# Crested Gecko heat mat location



## josh9961 (Feb 10, 2011)

Hi all, I've bought the set up for my first crestie and am just in the process of putting it all together, I just have a quick question about the heat mat. The directions on the back of the mat say I should affix it to the underside of the glass vivarium but the instructions I received from the pet shop were to stick the mat to the inside of the vivarium, then place the substrate on top of it. What would you guys advise? If it makes any difference, it's an exo-terra Rainforest medium heat mat. Cheers guys! : victory:


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## ellismera (Sep 28, 2013)

josh9961 said:


> Hi all, I've bought the set up for my first crestie and am just in the process of putting it all together, I just have a quick question about the heat mat. The directions on the back of the mat say I should affix it to the underside of the glass vivarium but the instructions I received from the pet shop were to stick the mat to the inside of the vivarium, then place the substrate on top of it. What would you guys advise? If it makes any difference, it's an exo-terra Rainforest medium heat mat. Cheers guys! : victory:


I was told DO NOT PUT IT IN THE VIV! Mines under the vivs casing on a placemat so it doesnt burn the animal. You dont want it dig the substrate away and burn itself...though I'm not an expert so don't quote me on this, but the pet shop has all his heat mats for al his geckos under the vivs so they dont burn


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## josh9961 (Feb 10, 2011)

Thank you!  I have all my other heatmats in the viv because they're wooden but this is the first glass enclosure I've ever owned so I'm not quite sure how to do it yet!


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## ellismera (Sep 28, 2013)

josh9961 said:


> Thank you!  I have all my other heatmats in the viv because they're wooden but this is the first glass enclosure I've ever owned so I'm not quite sure how to do it yet!


well I have a glass 'komodo' tank and its feet raise it off the ground a little to fit the mat underneath. Mine is under there and both Komodo and the rep shop told me put it here, but mines for Rankin Dragons not Geckos. However, the guy in the pet shop does the same for his geckos. 

I was told them sitting directly on the mat would lead to a very burnt animal. Mines only low wattage as well to keep the tank at 20 degrees at night and is only positioned over the basking area of the tank...where the heat mat is . 

Though like I said. i'm a newbie too, so see if anyone else replies.


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

A heat mat is a completely useless heat source for a crestie. They are arboreal so won't be comfortable going to ground, plus it would be completely unnatural to get heat on the floor for these guys. Substrate on top will only block the majority of the heat anyway, in extreme cases this can cause burns. 

If I were you I'd be looking at getting a ceramic or a canopy, much better heat source for the crestie and allows you to provide warmer temperatures which they benefit from.


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## Gratenkutzombie (Dec 28, 2012)

Using a heat mat to heat a glass tank for a crestie is a little like using a tea pot made out of chocolate.

The heatmat will not heat the air and will not affect temperatures for a non-terrestrial species. You could position it onto the side of the glass. If you need heat and your using an exo terra, purchasing a canopy unit and using some heat bulbs would be better. I have one canopy with one UV bulb and one heat bulb for the day, and a second canopy with 2 x night bulbs for the night and i keep a constant temp of around 23c.


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## ellismera (Sep 28, 2013)

lol told you I prob wasn't correct


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## josh9961 (Feb 10, 2011)

I have a canopy with a heat bulb and UV in it as well :blush: forgot to mention that! It came as a complete kit and the kit included both mat and canopy with bulbs


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## Gratenkutzombie (Dec 28, 2012)

If you find that night time temps needs a boost, buy a second canopy and bang in 2 x 25w night bulbs on a timer stat.


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## Jebb (Jul 3, 2013)

think of a heat mat like a hot water bottle, you only feel the heat when your feet are on the bottle, you then realise the heat is too hot so take your feet off the bottle, so you end up cold again, the bottle does not heat the bed up, it just burns your feet.

Do a search on here and you will see a ceramic is far better.


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## josh9961 (Feb 10, 2011)

awesome, one last question, once ive hooked the canopy up to the stat, where should I stick the thermostat in the vivarium? On the substrate, near the top or in the middle somewhere?


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## Jebb (Jul 3, 2013)

josh9961 said:


> awesome, one last question, once ive hooked the canopy up to the stat, where should I stick the thermostat in the vivarium? On the substrate, near the top or in the middle somewhere?


you stick the stat probe where is gives you the correct temps throughout the viv.

There is not one correct answer to this, it depends what your room temp is and the size of the viv, wattage of the bulbs.

You want to aim for a bottom temp of 18c going to about 28c right at the top.

So if you room is already 18c then the bottom area is already at the correct temp, so you can place the probe higher up and set it to say 25c so you have a bottom of 18c a middle of 25c and a top of 28c.

If your room is colder than 18c you also need to heat the bottom up so it may mean moving the probe lower to get the heat down there too, you then set to around 18c and depending on the size of the viv and wattage of the bulb, hopefully you will get the required heat gradient from 18c to 28c, you may need to play around with this to get the heats just right.

Remember too that night time temps are lower, so you need to drop these to around 18c/20c at night, you don't want the same temps day and night.


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## Gratenkutzombie (Dec 28, 2012)

Doesn't really matter. As long as there is a thermal gradient in the viv, the gecko will go where it wants to get its correct temps.



Jebb said:


> you stick the stat probe where is gives you the correct temps throughout the viv.
> 
> There is not one correct answer to this, it depends what your room temp is and the size of the viv, wattage of the bulbs.
> 
> ...


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## Jebb (Jul 3, 2013)

Gratenkutzombie said:


> Doesn't really matter. As long as there is a thermal gradient in the viv, the gecko will go where it wants to get its correct temps.



what doesn't really matter?


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## josh9961 (Feb 10, 2011)

My room is usually around 18-20 degrees unless the big window is open, so that awesome, thank you guys!


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## Sjames (Apr 8, 2013)

Best location for it is in the bin!


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