heat mats as night warmth

[Tracy Gould]

I have been keeping my tort table warm with just the lamp through the day and she as been happy and active. I have been thinking the last few days about starting to use the heat mat on a night as its starting to get colder on a night, so yesterday i set it up and placed it underneath the tort table in the area she sleeps and set timer for it to turn on after lamp turned off. All was well at first i kept a eye on the temps to make sure it was not too hot but around 11pm i noticed noise from the box were she sleep i turned the room light on an Shelby had woken up and the temps near mat were at 80. So now i am not sure what to do as i think the higher temps woke her up but i do not want her to get cold, so i debating whether to have mat on but for short bursts or to leave it till temps get lower as winter kicks in. I live in the UK and she is too young to hibernate yet.

 

[chadk]

How are you measuring the temps?

What is between the tort and the pad? Is it in the enclosure under substrate, under the glass or wood (or whatever) floor of the enclosure?

You can get a rheostat at any hardware \ home improvement \ furnature (if it sells lamps) store for about 10 bucks. You can use it to manage the output of the heat pad.

A CHE is probably a better idea though.

How cold does the room get at night?

 

[Tracy Gould]

How are you measuring the temps?

What is between the tort and the pad? Is it in the enclosure under substrate, under the glass or wood (or whatever) floor of the enclosure?

You can get a rheostat at any hardware \ home improvement \ furnature (if it sells lamps) store for about 10 bucks. You can use it to manage the output of the heat pad.

A CHE is probably a better idea though.

How cold does the room get at night?

Hi. The Mat is underneath the Tub which is plastic there is also a thick layer is Aspen in her hide which she digs down into i took a reading from the a themometer i placed on the wall in that area i know its only a guide as its not in the area she was sleeping but it gives me a guide. The temps in the room are not that bad at the moment they are 70 when i go to bed but not sure what they drop to after that. Her Table top was made from two tubs one is open the other as a lid on so she as a choice of two areas and the inclosed area is the humidity area, her hide she sleeps in isin the inclosed area. I think i am gong to get extra aspen for that area so she as more depth between her and the mat I will also get a rheostat for the mat. I think i may have been getting ahead of myself with starting with the mat at night but i know as winter sets in she will need extra heat at night and i want to be ready before temp drop below 65

 

[chadk]

Yikes, if the temps were showing 80, then the temps actually on the surface must have been MUCH higher.

You can get this at home improvement stores, walmart, etc: http://www.partshelf.com/acu00891.html. I've picked them up for $12 before. They show relative humidity, relative temps, and then a probe for the basking spot - all on one screen (the time\clock can be switched to show the other temp instead).

I'd be careful with adding more susbstrate, since the tort can just dig deeper to get to the dangerous temps. You could add a chunk of cardboard between the mat and plastic. Or, what I"ve done before, is put a peice of tile or slate over the mat area in the enclosure. The slate\tile heats up, but not too hot. But you still want to be able to measure the exact basking spot temp...

 

[Tracy Gould]

Yikes, if the temps were showing 80, then the temps actually on the surface must have been MUCH higher.

You can get this at home improvement stores, walmart, etc: http://www.partshelf.com/acu00891.html. I've picked them up for $12 before. They show relative humidity, relative temps, and then a probe for the basking spot - all on one screen (the time\clock can be switched to show the other temp instead).

I'd be careful with adding more susbstrate, since the tort can just dig deeper to get to the dangerous temps. You could add a chunk of cardboard between the mat and plastic. Or, what I"ve done before, is put a peice of tile or slate over the mat area in the enclosure. The slate\tile heats up, but not too hot. But you still want to be able to measure the exact basking spot temp...

Ok now wonder the poor thing woke up and came to the top. I use to use the mat when i first got her but that was in her viv and i hung it on the back of the viv, but her table is not as deep so i placed it underneath instead, i will go shopping for a themo with a probe as i am in the UK we do not have walmart but i will find one. I will also add something else over the mat too. Thank you for your help

 

[Yvonne G]

And remember, its perfectly ok for the night time temps to drop 10 or 15 degrees.

 

[Tracy Gould]

And remember, its perfectly ok for the night time temps to drop 10 or 15 degrees.

Yer i know, its still at 70 in the room at the moment so i think it safe for a while it will give me chance to get it sorted out safely before she needs extra help when temps nose dive.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I'd be perfectly fine to have the night temp drop to as low as 60 F with the day low at 70-75 F. I do this at my house, and give my tort the option to sleep under a CHE or not. I would never use under enclosure heating with any tort. To me the risks outweigh the benefits and I see few negatives with CHEs or black light bulbs (you do need to pay attention to safety). Few people keep their houses under 60 F....but I'm one of them. I have found that my tort's enclosure will stay much warmer than the house temperature because of the day heat and the substrate and high sides of the wood tort table...at least 5 degrees difference. Use an accurate thermometer like a temp gun, and please please consider ditching that heat pad. This was a first hand example of the dangers. It has to get very hot for a tort to wake up and move. Many times they will not.

 

[Tracy Gould]

I'd be perfectly fine to have the night temp drop to as low as 60 F with the day low at 70-75 F. I do this at my house, and give my tort the option to sleep under a CHE or not. I would never use under enclosure heating with any tort. To me the risks outweigh the benefits and I see few negatives with CHEs or black light bulbs (you do need to pay attention to safety). Few people keep their houses under 60 F....but I'm one of them. I have found that my tort's enclosure will stay much warmer than the house temperature because of the day heat and the substrate and high sides of the wood tort table...at least 5 degrees difference. Use an accurate thermometer like a temp gun, and please please consider ditching that heat pad. This was a first hand example of the dangers. It has to get very hot for a tort to wake up and move. Many times they will not.

Yer i am defo not using it under the tub any more i knew it was not normal for her to wake up at the time so i turned the mat off. The trouble is my room as no radiator so it gets pretty cold in the winter so i am going to look at alternative heating for the nightime or maybe a way of putting the mat at the back of the tub were it is more open to air flow.

 

[kfb]

Great info we will be needing one of these soon! :turtle:

 

[GBtortoises]

Unless the area that your Hermann's tortoise is being kept in drops below 50 degrees at night there is absolutely no need for supplemental nighttime heat. As long as daytime temperatures are above the low 70's. Northern Mediterranean species, which include Hermann's tortoises, are very accustomed to at least a 15-20 degree temperature variance from day to night.

 

[Tracy Gould]

Unless the area that your Hermann's tortoise is being kept in drops below 50 degrees at night there is absolutely no need for supplemental nighttime heat. As long as daytime temperatures are above the low 70's. Northern Mediterranean species, which include Hermann's tortoises, are very accustomed to at least a 15-20 degree temperature variance from day to night.

Ok thanks. The room does get cold in the winter but not that cold were it drops below 50 degrees i place her in a corner next to were i sit. There is a back boiler behind the gasfire near her which is feeds the radiators so that throws out heat i picked this area because it the warmest area in the room so hopefully we will get through the winter without having to add extra heat on a night.