# Heat mat fire :(



## LFBP-NEIL (Apr 23, 2005)

One of our customers shared this picture with us the other day, its an unbranded heat mat that that was on a thermostat but it malfunctioned, luckily they were in the room at the time and smelt the burning before their house had the chance to burn down...











I have decided to put together a special priced package for anyone wanting to upgrade their heatmats to something a bit more reliable if anyones interested...










Any Habistat Heat Mat Plus Mat Stat combo Deal


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## Paul_c (Mar 11, 2011)

LFBP-NEIL said:


> One of our customers shared this picture with us the other day, its an unbranded heat mat that that was on a thermostat but it malfunctioned, luckily they were in the room at the time and smelt the burning before their house had the chance to burn down...
> 
> IMAGE#1
> 
> ...


this happened to me last year, the viv was smoldering away! it was in my daughter's room too! luckily my wife smelt it as she was going to bed. scared the life out if us. And mine was a habistat on a habistat matstat. we had recently moved and it may have been damaged causing a short? Anyway, let this be a lesson to everyone, make sure you check them and change them where needed. And don't use a really old one!



_Posted from Reptileforums.co.uk App for Android_


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## Ultimate Stench (Feb 7, 2013)

Yeah i agree with PAUL C. You need to treat your heat mat like you do with your bulbs, Thats replacing them every 6-12 months. Or you run the risk of the mat malfunctioning and catching fire. Its not a high price to pay when you think what an unattended fire could do!! Any fire in a wooden box doesn't sound good to me!! 

I defiantly know what im going to be doing from now on :whistling2:


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## kitschyduck (May 30, 2010)

I've used unstatted and old, worn heat mats INSIDE damp Exo Terra cubes for inverts in the past and even received a small electric shock before. I didn't even realise why my hand felt like it was tightening up when I touched it at first.

This actually wants me to now throw out ALL my heat mats as I've had them years now and my current cockroach colonies seem to breed well without them.


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## ChelsNLuke (Jun 23, 2012)

Was the rep/invert/amphibian that was in there ok?
-Chels


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## spottymint (Oct 3, 2010)

Yep, heard of someone on a garden forum, they had a heat matt under a plastic faunarium, Made a nice melted mess before they found it, no major fire luckily. :gasp:


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## kitschyduck (May 30, 2010)

ChelsNLuke said:


> Was the rep/invert/amphibian that was in there ok?
> -Chels


Yeah thanks, I've kept African snails and roaches like that bit never again! I had no idea


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## ChelsNLuke (Jun 23, 2012)

Oh that's good ! What about in the original post as well does anyone know if the animal survived?
-Chels


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## LFBP-NEIL (Apr 23, 2005)

animal was fine as luckily the owner was in the room when it started to malfunction,


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