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zoo med heat pad where to place.

salty pigeons

salty pigeons

New member
hey, i know i have to place the heat pad on one side of the tank or the other and keep the water on the opposite side. but i dont have a way of keeping my snake from burrowing under and laying directly on the heat pad, so that brings me to thinking of putting it on the side of the tank, but then. he could try to climb the wall at night when hes active and that could give him burns. what should i do, im going to be using aspen as substrate.
 
Just go ahead and attach it to the bottom of the cage, then place the probe to a digi thermometer right over it inside the cage. Use a rheostat or thermostat to regulate the temp so it doesn't get hot enough to burn him. I keep mind at about 85f.
Hope this helps you.
 
What is your enclosure made of? I have a Glass tank and i have mine set underneath, with a bit of space underneath for air circulation. If its made of wood You would have to place it inside the tank, underneath a ceramic tile or piece of glass to radiate heat, as well as protect the heat mat from moisture, and protect your snake from direct contact with the mat. As advised already, a heat mat left uncontrolled can heat up to temperatures much too high for your pet, and a regulating device is required.
 
That is why you need a thermostat or rheostat to control the UTH..without one your UTH will definitely get extremely hot and pose a danger to your snake. I'm currently using the Repti-Therm500R thermostat from "Reptilesupply.com" and have never had a problem with it..I would suggest looking into that or do a search on how to make your own rheostat..there is a thread on here somewhere that shows you how...Also don't forget to get a thermometer with a probe to put over the UTH so you can always know the temp over the UTH.
 
i have a circular zoo med thermometer, i goes up to 120 farenheight. what temperature does a heat pad go up to to actually burn that tank or hurt it. because the last time i check the temp on my old heat pad it was at 90 or something like that. but it broke so yesterday when i bought the new one i read all the instructions over again and it said to place a zoo med carpet over the heat pad and then substrate to protect from direct contact. but last time i didnt use one and i dont have one now, and i never had a problem with him, he never burrowed under his cave. but i also made the substrate alot thicer over the heated part.
 
but anyways.
if i dont have anyhting to protect my snake from direct contact if he burrows, do you think he will definatly get burneD? im using aspen substrate but i dont have an under carpet over the heat pad. i havent put it on yet. but i have a heat lamp that puts the temp on one side to about 84-87F other sides 76-78
 
I would not stick the heating pad directly to the tank put it underneath and check your temps and if you need to raise them then you can use a tile or something to make the heating pad go closer to the tank. That way your snake isnt sitting directly on the heating pad and you can control the temps a bit more.

Im a bit of a cheapo and never stick any of them on the tank they are a pain in the rear to get off again if you can at all. and I never know when I might upgrade my tanks. So if I dont have to buy a new HP its always a plus.
 
What I did with my UTH is to put it on the outside bottom of the viv as usual, and than place four ceramic wall tiles over the heat pad area. This way the snake can't burn himself but can enjoy the warmth by lying on the tiles. Give it a try.
 
kkk
thats smart.. i never would have thought about that. does it work if it doesnt touch the tank underneeth though?????? would it not give air circulation?????? they say the bottom of the heat pad has to breathe and stuf... i have it stuck to the side of my tank right now cause i was dumb and didnt think things through.... but if that under the tank idea works ill jsut taker off. because if its not going to be stuck to the tank ill be able to move it around and stuff... im just worried about it over heating and burning the house down or something lol.
 
hmmm.. well its already stuck to the side of my tank...plus i have a heat lamp over that side too so i should be good... they said not to do that because it could cause a stress crack but i dont see how it could....
 
Hi, The heat pad should have come with four rubber nipples which go on the four corners of the glass viv to raise it to allow for air circulation. If you didn't get then you could always put a stack of pennies on each corner.
 
nah man, im not worried about the outside of the tank..im worried about if i put the heat pad on the outside bottom, the snake would burrow to the bottom and lay on it directly and get burned, but i felt the pad today when its on the side of my tank and it doesnt get hot enough to burn him. just warm, but now its on the side of my tank so o well, its heating the side of my tank fine cause i got my heat lamp on too.
 
hey, i just checked out my heat pad and i moved it to the bottom of my tank without a problem. i left for work and came back and i felt the bottom of the tank and came close to burning my finger. good thing he didnt burrow under. i took the heat pad off and im not using it because it gets way too hot, i dont know if the rubber stoppers under the tank are giving it enough air circulation. but my heat lamp is giving my hot spots ground a temp of 87-90. is the total tanks temperature allowed to drop to about 70-74 at night?? because he seems to have been perfect over the last month of me not having a heat pad for him.
 
UTH

The UTH is more cost effective to run than the heat lamp. Just make sure you put some tiles down so the snake can't burn himself. Go to a tile store and pretend you are decorating your kitchen and they will give you a few free samples, just what you need. The result is like a heated bathroom floor like you get in a 5 star hotel. Use four pop bottle caps to raise the tank and it will be fine.
 
I keep my UTH on all the time, and in the Winter or cooler months I supplement it with the heat lamp for about 8 hours a day to keep the temperature in the right zone.
 
that sounds good,but ive already checked all my temps in my tank and they are good without the heat pad. im not too worried about the cost of running my heat lamp, i could get tiles from my dad, cause he installs floors, but the tanks heat spot gets to 87-90 F and inside his hot hide is 90 or a little higher, the other side is 72-76 F.
 
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