Heat pads and rubbermaids

[Cas]

It's late, I'm tired, sorry if this doesn't make great sense.........

Does anyone out there have any experience with Exoterrra heat wave heating pads on rubbermaid containers? Are they suitable, or should I go with a "Wal-mart special" (human heating pad)?

I haven't actually used heat pads with plastic containers before, so I'm wondering what the method is...... I imagine that I'm going to want ventilation on at least one side of the heat pad to avoid overheating and melting. Now, the question is do I set the rubbermaids directly on the heat pad, and set the heat pad on something ventilated (for example, a wire baking rack).... or do I set the heat pad directly on a surface, and then elevate the rubbermaids an inch or so away from the pad?

Also, in the case of the 'heat wave' pad, do I have to stick the pad to a sheet of glass or something (I do not want to stick it directly onto the rubbermaids I'm using), or can I just leave it "unpeeled"?

(A thought..... why doesn't anyone produce a reptile heating pad that DOESN'T have a sticky backing??)

Thanks,
Dawn

[Invictus]

NEVER attach one of those directly to a rubbermaid without a rheostat. It's also not a good idea to leave it unpeeled, as the cardboard backing could catch fire. I'd go with a human heating pad, or what I do with 2 of my corns is, as you mentioned, elevate them about 1/2" above the pad. (The rubbermaids I have them in have "feet", so they are ok.. the heat pad is stuck to a sheet of MDF that they sit on.)

[crazyboy]

ifyou stick the heat pad upside down would it still work

[RaVeNo888o]

are these types of rubbermaids ok? ive seen alot of ppl using the clear hard plastic type of rubbermaid containers. but i have a bunch of similar to this kind http://www.rubbermaid.com/hpd/consumer/product/detail.jhtml?prod=HPFG216100BLLP&attributeId=&nextType=&currentType=&locationId=&thirdMenuIndex= .
mine doenst have the latching lid, but i would me making my own lid anyways so i can use lighting and stuff. mine is also not white, its green or blue (have a few) and its that more rubbery soft plastic. Would this type of thing be ok to use with a human heat pad under as a heat source?

[Cas]

Invictus, are you using a rheostat on the pad you have stuck to the MDF?

Dawn

[Invictus]

No I'm not, Dawn... but like I said, the rubbermaids are elevated about 1/2" off the heat pad, so the corns are fine. In fact, it just gets the rubbermaid over 80 degrees on the warm spot. It's also a small (6" x 6") heat pad.

[rwg]

Umm...what's MDF?

By the way, I'm using a Heatwave unpeeled and unstuck between my desk (melamine) and a glass aquarium. I do have it on a rheostat, but it never occurred to me that the backing would get hot enough to ignite. Has this ever happened?

rg

[Invictus]

MDF is Medium Density Fibreboard. It's made of dust and glue basically... about twice the weight of particle board, but much stronger.

I've never had a heat pad backing catch fire because I've never tried it. Why risk it? :)

[Lisa]

for the cardboard to catch fire it would have to get pretty hot. try about 451 degrees fahrenhiet. This number might look familar if you're a Ray Bradbury fan or you like making pizza at home... If your heat pad gets that hot you've got more important problems, like what side dish to serve with your now freshly baked animal. I doubt the heat pad can make it over 400 degrees with out assistance but it's still good to have a rheostat on it.

[Ryan and Katie]

We use the exoterra heat pads with the back unpeeled for all of the snakes we have in rubbermaids. I would not reccomend using this method without a dimmer switch (rheostat). Never had a problem doing this and you can just set the rubbermaid on the heat pad...