Heat mat inside vivarium

[whiffin]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

But the snake bloke at my local shops says it's OK to put a heat mat inside a vivarium if:

The snake can get off of it
It is thermostatically controlled so it doesn;t get too hot
A good substrate so water doesn't get on it
Stuck down so snake can;t get underneath

Is this right?

Yes it can be done, actually someone on this forum, cant remember his name does and has even posted pics of his viv with the heat mat inside. But for such a setup a THERMOSTAT is a must and the heat mat must be secured to the viv, away from the water.

OKay - this is from another thread, the first quite is mine but I don't wanna "steal" the thread

This is what I'm doing. My heat mat is thermostaticalyl controlled, inside the vivarium and under the substrate. There is a thermometer on both dies (on the wall, an inch from the substrate). The thermostat is on the roof of the vivarium in the middle.

The water is on the cool end

1. Is the thermostat in the right place?

Although the warm end should 29-31 degrees, obviously the heat mat is inside, so if the snake gets too cool, he will burrow down. The mat is obviously hotter than 29-31 - which is bad.

So:

2. How hot should the thermometer be just above (1.5") the heat mat?

3. What should the ambient air temp be in the middle at the top (where my themostat is)

I don't wanna make the hot end 29-31 deg, with the tempature under the substrate being too hot. I guess the snake will move to the cool end if he;'s too hot ... but wanna get it right before I let him in.

The mat is fixed down so he can;t get under it.

Many thanks

 

[whiffin]

Anyone ????

 

[reptile_addict]

I can answer this one.

2. How hot should the thermometer be just above (1.5") the heat mat?
probablt about 75 farenheight. Not sure about celcius. This is warm enough and the snake will burrow deeper to get the needed heat.

 

[Joejr14]

OKay - this is from another thread, the first quite is mine but I don't wanna "steal" the thread

This is what I'm doing. My heat mat is thermostaticalyl controlled, inside the vivarium and under the substrate. There is a thermometer on both dies (on the wall, an inch from the substrate). The thermostat is on the roof of the vivarium in the middle.

The water is on the cool end

1. Is the thermostat in the right place?

Although the warm end should 29-31 degrees, obviously the heat mat is inside, so if the snake gets too cool, he will burrow down. The mat is obviously hotter than 29-31 - which is bad.

So:

2. How hot should the thermometer be just above (1.5") the heat mat?

3. What should the ambient air temp be in the middle at the top (where my themostat is)

I don't wanna make the hot end 29-31 deg, with the tempature under the substrate being too hot. I guess the snake will move to the cool end if he;'s too hot ... but wanna get it right before I let him in.

The mat is fixed down so he can;t get under it.

Many thanks

You're not going to get an accurate measurment with a thermometer up in the air----the point isn't to get a reading of the ambient air tempterature. A heat mat isn't going to do a good job of accomplishing that anyway.

What you really need is a temp gun, so see what the substrate temp is and to see how hot the heat mat is getting. You could always put a piece of tile or something on top of the heat mat and then unregulate the heat mat, or regulate the tempterature up several degrees.