# heating up my scorpion tank



## beckyl92 (Aug 21, 2009)

i keep them in a 40cmx25cm glass tank with a plastic lid with 7cm square mesh at the top for ventilation. im using a 12w heat mat blue tacked to the back. the temperature is only 21C.. i want to get it to about 26C.
im planning on buying a higher wattage heat mat but i have no idea what.
can someone help me out?


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## beckyl92 (Aug 21, 2009)

anyone?


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## Juggernaut (Aug 10, 2008)

hard to get a reply in this section sometimes :lol2:

its probly of no use to you but when i need a little more heat i stick the tank ontop of my beardies tank. you could put a spotlight onto it, but this might annoy the scorps aswell


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## annarism (Aug 9, 2007)

mine are all on top of my leos viv so they get extra heat from there but my ambient room temp is around 24c so additional heat is just a back up for when it gets cold


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## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

I've had this problem too. 

I would make sure that the heat mat is flat against the glass of the tank (no gaps for heat to escape) and then put a piece of polystyrene behind the mat and stick it down with some insulating tape (which is easier to get off later than clear tape). This directs virtually all the heat that the mat produces straight into the tank rather than letting most of it escape from the back.

You'd be able to get some flat sheets of polystyrene from a local petshop since that's what many vivs come packed with. Otherwise, find out if anyone's bought any furniture from IKEA recently, the flat sheets they pack with their stuff are just perfect. I always save some just for this purpose.

This way you might be able to squeese perhaps an extra 4-5 degrees out of that heat mat. 

Also, I don't know where your mesh is on your lid but I'd make sure that the part directly above the heat mat is covered up - that way the hot air next to the mat will be directed back into the tank rather than escaping straight away.

Hope this helps


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## beckyl92 (Aug 21, 2009)

Chaika said:


> I've had this problem too.
> 
> I would make sure that the heat mat is flat against the glass of the tank (no gaps for heat to escape) and then put a piece of polystyrene behind the mat and stick it down with some insulating tape (which is easier to get off later than clear tape). This directs virtually all the heat that the mat produces straight into the tank rather than letting most of it escape from the back.
> 
> ...


thanks alot  i'll give it a ago.
whats the wattage of the heat mat your using?


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## Chaika (Jun 5, 2009)

I'm using a 14.5 watt Ultratherm vivarium heater (11x11"). I really like these as they seem to be very reliable and are made relatively locally (for me that is, since I live in Scotland ). My tank is about the same size as yours and set up as I described in my previous post. The mat is giving me a relatively constant 26-28 degrees at the cool end of the terrarium, where my scorp's burrow is. Without the polystyrene it used to give about 22 degrees at the same room temperature.


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## lucozade3000 (Aug 16, 2008)

I realised a while ago that heat mats are useless, its quasi impossible to reach anything above 24 except if the room itself is at 30 degrees...(even with a 22w) but good for specimens that dont requier much heat.
Go for infra red, best thing around...

-J


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

lucozade3000 said:


> I realised a while ago that heat mats are useless, its quasi impossible to reach anything above 24 except if the room itself is at 30 degrees...(even with a 22w) but good for specimens that dont requier much heat.
> Go for infra red, best thing around...
> 
> -J


heatmats are infra red...:lol2:


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## lucozade3000 (Aug 16, 2008)

Infra red HEAT LAMP obviously.:whip:


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## scorpion-boy (Dec 14, 2009)

i try not to use a heat mat - they really dont give off enough heat i have found - i have a red heat bulb thats wired upto a temp guage that i can set to specific temps and it will shut off when it requires the proper temp - my scorps are fine with this and donet seem to get annoyed with it - i made the mistake of listening to petshop owners once using a heat mat under the tank - of course just wanting to make money the shop sold me the largest mat that covered the whole of the tank and told me to lay it on the floor - so as soon as things got heated the scorps started to burrow away from the heat - wich infact turned there cage into an oven - i learned the hard way lol 

a good heat bulb and just make sure you keep it humid is suffice imo


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