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Is this the right size heat mat?
- Thread starter squashy
- Start date
Tula_Montage
It's Jager time!
squashy said:
To my knowledge Heat mats should never be placed inside the viv!!!
for many reasons:
The most ovbious is the burn factor, i hope to god you have a thermostat to regulate the heat to no more than 84...
Second, the snake may spoil it with pee and poop etc...
What substrate are you planning to use?
If its aspen, expect the snake to bury itself and come into contact with the heat mat. That goes for any substrate the snake can get under.
If its news paper, you would need a hell of a lot.
Please explain...
loise
"CrazyDame"
if you are going to use it inside the viv there are some good answer to the question.. you could use a thin styrofoamplate underneath the heatmat and then a 4mm glas over that, and ofcourse you have to have it on a good thermostat... that will prevent the heatmat to get to warm, and burning the viv ore the snake, that can´t gett to it!
good luck!!! :cheers:
good luck!!! :cheers:
MomFor2Gifts
MomFor2Gifts
squashy said:
As a heat mat is to cover 1/3 of your tank and your tank is 90cm long then 30cm would be the heat mat length needed to cover 1/3 of your tank. Personally 28cm seems close enough to me, as long as you have a thermostat controlling your heat emittance.
That 1/3 rule can be confusing because it isn't 1/3 of the width, and length of the tank it is 1/3 the length only. For the width you actually want the width to cover 3/4 of the width of the tank. In specifics, in a 90 cm x 38 cm tank you would then be using a 30cm x 25cm, or something as close to that as possible.
It is a guideline simply to show you what size mat you should use to prevent overheating a viv. What you have sounds perfect for the viv you purchased. :wavey:
MomFor2Gifts
MomFor2Gifts
squashy said:
Back when we used heat mats, we noted that each manufacturer warned not to place the heat mats on the glass itself and also urged not to place it in the tank with your reptile to prevent burns. However some people still do it anyway.
We now use a pro heat panel, so that actually goes in the viv itself but if I were to go back to a heat mat for some reason I would do what we had done before. We took very slim tile ( found in your hardware store in the tile section ) we sandwiched the heat mat between two sets of tile, then put that on the underside of the tank.
The trick though is to get tile so thin that you do not raise the tank off its surface. If you raise the tank off the shelf surface, or wherever you have it placed, you are allowing heat to escape from under your tank.
Pick a thin tile, ( trust me they have some super thin tile now or you can use slate, etc.) Shiny side ( or finished side ) of the tile faces upside down. There is a finished side and rough side of each tile. So what you want to do is sandwiched your heatpad between the two rough sides of the tile. If you do it smooth (finished) side facing each other it actually keeps the heat from getting to the viv like it should. ( Hope that makes sense )
Good luck :wavey:
MomFor2Gifts
MomFor2Gifts
The pro-heat heat panels are a patented product only sold by its manufacturer who is located in the United States, however I am sure you could contact them and possibly make arrangements to have it shipped to the U.K.
I love these folks. You can email them or call and they will talk with you about your viv size, what it is made out of, ambient temp, low temps, etc. and will let you know what is perfect for your snake or other reptile.
These people are so informed on all the aspects of their care that it is just awesome to talk to them alone. You can also simply email them with questions on size of heat panel.
They have a 10 year warranty and when they say 10 years they mean it. No matter what goes wrong during that warranty time they will replace it. Which is the reason they are not sold in pet stores. They don't want a product that lasts because then you would not be a repeat customer for that item.
Anyway - Here is their link if you want to check them out
http://www.pro-products.com/proheat.html
I love these folks. You can email them or call and they will talk with you about your viv size, what it is made out of, ambient temp, low temps, etc. and will let you know what is perfect for your snake or other reptile.
These people are so informed on all the aspects of their care that it is just awesome to talk to them alone. You can also simply email them with questions on size of heat panel.
They have a 10 year warranty and when they say 10 years they mean it. No matter what goes wrong during that warranty time they will replace it. Which is the reason they are not sold in pet stores. They don't want a product that lasts because then you would not be a repeat customer for that item.
Anyway - Here is their link if you want to check them out
http://www.pro-products.com/proheat.html
I use a heat mat inside a wooden viv and cover it with a few sheets of newspaper and about an inch of aspen. I use a good thermostat which keeps the temp pretty much constant, so as long as you have a good thermostat putting the heat mat inside the cage should be fine. Iv attached a pic of the thermostat i use, only about £20!
Attachments
MomFor2Gifts
MomFor2Gifts
I am not sure I would trust a heat mat under newspaper and then over the newspaper finely shredded wood ( aspen ). I would think that is creating a double scenario for a fire in the viv.
Paper is pretty easy to catch fire, especially newspaper that has no coating and is made from fine, recycled, pulp wood, and should you add the finely shredded light wood ( aspen ) on top of that. It would just really concern me personally.
I would think if the mats state not to put it in a viv because it can burn your snake/reptile then it also would be wise not to put something, like paper on top of it, that would increase the risk of fire, which could burn your snake/reptile.
Just a thought. I know everyone has their preferences, I just wasn't sure if this had been addressed or not in order to make a decision on what to use. Also with a thermostat you are measuring the temp in the viv not the temp of the heat mat itself so you have to take that into consideration when adding something over top of the mat itself. Keeping in mind that it has to heat through all that over it to produce the temp you want your viv to stay at.
Paper is pretty easy to catch fire, especially newspaper that has no coating and is made from fine, recycled, pulp wood, and should you add the finely shredded light wood ( aspen ) on top of that. It would just really concern me personally.
I would think if the mats state not to put it in a viv because it can burn your snake/reptile then it also would be wise not to put something, like paper on top of it, that would increase the risk of fire, which could burn your snake/reptile.
Just a thought. I know everyone has their preferences, I just wasn't sure if this had been addressed or not in order to make a decision on what to use. Also with a thermostat you are measuring the temp in the viv not the temp of the heat mat itself so you have to take that into consideration when adding something over top of the mat itself. Keeping in mind that it has to heat through all that over it to produce the temp you want your viv to stay at.
scad2k
New member
i wouldnt risk ever putting a heat matt inside a viv.
I know someone who did that and there snake got a nasty burn when there thermostat bust.
Im having a viv made at the moment with a double layer floor so the heat mat fits in between the bottom of the viv and the floor of the viv
I know someone who did that and there snake got a nasty burn when there thermostat bust.
Im having a viv made at the moment with a double layer floor so the heat mat fits in between the bottom of the viv and the floor of the viv
MomFor2Gifts
MomFor2Gifts
Not sure if you have read this or not. http://www.zoomed.com/html/reptitherm_manual.pdf
It is directly from zoomed itself. It is their directions for use.
Scroll through to the very last statements on page 2 on the right hand side and reference what it says about newspaper, you might also want to read what it says about placing it in the viv and the danger it poses.
Also where it mentions using newspaper it states it voids your warranty and releases them from any liability to your property, product or animal, which to me says a whole lot about not using that.
I am not knocking you for using it, I am just pointing out what the manufacturer says are safe practices and that you should go by the manufacturers instructions for any item purchased to care for your family or pets.
It seems that the potential for fire is there, as they list all these things you should not do with it, to prevent such injuries and if you do, then you are doing so knowing the risk and agreeing that you would release them from liability for any property damage, damage to your animal and there own product.
Personally to me those are pretty high gambles and I would just stick with using it the proper way.
It is directly from zoomed itself. It is their directions for use.
Scroll through to the very last statements on page 2 on the right hand side and reference what it says about newspaper, you might also want to read what it says about placing it in the viv and the danger it poses.
Also where it mentions using newspaper it states it voids your warranty and releases them from any liability to your property, product or animal, which to me says a whole lot about not using that.
I am not knocking you for using it, I am just pointing out what the manufacturer says are safe practices and that you should go by the manufacturers instructions for any item purchased to care for your family or pets.
It seems that the potential for fire is there, as they list all these things you should not do with it, to prevent such injuries and if you do, then you are doing so knowing the risk and agreeing that you would release them from liability for any property damage, damage to your animal and there own product.
Personally to me those are pretty high gambles and I would just stick with using it the proper way.