Is a small heatmat safe to use without a thermostat?

[anti-]

Is a small heatmat (4" x 5" - 4 Watts) safe to use without a thermostat under a tub? I measured it's direct surface temperature with a tempgun and it's around 135 degrees. cheers

[2kdime]

You'll kill a snake so fast with those temps.

Invest in a QUALITY thermostat from Reptile Basics or Spyder Robotics.

[anti-]

hey, those temps are taken directly from the heatmat, so of course they would be much lower from the inside of the tub, but I still have to check them.

[Deacon240]

The problem is those mats (if it's a zoomed, I assume it is) is they are pretty unreliable unless hooked up to a stat of sort. As your room you have your snake in warms up, that mat is still going full bore so while it might be okay sometimes, other times it'll start cooking your snake.

[Freakie_frog]

hey, those temps are taken directly from the heatmat, so of course they would be much lower from the inside of the tub, but I still have to check them.

While heat transfer loss is common the amount of heat lost is typically not as much as what people tend to think. At 135 degrees your going to have to lose between 43-50 degrees between the surface of the heat mat and the surface the snake come's in contact with. Plastic isn't known for its ability to disperse heat that's why we use tubs and plastic is used in cooking tools.. the area that is getting hot absorbs as much of the heat as possible with out transferring it to other areas of the plastic.

Best bet is get it regulated with something 135 degree's is the required temp to cook/smoke fish just to give you some idea..