The proper use of heat mats

[rcc52]

Mods could you please make this a sticky as there's so much misinformation about heat mats?

So heat mats are perfectly safe to use IF they're used properly. They're like a mini space heater when used properly.

1) Heat mats MUST be plugged into a thermostat. That's a thermostat NOT a thermometer.

2) The heat mat must NEVER be placed UNDER the enclosure. Instead use it on the back or side of the enclosure.

3) Heat mats have clear edges. Tape them down to insulation. I use foil backed insulation boards used in construction. This makes sure the heat isn't wasted out the back. More efficient.

4) You can use a large heat mat to heat a large enclosure and put smaller enclosures in it.

This is what I do. With the probe being under the mat you don't have to worry about the probe moving or being moved.

View attachment 395676

I see... I'll take a good look at this. Her heat mat seems to have worked ok (on the outside of the tank) for 15 yrs, but perhaps as she's getting older I need to make adjustments?
Thank you very much for your information

 

[Bexx]

As I mentioned, I don’t really allow my rooms to get cold enough to really need one. But, if I did, I would personally have a long heat mat placed horizontally (but vertically angled) on the back wall of each shelf of my rack or cabinet, with the thermostat probe in the center-rear of each shelf and a gap of an inch or so between the mat and my tanks. I did it this way for baby snakes - anything bigger than this got a vivarium with a guarded ceramic bulb. Heat mats work via infrared radiation, I believe, which heats objects and animals inside the tank in the same way that the sun does. I wouldn’t use one for conductive heating, myself.

No offence to anyone who uses them differently - just the way I was taught by my mentor who managed a large private reptile store, had kept snakes and other reptiles for decades, and had a bunker full of the most venomous snakes on the planet, as well as a few large crocodilians.

Edit: Gazing back through the mists of time, I do remember him attaching heat mats to the back panel of glass tanks for young emerald tree boas and green tree pythons. (Further edit: these animals would mainly sit on a centrally placed branch, waiting for food to be waved in front of them (mimicking opportunistic feeding in the wild) and would not press themselves up to the heated glass. A tarantula may well climb the conductively heated wall).

Aware this is an old thread but thank you for this. While right now in spring and summer my temps are alright, in fall and winter it can get well below 65 (f) in my apartment when we're sleeping (because I am NOT running our crappy heating unit 24/7- it's expensive and also WILL bake us while we sleep). I was wondering if I could get a low watt heat pad and a thermostat and just apply it to my shelf, set it so it never goes above like 75-80. I think I'll give it a shot!

 

[dragonfire1577]

The methods used to heat hermit crabs are very similar and make for a great reference if you live in a particularly cold house. Supplemental heating is sometimes useful for getting a little quicker growth too imo and can make some of the painfully slow growing sp a bit easier to get past the point of tiny sling.

 

[Bexx]

The methods used to heat hermit crabs are very similar and make for a great reference if you live in a particularly cold house. Supplemental heating is sometimes useful for getting a little quicker growth too imo and can make some of the painfully slow growing sp a bit easier to get past the point of tiny sling.

Oh, thanks! I never knew that hermit crabs needed heating... They actually have heaters made for hermit crabs that will raise the temperature about 5 degrees. I think come winter I'll need a little more than that, but I'll be looking into the proper heating methods! Thanks so much!

 

[eggsbenedict]

Just what I do. My collection are all still juvenile at best, none are yet adult. Kept on enclosures inside a very large rub, with a heat mat on the side, controlled by a thermostat.
Works perfectly.

This sounds like the solution.

Also... this is probably a very dumb question but I guess I'll need to drill a bunch of holes in the external tub too..

 

[Dorifto]

This sounds like the solution.

Also... this is probably a very dumb question but I guess I'll need to drill a bunch of holes in the external tub too..

Yes

You need/want heat and moisture excange. Just a bunch of them, too many and the heat mat will.be useless.