I use the Acurite units and I just place em on the floor in a corner. Usually remain intact for the most part except my boas seem to like to try and lay a turd right on the unit and my BP pretty well mows it down nightly and either lays on top of it and buries it under the aspen....so I guess actually they don't remain intact but they are pretty durable. The oldest one so far has lasted almost 2 years now if I remember correctly.