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04-20-2006, 12:01 AM
I am building my black and white a new house 10x4x4. it will be wood on the bottom will the under mount heat pads still work on it? I know its kind of a dumb thing to ask. but thanks for any help

Teiidae
04-20-2006, 02:58 AM
I am building my black and white a new house 10x4x4. it will be wood on the bottom will the under mount heat pads still work on it? I know its kind of a dumb thing to ask. but thanks for any help

Although I have looked into under tank heating, I do not use it - I've read some say "don't use under wood" glass only, and some with no warning such at all.

I'd bet people do both though and how well it works, they can reply. But that's a big area to heat up and I've not seen very big heat mats, so I'm thinking it would take quite a few and you will still have to heat from above for optimal basking temps "without heat rocks"...

Are you looking to heat up one side of the enclosure, and would not ambient temps be enough for the cool side?

And it's not a dumb thing to ask a question, it's dumber not to ask IMO - Hopefully some who use under tank heating will chime in and give some input...

Nero557
04-20-2006, 05:00 AM
well if you really have your mind set on a heat pad, I have heard some good things about radiant heat panels... I know they have pretty big sizes. I hear they are expensive but they last really long and are worth it. I personally haven't used them, and know nothing about them, but I'm sure you can check into them. I've seen them in magazines(reptiles) and on big apple herp's website I think... I believe you can even put them inside the cage because they get hot enough for the basking temperature but they don't get hot enough to burn the animal... Just a suggestion... also, if you want to heat through wood, you could just cut into the bottom of the floor and have the heat pad closer to the inside of the cage. Such as if your wood is an inch thick, make a recessed part the size of your pad and like 3/4 of an inch deep, so the heat pad only has 1/4 of wood between it and the inside of the enclosure... it would take a little work, but I'm sure you can do it. And you wouldn't compromise the strength of the floor because it wouldn't be that big of an area...

04-20-2006, 08:58 PM
thanks for the help. I know that in my 55 gallon cage i have her in now that she I have a heat pad on it with the basking light and a UVB light. i think to start I will have a heat pad. just stay with the basking lights and have a look with my temp gun to see if its good on the hot side of the cage. one more time thanks for the help :D

andy_rotten
04-20-2006, 09:46 PM
to avoid contact with wood and place the heat mat inside the enclosure i wanted to do this (then i've changed my mind and did it in another way):
place a layer of old tiles covering the area you want to heat , then the heat mat/cable and cover with another layer of tiles, a thick layer of substrate on top of that and that's it (so if your tegu digs he won't go between those tiles.

personally i bought some "bricks" (dunno the name in english) like this one
http://www.lateriziarbia.com/tavellone_h8.gif
put the heat cable in and close the holes to avoid tegus hiding inside.
once the light goes off the warmth hold it's released slowly during the night.
you can find them from 60 centimeters up to 2 metres.
hope to have been helpful :wink:

RainbowParty
04-21-2006, 03:51 AM
I have no idea if this would work.. I just thought of it now and have no experience with heat pads. Perhaps for a wood enclosure, you could put the heat pad on the inside of the enclosure under the substrate, with a piece of plexiglass or lexan over top of it. That would protect the tegu from coming in direct contact with the pad, but would still allow the heat to pass throughout the enclosure. Although, you would have to secure the pad under the plexiglass to keep your tegu from moving it around while digging. Maybe by screwing the plexiglass to the floor? I don't know. This is just a random thought.

Nero557
04-22-2006, 02:45 AM
Going off of what rainbow party and andy said, you could just get some linoleum(or however you spell it) or a big sheet of plexi/lexan to cover the entire bottom of the tank and it would only be like 1/8 in thick or a quarter of an inch and put your heat pad under there, that would work to heat it and then if it went across the whole bottom and you sealed the edges, you would have a water proof floor and your heat pad would be in there... forever might I add... but it would be in there and will work. :wink:

AmeivaBoy
04-22-2006, 06:18 AM
I too have heard very good things about radiant heat panels and I know a lot of monitor keepers use them, they are expensive but dont run on as high as wattage as a combo of heat emitters/lights would use, they can be used inside the cage as they are programmed to shut off at 110 f and come in very large sizes

Rottncorpse
06-10-2006, 02:28 PM
I found that attaching a heat pad to a ceramic tile(you can pick up at any lowes) burried under your substrate works very well. I have used this method on my 2 stock tanks for about a year now without a single problem.

Nero557
06-11-2006, 05:02 AM
That's a pretty neat idea... do you know how hot the tile gets exactly? and what kind of heat pad are you using, brand/size?

Diegar
06-11-2006, 01:18 PM
Heating pads can be useful in the colder months when the basking lights are off and a little supplimental heat is needed at night. As for using heating pads to heat the cage, as a replacement for basking lights, i do not recommend it. Lizards have large arteries running the length of their backs. They use these arteries to warm an optimal amount of blood from a heat source above them (ie. the sun). While they could get warm on a heating pad, the warm blood wouldn't be distributed throughout their bodies as evenly, as it would with an above heat source.

Just my two cents

Nero557
06-11-2006, 03:47 PM
I agree 100% with you Diegar, I was actually wondering for some of my snakes... where I use heating pads... I just never thought of the ceramic tile thing.... thought it was neat...

yeaitsdave
06-11-2006, 06:51 PM
I agree with Nero and Diegar, but would also like to toss in the idea of heat tape. I hear it quite effective, and doesnt get hot enough to burn the wood, especially with the lower wattage tape.

Johelian
06-12-2006, 03:21 PM
I use a reptile heat mat attached to a thermostat to stop it from overheating. It has a thick, durable plastic coating, and while I think some of the bulkier monitors would probably be able to shred it, my tegu has never been able to damage it at all. Its taped to the floor of the enclosure under the mulch, and provides background heat at night during the winter; in the warmer months, it doesnt even come on as the thermostat is set to around 75F.