New to the taking care thing...

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Originally Posted by maniac

I have a heating pad under my rubbermaid which houses my redtail.. The whole "rubber" thing doesnt really sound good to me and i have been thinking to just switching to glass soon. Rubbersounds like a more firehazzard then glass does even though with glass it is always possible.

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"Rubbermaids" are made of plastic. ;)

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Do those little rubber feet from Wally World usually solve that problem? Human heat pads usually have adjustable heat levels on them, correct? So one wouldn't need to invest in a dimmer since there is already one on the unit itself?

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Correct on both questions. :D

WooHoo! I love WalMart :) Pet stores are just so much more expensive, it's crazy.

Yeah sometimes I hate there prices but i have no choice most of the time :\

Ya know, not to start a conflict but I have one of those human heatpads from WalMart like I have seen several pics on here of and even set on low with my tank set up almost 1" that heat pad still heats my cage waaaay to hot and that is set on low using a temp gun for temps right at substatre level. If you put a temp gun right on the pad set on low I get readings of over 110 degrees sometimes.
I had to use a dimmer switch to get temps to the 90-92 range on the hot side.
But now I have a Helix T-Stat hooked up to it and all is right in the world:)
Those things are well worth the $$ gives you digtal settings and read out of the temp.

I just have always been wondering how you guys use these heat pads and say you just set them on low and it doesnt get to hot?

I use the Zoomed under-tank heaters for now. I want to upgrade to the Flexwatt heat tape eventually, when I get around to it. But for now, the zoomed heaters work great on the Low setting of their rheostats. I would never dream of using one without a regulator of some kind!
When will some genius invent a UTH that NEVER gets above 92 degrees? They could market it for ball python use. I wish I was mechanically inclined; I would build one and make millions of dollars.
I think that the reasoning behind the "too hot" reptile heaters, is that they assume you're putting a heavy substrate such as reptile bark over it. But what if the reptile buries beneath this? The it's burn time. I dream of the day that UTHs will be the right temperature, right off the shelf. Or better yet, I dream of the day I will finally get the Flexwatt stuff. It seems cheap and professional compared to my haphazard array of UTHs. It isn't pretty with all those cords, but it does provide the right temps to my snakes.

We've had a Zoo-Med heater charck the bottom of a glass tank a while back - BAM - we went the cheaper human heat pad route tout de suite. The $9 one cannot be beat - however after having bought so many (you won't get anything out of me copper) it's become apparent that a few have been wired in reverse (i.e. low setting is hottest and high setting is coolest). If things don't seem right use a digital thermometer to check. Dimmer switches or in-line thermostats are also. Some just run oddly hot hands down.

Rubber feet or lil chucks of wood blocks to elevate the enclosure slightly is a must to avoid the heat trap.

For our cages where belly-burn can be a risk (burrowers like bloods) we use a heat baffle cut from plastic pegboard to the inner dimensions THEN cover it with substrate.

http://paintedover.com/uploads/2/_picture_006.jpg

Yanked a bit of that from this thread int he Caging Forum http://www.ball-pythons.net/PNphpBB2...ic-t-2675.html

Jotay, that's why we always suggest setting up the enclosure before putting the animal in it, because there is variation in the equipment and environment. Someone, I think it was Jonah, got a heat pad that was wired backward and is great set on Hi but way too hot set on Lo, go figure. So far I've had a good run with using Sterilite enclosures with heat pads set on low and around 12 sheets thickness of newspaper (which they're not as likely to burrow in if they like their hides). Anyway, it sounds like you may have gotten a pad that runs hot or was wired wrong.

Yeah I saw Jonah's post and checked on the reverse wiring thing and that wasn't the case so I think I just may have gotten a "Hot One" ( gee, if I could only do that in my personal life :)

Soon I will not have to worry because like Jonah I to have ordered an AP cage with belly heat routed in the bottom and I will hook my Helix up to that and hopefully rest a little easier.

Here's hoping your next "hot one" is single and attractive and doesn't require a plug or batteries. ;) :lol:

Amen to that, sister! :lol: