# How to use tile in a Vivarium without Risk of burning your reptile



## MichaelT (Jan 14, 2012)

Just thought Id share this idea for anyone who wants to use tile but is worried about Burning there Reptile, I use this setup for my leo with a heatmat and Infra red Heatbulb Take a look and hopefully it can give you some ideas, Works with any loose substrate i have used woodchips because i had a bag lying around but i have used it effectivtively with sand aswell:2thumb:







































and just to let you know what my leopard Gecko thinks of it  :lol2:


----------



## cjd12345 (Nov 2, 2011)

Where's the heatmat in this setup? Under the tank using the the substrate to insulate?


----------



## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

you're not going to burn anything if you use a thermostat like you're supposed to.


----------



## MichaelT (Jan 14, 2012)

The heatmat is under the substrate

Meko Just because your using a thermostat doesn't mean a tile won't obsorb too much heat if layed directly on top, where as if you use a loose substrate it goes through the substrate


----------



## matty_sol (Jun 28, 2009)

even using a thermostat reps can get burnt. thermostat stops the air temperature becoming too hot, not the heater or the items it heats up

or worse case scenario is the thermostat fails


----------



## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

MichaelT said:


> The heatmat is under the substrate
> 
> Meko Just because your using a thermostat doesn't mean a tile won't obsorb too much heat if layed directly on top, where as if you use a loose substrate it goes through the substrate


if your thermostat probe is on top of the tile it's going to read the temperature of a tile and tell the thermostat to turn off / reduce the heat. 
A tile shouldn't keep heating to a temperature hot enough to burn anything, especially when the thermostat is set to 'warm'



matty_sol said:


> even using a thermostat reps can get burnt. thermostat stops the air temperature becoming too hot, not the heater or the items it heats up


No, it reads the temperature of where you put the probe. If you put the probe in the 'air' then it reads the air temperature; if you put it on a rock it reads the temperature there.


----------



## stungy (May 28, 2011)

Don't the temp probes read the ambient air temp and not the surfice temp?if thats the case the op has a good point....you'd bee suprised at the difference even if the thermostat switches off at say 20deg when it turns back on the tile,will still have residual heat stored,making it get hotter the probes won't read the surfice temps att all you need a infra red thermometer for that


----------

