# HELP ON HEAT PADS PLEASE.....



## Greggers (Jun 11, 2006)

Ok this may sound dim but ive heard so much conflicting stuff on it my head hurts CAN I PUT A HEAT MAT IN A VIV . my vivs are all wooden with glass fronts and for years i had my habistat mats in with my snakes the other end to the water bowl no probs .I went into a reptile dealers to find out about extra heating for my carpets ie: ceramics or heat bulb 
the guy in the shop bit my head off saying its an accident waiting to happen i should make false floors for the vivs . This scared me not wanting to kill my wigglers i rushed to B&Q and got some stuff to do as this guy said . 3 false floors down the line im now worried that the pads are to insulated and will over heat . HELP IM A PARONOID MESS


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## Blazey (Apr 30, 2006)

Stick it onto the wall of your viv if ur worried about it being under the reptile. Seen them set up like that on caresheets in our pet shop. My heatmats are under the substrate, taped down inside my wooden vivs so nothing can go under them cuz Don the bosc kept sticking his tail under his. As long as they are secured down i dont see why tehre should be a problem. I havent had any probs anyway.


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## PendleHog (Dec 21, 2005)

The main problem with having heatmats inside vivs is that waste from the animal can be deposited on the heating block. This can cause *electrical failures* and *fires* have been started in this way.

If you must have a heatmat in a viv it should be under a false floor. Most people use a piece of MDF and seal around the edges, your heatmat won't overheat unless you also use a deep substrate which insulates the mat further.

You can mount your heatmat to the wall as this reduced the risk of waste entering the heating block, but I have never done it personally.

Blazey I would recommend moving the mat off the floor, especially with a large, burrowing lizard which will produce a decent amount of waste and also potentially damage the heatmat (I'm thinking Don is a bosc - am I right?) - it isn't things getting under the mat that causes a problem.

If you think I'm being over the top please look at this thread, it has lots of suggestions for using mats safely: http://www.livefoodshop.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=7447&hl=

I dont want anyones animals to harmed by something as silly as a heatmat!


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## Greggers (Jun 11, 2006)

having just seen horror pictures of heat mat burns and read 30 odd peoples views on heat mat safety im still baffled. i have a corn snake in a 3 foot wooden melamine coated viv which has a thin chipboard (also coated) false floor raised 1 and a half cm and covering 1/3 of the base .the heat mat under this is wired to a habistat themostat set at 76 and the sensor is on top of the false floor. is this OK .


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## Blazey (Apr 30, 2006)

i've not got problems with don with his heatmat where it is. I havent worried about him getting the same injuries but i see where ur coming from. Thanx for the extra advice, i'll be sure to sort it out for his safety.


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## Anthony (Mar 12, 2005)

I haven't personaly had any probs. But when i worked in the petshop, we used to get unwanted reps etc, well we got a free glass viv sort of thing, and it had all old heating equipment, and looked like it had it and as it says to clean wipe with a damp cloth, so i did any nearly blew myself up, all spraks started flying out of it, that was a massive shock :shock:


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## Blazey (Apr 30, 2006)

the local pet shop has their mats inside the vivs and tbh, THAT does look horrendous cuz they dont secure them down like what i have done. They have a sand boa in what looks unhappy and inactive that can go under its mat. and they have caresheets to look at showing heatmat on the back wall of a gecko viv yet their own are on the floor.


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## Anthony (Mar 12, 2005)

I know it is horrendous, luckily i was incharge of the rep section at the shop, so could kind of do what i want, if ya know what mean, when i went there the first day, i re-designed all the reptile vivs, they looked marvoulous, everyone was pleased and they got more interest with the reptiles, because they were cleaner and looked good, i don't work there no more and popped in there today, they look realy shitty now  the good thing was i used to supply the shop with the babies i bred (beardies), so i could watch them grow up and sort of be with them and care for them, when i was there, but stoped breeding beardies and then later sold the beardies, i also quite because of the allergy, which was to do with there birds, they had cats,dogs, reptiles, fish, spiders and obviously birds


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## PendleHog (Dec 21, 2005)

I agree with you about the petshop Blazey, that sand boa really needs a home soon, its gonna die in that shop eventually.

Greggers your setup sounds spot on, I don't use heatmats in melamine vivs (always used ceramics) but if I did that's how I'd do it. The air gap you've left will stop the mat overheating.

I'm glad we can have conversations like this and give each other advice without it turning into a slagging match - gotta love this forum!


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## Greggers (Jun 11, 2006)

thank you thats put my mind at rest . You know how it is just need one person to say your doing ok . Thinng is most of my snakes came from work (RSPCA) and im rehoming so even worse if somthing bad happend . i was always pretty sure of what i was doing but this guy in the pet shop knocked me for 6


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