Heating Wooden Vivarium

I have just purchased this vivarium:
http://www.reptilecentre.com/vivexot..._p23259529.htm

I was thinking of heating it via a Ceramic heat emitter 60watts (with thermostat) for the ambient temperature than a heat mat inside of the vivarium, I was then going to cover and seal the heat mat with a ceramic tile.. so no water damage and then for substrate just use paper towels.. but then realised I have to put my thermostat probe on the heat mat and I am not sure how I would do this? and then cover it with a ceramic tile?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated thank you

Love the viv. Makes me wish I still lived there...

But you put the heat pad on the bottom of the viv, on the outside of tank, with thermostat probe between matt and bottom of tank...I think anyway. That's how we do it with tubs and glass tanks. Someone with PVC step in and correct me if I'm wrong please.


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Mats go outside on the bottom with the thermostat probe between the bottom of the enclosure and the mat.

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Originally Posted by calmolly1

Love the viv. Makes me wish I still lived there...

But you put the heat pad on the bottom of the viv, on the outside of tank, with thermostat probe between matt and bottom of tank...I think anyway. That's how we do it with tubs and glass tanks. Someone with PVC step in and correct me if I'm wrong please.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I thought that a heatmat cant penetrate a wooden surface?

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Mats go outside on the bottom with the thermostat probe between the bottom of the enclosure and the mat.

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Oh I thought that the heat mat wouldnt be able to penetrate through the wood? Now im confused have been researching and people have been sawing to put the heatmat inside of the wooden viv
Thanks

Anybody please?

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Originally Posted by newbie101

I thought that a heatmat cant penetrate a wooden surface?

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Oh I thought that the heat mat wouldnt be able to penetrate through the wood? Now im confused have been researching and people have been sawing to put the heatmat inside of the wooden viv
Thanks

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Could a heat mat penetrate through a ceramic tile? Ceramic is very dense and used for insulation.
You should ask the store you're buying it from what they recommend, but putting an electric device on the floor of a vivarium seems like a bad idea. Water bowl, urates...even if the odds of something going wrong are low, having electric current and liquids together inside the enclosure should be avoided.

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Originally Posted by The Golem

Could a heat mat penetrate through a ceramic tile? Ceramic is used for insulation like on the space shuttle, because it's good up to 1200 degrees.
You should ask the store you're buying it from what they recommend, but putting an electric device on the floor of a vivarium seems like a bad idea. Water bowl, urates...even if the odds of something going wrong are low, having electric current and liquids together inside the enclosure should be avoided.

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Literally every UK reptile site people say exactly what I described so I was just wondering if anyone here has a wooden vivarium and how they heat it

Okay yeah being outside wouldn't work since the heat won't penetrate the wood.
I'd put the probe between the heat mat and the tile. Check the top of the tile and when it's a steady 90F, set the temp that's showing on the thermostat (might be more than 90).

It's such a nice looking enclosure maybe you could eventually use something more naturalistic than paper towels for substrate.

What I have done with wooden enclosures is ................
Cut a hole in the wood floor, that is a little bigger than your heat pad. Then cut a piece of plexiglass,
that is the size of the whole floor of the enclosure. Put the plexiglass on the floor, and use some
silicone to seal all around the edges. Then you are able to stick your heat pad, and therm. probe on the bottom
of the plexiglass, and it will give you your required hot spot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Golem

Okay yeah being outside wouldn't work since the heat won't penetrate the wood.
I'd put the probe between the heat mat and the tile. Check the top of the tile and when it's a steady 90F, set the temp that's showing on the thermostat (might be more than 90).

It's such a nice looking enclosure maybe you could eventually use something more naturalistic than paper towels for substrate.

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Ye that was my problem.. how would I put the probe ontop of the heatmat and then the tile on the probe, the probe is quite big and thick

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Originally Posted by mohawk

What I have done with wooden enclosures is ................
Cut a hole in the wood floor, that is a little bigger than your heat pad. Then cut a piece of plexiglass,
that is the size of the whole floor of the enclosure. Put the plexiglass on the floor, and use some
silicone to seal all around the edges. Then you are able to stick your heat pad, and therm. probe on the bottom
of the plexiglass, and it will give you your required hot spot.

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will have to look into this thank you, But I really didnt want to have to be cutting the new vivarium I just bought haha..

Appreciate the reply thank you

I would agree with cutting the hole for the heat mat then plexiglass over the top... it would suck to have to make alterations to a new viv but at least this is a solution to your problem. Also, if the heat mat or prob ever failed you could easily replace them. Save the wood that's removed and you could put it back with wood glue later, but you would have to keep the plexiglass to keep it sealed.
Or...
You could place the heat mat on top of the wood (on the inside) then some kind of spacers for the area where the heat mat isn't then place your plexiglass (or tile) over that. Just keep in mind that these items do fail and you'll have to be able to replace them without too much work.
Hope this helps and please share photos once you have everything set up. :)

Use a router and cut out a hole just slightly deeper than the height of the tile and heat mat) and 1/2" bigger in each direction around the perimeter of the size of the tile.

Place your heat mat in that pocket you've created and run a bead of silicone around the peremeter of the opening then carfully set your tile(or plexi if you'd like) into the pocket pressing gently until the surface of the tile/plexi is flush with the height of the floor of the enclosure. Caulk around the 1/4" gap with silicone and wipe away excess and smooth with a silicone squeegee or a wet finger until the transition is smooth.

After it has dried and fully cured, hot glue the probe down on top of the tile/plexi and set t-stat until desired hot spot temp is achieved (may need to have higher t-stat reading to achieve target temp) and make sure temps stay stable for a few days.

And you're done.

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