Are Human heat pads any good???

[Anthony83]

I've been reading around because I plan on getting a Ball soon and many people say that regular human heat pads are just as good as the ones at the pet store and are cheaper. But i've heard of horror stories from both sides some say that their petstore pad over heats to around 100degrees and so do the Human pads what do you guys suggest.

[Patrick Long]

dont chance it just go with a uth

[Patrick Long]

(edit) its probably chaeper than a human heating pad anyway

[Shelby]

If you want cheap along with safe reliability, get a foot of flexwatt and wire it to a rheostat (lamp dimmer). Matt (justcage) can wire you up one if you don't want to do it yourself.

[Anthony83]

also I've looked at the size of the UTH for my 30gal tank and it seems it would heat the whole tank. Now would that be safe if I'm also using a heat lamp or would the warm side get extremly hot but i guess thats what thermostats are for

[Patrick Long]

shelby didnt you just post that exact phrase somwhere else lol

[Anthony83]

Hey patt I just read your other post and saw you had a bp named Osiris thats exactly what I was going to name mine when I got him thats if I can get the people in my family to realize I'm not bringing home The same kind of python that they saw on Sci-Fi killing everyone(LOL)

[Patrick Long]

yah my cousing fell in love with him so i gave him to her......well back to her she gave it to me cuase she didnt want it then changed her mind

[dystopia]

I've used both a zoomed uth and a sunbeam human pad. I had the zoomed to begin with, it came with the snake but i quickly found it was getting over 120F without a t-stat. Also it had a couple "hot spots" which led me to buy the sunbeam and couldnt be happier with it. On it's lowest setting the temp is around 87-90 and next setting is 90-95. It has been very consistent so far, while the UTH actually varied ALOT more. Could just have been its time to start going out.

Oh and the HHP cost me a whopping 10 bucks and was 1.5x's bigger than the zoo med. If you do get one, make sure it doesnt have auto-shutoff and they come with a cover that i found unneccessary.

However I am going to be getting a rack built and will be getting flexwatt to replace the HHP. Definatlly the best choice in my opinion.

HTH
Jeremy

[Smulkin]

Well I confess I've been using human heat pads for a year and a half or so with no ill tales to share. Not to say I don't plan on eventually wiring up something less makeshift - but I don't think HHP's should be decried as the mortal enemy.