Problem with human heating pad.

[gozetec02]

Well I went out and got his heating pad it has a variable switch LO MED HI
i put it on LO and noticed it got really hot in the tank. So i pulled the pad out from under the tank and i unplugged it. Later i plugged it back in and left a thermometer on top of it. I came back to it like 30 minutes later. Well my thermometer goes up to 120 its one of these reptile analog thermometers well it was past 120 from what i could tell it was closer to 140 maybe 150 degrees i stopped using it and got a real under tank heater. Has anyone else had this problem. The maker is KAZ and can be bought at Targer. 150 degrees is a little warm dont you think.

[JLC]

Did you leave a gap between the pad and the tank? There must be some air circulating to keep the heat from building up on itself. If you haven't already, try raising the tank about 1/4 to 1/2 inch above the heating pad. Your substrate should provide some buffer as well, so that even if the pad itself seems too hot, your goal of warming the top of the substrate can be met successfully.

[Smulkin]

Do you have the tank jacked up at all or is the pad flush against the bottom of the tank? If there is not enough "breathing room" between the enclosure and the surface it is sitting on heat will build up under there fast. Try some rubber feet, drawer knobs (glue-gunned on) or anything else fairly stable you can to ensure there is a venting area under the enclosure of about 1/8 - 1/4". You definitely dont want the base surface in the enclosure anywhere near that temp.

You also might want to think about an inline dimmer switch so you have a lot more control of the heat output from the pad.

[gozetec02]

I switched to Aspen bedding just before i put the pad in and it had about 2" of substrate so that acted as a buffer but i was quite alarmed when i saw the temp i put a probe from a thermometer under to substrate to monitor the temps and i saw it. There was no gap between the pad and the glass of the tank. I got a small pad now. I use the human heating pad when my knee hurts now. LOL

[Smulkin]

Give yourself a gap - also be forewarned substrate as easy to burrow in as aspen can allow your snake to snuggle its belly down flush against that hot glass. Belly-burns are far too common from what I have read. Another alternative is to make a heat baffle from trimmed PLASTIC pegboard (avoid the particle-board variety liek the plague) - if cut to the inside dimensions it can be laid on the bottom of the tank and substrate applied over it - hell with that setup you can just plop down some paper towels. If the board leaves too much room on the perimeter the snake WILL work its way underneath. Lemme see if I can find some pics of that stuff.

[JLC]

Even with a small pad, you have to have some air circulating under the tank, or it will still overheat.

[gozetec02]

I have it on a stand that has grating as a shelf so there is room for air to escape. I just need to build myself a rack system.