heat pads 24/7?

[lanalizard]

hey all....i've recently aquired a redtail boa and i have a question about heat pads...i recently gave it a heat pad and the temp is 97F on the hot spot...now i see in care sheets the temp is suppose to be 95F and at night it is suppose to be 85F....
here is my real question...
is it safe to unplug the heat pad each night? or will this just lessen the ability of the heat pad each time i do it?

[chas*e]

I never unplug mine, I just drop the ambient in the room and it cools down the enclosures accordingly. Some people moight have other methods though.

Ed

[Burmies]

Just leave it pluged in and put piece of carpet over it inside the cage. Or just ge a dimmer switch and turn it down at night.

Burmies

[Atlantic]

mine is on 24/7

[ballpython5000]

get a human one, then you can leave it on 24/7 but also control the temps at day and night.

[Lisa]

You can go with a rheostat or a timer... we have our lights on a timer but the heat pads are 24/7... they can go to the spot where they're comfortable.

[lanalizard]

thanks for the ideas :)
Tony L once helped me with getting a timer and when I PUT it together, i blew a fuse.....go figure!

[Lisa]

Timers are $6 at canadian tire (or less). you shouldn't be blowing fuses with them....

[Linds]

Originally posted by ballpython5000
get a human one, then you can leave it on 24/7 but also control the temps at day and night.

I disagree with this method of heating reptiles. Sure, many peole have successfully used them for many years, some with large collections, however some have also lost their herps and homes to them as well. The fact remains that human heat pads were not designed to be left on 24/7 (or anywhere even close). Using them in the manner that they are to heat herps brings an increased risk of fire. IMHO its not worth the risk to save a few dollars, think about all you could lose...

[stormyva]

I use them and have not had any problems, but if you opt for "safer" routes there are heat panels, heat tape, and other sources of heat. If you go with and of the panels or tape be sure to hook it up to a rheostat. If you use the human heat pad brace the tank up so there is approx 1/2" gap between the pad and the tank for air flow.
As for the temps.....
85-88° on the hot side of the tank for day time MAX!!!!! (95° will roast your snake!) Allow a 5-7° degree temp drop at night.

[Alicewave]

For my leos I use a UTH hooked up to a thermostat set on 90 and I just let the ambient temp drop at night. Seems to work well for me.

[Linds]

Unless your room is temperature controlled, typically most houses naturally drop down in temperature at night. The drop in ambient temperature will influence the temp of a UTH if it is by itself (which it shouldn't be) or if it is controlled via dimmer, creating a natural night time drop.

Night time drops are not necessary for most species, unless you intend on cycling your animals for breeding. I keep my heat tape set to 90 degrees day and night.

Originally posted by stormyva
(95° will roast your snake!) .

She didn't list what species she was heating. If it is a cal king, then yes she's going to roast it, however if it is a ball python, a 95 degree hot spot is fine.

[stormyva]

Linds... she did mention the kind of snake.... a red tail boa!

hey all....i've recently aquired a redtail boa and i have a question about heat pad

[Edwin]

My heatpads are on 24/7, but my lights are on a timer.

Based on my personal experience, (I may be just lucky), I have had 1 reptile heat pad die on me, but the human heat pads I have been using for over 4+ years which are on 24/7 are still going strong. I believe that either type of pad will meet your needs. If you are worried about a fire/electrical hazard, purchase a cheap analog thermostat.

Hope this helps!

[ReptiZone]

Ok you all can argue with me on this but I hate heat pads they are to dangerous for thermal burns caus if your snake manages to dig under the mulch or go under the carpet,news paper and on to the glase you will get the exat same results as if a hot rock was in your cage. I think that we can all agree that they were the worst invention on face of the earth.

Yes I know snakes need heat on there bellys to digest but not 24/7. first off dose any one thinke why snakes have dark colours ? Think of this way if you are wearing a whit shirt out in the sun and put a black one on witch one will you be warmer in. snakes use there colours to hide but also to warm up
I use 2 heat lamps for my cages a night glow and a day glow they are both on during the day but at night time a leave the day glow off so that way the cage has a gradient for day time a night time and as far as digestion I leave a flat rook under the 2 lights (by the way both light are on the same side of the cage so they have a hot and cool side) and then the rock get warmed up to the right temp to go and lie on for digestion so they get the proper heating all week and after eating they choose if they want to be heated from under neath.

on the flip side if a snake wants to hide under the substrat and be warm then it will go where the pad is and if it was to choose from coling down and stay hiden it will continue to hide and not care about it burns or any thing els for that mater.

dont forget in the wild when snakes dig to hide in the wilds it dose not get hotter it cools down so if your snake is diging to hide you should not warm him up like desert vipres digt to cool down. I have had my ball pythons dig to cool down and climb to bask or go and hide in all the difrent hides snakes are not stupid we just need to make shour they can warm up and that they have the choice to go where and do what they want .
Any way I am out.

[Lizzy001]

mines on 24/7.

[marisa]

You won't run as large of a risk of thermal burns if you properly control your heating device.

I use a human heating pad as so far I have seen more fire risk from people wiring their own heat tape up, or lights falling down and starting fires. In my own reptile room, our small iguana once broke free, when I came in my frogs night light was on the floor burning the carpet. Couple minutes more and the house would have caught fire.

My point is that anything that makes heat, including your stove when you cook, is a fire hazard. Some things are a bigger hazard then others, some lower. For us, with cats, a small dog, and other herps....having lights sitting around on top of cages is a FAR higher risk than a heating pad secured underneath. We don't allow the animals to go near the cages but accidents sometimes happen, doors get left open (opps!) or opened, and once like I mentioned our iguana escaped.

I use a human heating pad on my ball python with a thermastat set to 88 or so, 12 hours per day (going on and off all day because of thermastat)....the floor of the cage doesn't go above 90 on the heating pad area, and is covered with layers of paper towel. So far, no thermal burns from these less than 90 temps. So personally I don't agree with "they are the worst thing in the world" or whatever the line was. My choices are wiring my own heat tape, which with my skill would be a HUGE fire hazard, or using lights, which in MY sitaution are also a huge fire hazard.

And I personally didn't save any money buying a human heating pad. I actually ended up spending about 80 dollars MORE than buying a reptile pad because of the thermastat I purchased. It wasn't a choice of price. It never is for me.

Anyways my point is that in certain situations some things are more hazardous than others, where in other situations things are safer. It all depends on what you need.

Marisa

[marisa]

Also:

Since its often brought up, do we have any electricians here? I would like to know what the differances are between a reptile pad and a human pad. Tehcnically that is.

I know nothing about electronics, but from what I can tell by looking at both, they seems to be almost exactly alike.

Marisa

[rattekonigin]

I find that heat lamps really dry up the enclosures, like, when I had my BCI in an aquarium it would go as low as 20% when the heat lamp was on...even with the water bowl underneath (and a warm water bowl is just wonderful for making bacterial soup)...I leave my human heat pads on 24/7, have for a year or so and have had no problems...And they come with their own rheostat (granted it only has 3 settings), I never have mine above "Low", so I don't see how it would get hot enough to catch anything on fire, the surface of the actual heat pad, itself, doesn't go past 120F (I've lived in Georgia, it gets that hot down there in the summer and things don't spontaneously combust)...And, in the boa enclosure, (where the heat pad is underneath) the temps don't get higher than 95F directly on the hot spot and even that temp is rather infrequent. For my corns, I have the heat pad on the back of their tubs.

I also agree with Marisa, I get the impression that reptile pads and people pads are the same, just the people pads have some extra "meat" too them, instead of a bare heating element...That's essentially what heat pads and heat tape are, just mylar-type heating elements...why would they use drastically different types for the same function?...also, the reptile heat pads don't come with a built-in rheostat, and those things get HOT without one...and is it even recommended that those be left on 24/7 anyway?

[Alicewave]

To prevent thermal burn, what I do with my snake is use some hospital tape and tape down a layer of paper towel over where the UTH is. This prevents the snake from coming into direct contact with the heated glass.

[ReptiZone]

for the humidity thing did you ever think of spraying you carg 2 tims a day once in the morning and at night and dont leave your water bowl under the light that is the only place they can go to cool down fast if they want to

[Edwin]

I am not an electrician, but I do believe that they are essentially the same thing. The only difference I can see is that human heat pads are built to higher quality standards than reptile pads, primarily because they are for use by people. Again, I have had a reptile heat pad break down on me, but my human heat pads are still going strong.

Just my 2 cents.

[rattekonigin]

chondro_python: Yes, I did spray down the cage, frequently...But it only upped the humidity for a short amount of time until the warm end dried up and any water on the cool end of the cage ended up kind of pooling underneath the substrate, making it too wet...So what I did for quite a while was just use a humid hide, but the boa was always always in there and it didn't seem right that he never really moved around the cage...when I moved him to the rubbermaid it was a big improvement, humidity around 60-70% with no effort and he's always in different positions in the tub, so I know he's actually comfortable and thermoregulating properly...Rubbermaids all the way for me, from now on! LoL

[ReptiZone]

cool sonds like you have a hold on things with the rubermaids I normaly stire up the mulch b4 re-spraying a cage at night that way the water never stayes at the bottem and to make thing clear a cage is supsto look dry within 1 hour of spraing that is how you know you dont ahve too much humitity in your cage.