfortunately this is the only surface I have to place the tank on.
 
If it gets hot enough to damage glass, your snake is beyond burnt. The temperatures of a heat mat are in the range of human skin temperature. Not going to hurt your table.
 
Mine sits on a glass table as well. I have a Rheostat hooked up to it so it never gets over heated. The cage itself sit on top of 4 wooden spacers which raise the tank about an inch off the table. No problems.
 
If you need spacers, you can just buy some hard plastic ones designed for furniture for a couple dollars at a Home Depot or even Bed Bath and Beyond.
 
Okay thanks for the suggestion. Do you guys know the best place to get a good thermostat? I checked a petco nearby, they didn't carry any. I'll probably try petsmart tomorrow.
 
My recommendation is the Hydrofarm thermostat. Its not designed for UTHs but many snake keepers use it (including myself) and it works very well. It is less expensive than herp-designed ones (about 30 dollars) and can be bought on Amazon.

LINK
 
I bought a hydrofarm online. I was surprised, because I checked two petstores and neither had it. It is working well so far. I set ththermostate at about 87 degrees, because even with it set this high, so far the temperature has not raised above 85 at the hot end whenever I have checked.
 
SQUID67 said:
I bought a hydrofarm online. I was surprised, because I checked two petstores and neither had it. It is working well so far. I set ththermostate at about 87 degrees, because even with it set this high, so far the temperature has not raised above 85 at the hot end whenever I have checked.
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Since they are marketed to gardeners, the Hydrofarms aren't sold in pet stores. Besides, in a pet store you would pay twice as much for something half as nice ;)

FYI, my thermostat is set about like yours-- a little higher than what the thermometer reads. Bottom line, set it for whatever you need to for the thermometer to read 85. That's the temp that will matter to your snake.
 
I hear you. I just figured a pet store that sells snakes would sell supplies you need to take care of a snake. However I don't think they know what they are doing. When I bought my snake they just had him sitting under a very intense basking lamp, and he had undergone an impartial shed, and they hadn't done anything about it. Also, when I asked them if I could buy him, the pet store clerk freaked out while getting the snake out and dropped him, and he almost escaped if I hadn't snatched him up and put him in container they had.

As someone completely new to raising reptiles, so far my interactions with pet stores have been very eye opening. Now I know why I am reading so much from you guys about shopping outside of petstores for supplies.
 
What type of surface did you guys set your terrarium on? I'm still kind of paranoid about this, as the heating pads instructions say not to place the terrarium and heating pad on either a wood or glass surface. However most surfaces are wood, so I imagine that is what most people use.
 
SQUID67 said:
What type of surface did you guys set your terrarium on? I'm still kind of paranoid about this, as the heating pads instructions say not to place the terrarium and heating pad on either a wood or glass surface. However most surfaces are wood, so I imagine that is what most people use.
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You are correct. That's what many if not most use.

Mine is on a repurposed tv stand which is some kind of wood product particle board covered with some kind of wood grained plastic. I have had no problem, but I do have about 1/2 of space between the UTH and the surface. The important thing is to have that space. That's what the feet that come with UTH are for. You can also buy bigger feet at most hardware stores if needed.

Along with the thermostat keeping the UTH quite a bit cooler than human body temp most heat pads max out their temp at about 100F (though if in and enclosed space, used improperly, or defective it can go higher.)

My UTH is 8 watts. That's not a lot in the scheme of heating devices, though of course with any heating device it's important to use it properly.
 
SQUID67 said:
I bought a hydrofarm online. I was surprised, because I checked two petstores and neither had it. It is working well so far. I set ththermostate at about 87 degrees, because even with it set this high, so far the temperature has not raised above 85 at the hot end whenever I have checked.
Click to expand...

Hydrofarm is made for plant seed heat mats, so you would't likely find it in a pet store. Maybe a farm supply store though.

That is the one I generally recommend for someone looking for an inexpensive thermostat. I know lots of people who use them.
 
I got the Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat for Heat Mats from Amazon and love it. Works fine with petunias or corn snakes! And as far as the mat getting too hot, as stated before, that's what that space is for. If you have air flow under the viv, even just a little bit, it's like a heat sink -- but only using air! It won't harm a wood or glass table.
 
I agree that it's ridiculous that pet stores don't sell appropriate supplies. But there are so many types of pets and they're making their buying decisions on chain policy or for smaller stores on sales reps.

When I read that your mat isn't going above 85, I'm wondering if you have the right kind of mat. I'm pretty sure the "rainforest" mats don't go as warm as the "desert" mats. If it warmed up by turning up the thermostat, disregard this!
 
Oh no. If I set the thermostat at 87, then the temperature averages around 85. If I set what I believe to be the upper limit at 85, then the temperature has been averaging around 83. As from what I've read the temperature should be around 85 on the warm side, I've left my heating pad set at 87 degrees.

Its a hydrofarm thermostat. I was just annoyed that I had to buy it online and couldn't find it after visiting multiple pet shops.
 
Thanks guys for the heads up about the air space underneath. Currently, my terrarium is at my work on a heatproof surface. However when I move the snake to my house on the summer time I will install spacers on the bottom of my home terrarium so the heating pad won't damage the glass table.
 
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