• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

How long for heat pad to heat up?

H

hammy48

New member
I have had two of them on for an hour already and they are barely warm, if they are warm at all... is this normal?! One is an 8 watt, and the other one might not work, but it is a 16 watt.
 
You need to check the temp with a thermometer, not your hand. You can't feel how warm it is because it is less than your skin temp. But I would watch it for several hours. I give a new set-up at least 24 hours to stabilize before putting a snake in.
 
I am now checking with a thermometer and after two hours they are about 5 degrees warmer than room temp. After I added aluminum foil to the bottom it got noticeably more warm to the touch within a few minutes. I am going to do temp testing on this enclosure until the weekend (4 days) before I put the snake in. That way I can get the perfect temps in the right spots.
 
I bought a exo-terra heat wave "rainforest". It is sized for a 30-40 gallon tank; mine is a 30 gallon. It is barely producing any heat. I aluminum foiled the hell out of it and it still is barely warm. Not 85 on the glass even, never mind any ambient temps getting near that. It is only the 8 watt though. I am going to take it back and buy one of the "desert" ones instead. They have twice the wattage for the same size! I was also considering the cobra brand ones... any thoughts? Either way, no matter what I get it will be hooked up to a good thermostat, so no worries there.
 
I use the Exo-Terra Heat Wave Desert...it has ZERO problems getting up to temp. It will easily get to 110* if left unregulated. What are you using to measure the temp of the UTHs?
 
I need help people I wanted to know about how to remove heat pads for when u r cleaning ur tank. I know ur not suppose to move em or they mess up but u need to keep ur tank sanitary so how do you guys deal with this?
 
I use the deserts, too. I was worried the rainforest might not get warm enough. With a thermostat, you can always dial it down, but you can't make it heat up.

In respect to cleaning, the UTH is on the outside of the tank. I've personally never had to submerge the tank for cleaning anyway, I can get it clean enough in place.
 
I was measuring temperatures with a laser temperature gun (very expensive accurate model), a laboratory temperature probe, and the stick on thermometers on the inside of the tank. Sounds like the "desert" is the one to buy!

Well I also do not see a need to remove it for cleaning... but in case you want to know...

If I ever had to re-adhere one I would use high temperature silicone. Even regular silicone would work.
 
On my UTH instructions, it said it could take up to 6 hours to reach its peak. As for cleaning, i wouldn't recommend taking it off. I had to rip half of mine off once because i placed it incorrectly, and then put it back on. Now the temp doesn't get over 85 ever (on the carpet, that is, not glass)
 
See above post about re-adhering. Yeah, I read that 6 hour thing, and I left mine on for six hours and even insulated it and it still would have only let the snake properly regulate it's temp if it was lying right on the pad!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top