Heat mats

[AnimalLady]

I was told that torts cannot feel heat from under them, if given a heating pad they will seriously burn themselves. Is this true?

 

[Jodie]

I have also been told they will burn themselves with a heat mat. They will also burn themselves on lights that are too close. I think the biggest problem is most heat mats get too hot and short out. I use Kane mats, and some use pig blankets. They don't get as hot.

 

[AnimalLady]

I have also been told they will burn themselves with a heat mat. They will also burn themselves on lights that are too close. I think the biggest problem is most heat mats get too hot and short out. I use Kane mats, and some use pig blankets. They don't get as hot.

Have you been using them for a while with no issues?

It worries me now, I was debating making a warm box for Mac with one, but I'm unsure now.

 

[wellington]

I and others that use the kane heat mats do so by putting them on the wall at tort level. Not placing them on the floor for them to lay on. With a thermostat and them being placed on the wall, there is really no worries of the tort burning itself. I do believe some do place them on the floor, but I dont know if they use a thermostat or if they ever felt their torts have been on them too long. I wouldn't chance it on the floor.

 

[AnimalLady]

I was going to make it like this,

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...m.org/threads/another-night-box-thread.88966/

But I could mount it to the side

 

[Jodie]

I use them on the floor. Have been for about a year. They are on thermostats. Kane mats have an internal thermostat that prevents them from getting to hot. It made me very nervous when I started using them. Tom actually recommended them though and I have not had any problems with my Russians, leopards or Sulcata using them.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

i just worry about them drying out the substrate and personally think heating from above is better, at least for me, but every situation is different.

 

[Tom]

I was told that torts cannot feel heat from under them, if given a heating pad they will seriously burn themselves. Is this true?

They can certainly feel heat from anywhere around them, but its not known exactly what mechanism tells them: "You are getting too hot and you need to move". I used to use hot rocks back in the 70s and 80s and they would regularly short out and start smoldering. All of my animals would get off of them. Never had a burn, but some people did. The problem usually comes with larger animals housed outside. Or reptiles in colder temps. A large leopard or sulcata outside under a CHE will sometimes not realize that the top of their shell is too hot, because their belly, their head, their limbs and the air they are breathing is still too cold. Same could happen with a faulty heat mat and nothing over head in cold temps. This is typically seen when people throw a heat mat or CHE in a dog house or Igloo and think that all is good.

Kane heat mats have a built in safety thermostat that prevents them from getting too hot, even if the main thermostat were to fail for some reason, which I've never had happen. They are perfectly safe to use on the floor. I've talked with Craig Kane, the owner of Kane heat mats and he told me his mats are not designed to throw heat sideways or down. They are designed to be laid upon by animals. Its the direct contact and the physics of heat rising that makes his mats effective. I like to use them in conjunction with a radiant heat panel on top, to sandwich the tortoise in a warming zone. Because the Kane mat and RHP take up less than half the night box, the tortoise can move off of the heat mat, yet still be in its warm box over night. For all this to work, the box must be closed, well insulated and well sealed. This is why the whole thing doesn't work as well in a dog house or Igloo. Those let in too much cold air.

Believe me. I've tried all sorts of strategies, techniques and different equipment over the years. It was a long treacherous road to get to where I am now. I have not arrived at these conclusions and recommendations lightly. In nearly two decades of using heat mats (pig blankets) for large, outdoor housed tortoises, I have yet to have a problem with them.

 

[mike taylor]

This is how my tortoise house is setup . I use a small heater hooked to a 2500 watt thermostat . My uvb lights are plugged into a cheap timer . When the thermostat closes it turns on a heater and humidifier . Works great for me . Humidity stays 70% and the temperature stays 85 ° .
Now this is my reds setup because they stay in there all winter . My sulcatas house is setup the same without the uvb lights . Works great but you have to insulate whatever you do good .

 

[Kathy Coles]

I use a Kane mat on the floor. The set up is: the Kane mat is on a plastic tray that was sold to be used under a washing machine. Then I have a large bin from Walmart that is turned upside down over the Kane mat. The fit is perfect if you get the right bin. The Repti-fogger sits on top of the bin and there is a hole cut in the side to let the humidity in. There is a thermostat taped onto the mat with gorilla tape!! One exit hole to the rest of her enclosure and boom. So she is warm and humid but can get away for a while if she want to. Also, the food god leaves food in the enclosure part.

 

[Y.Furst]

Kathy I would love to see a picture, please

 

[Yvonne G]

I was told that torts cannot feel heat from under them, if given a heating pad they will seriously burn themselves. Is this true?

I think this way of thinking evolved from being told to not use heat mats or bottom heat for baby tortoises because they don't know they can move off of it if they get too hot. It's ok to use them for bigger tortoises. I have been using Stansfield pig blankets for over 25 years. I've never had a problem with the tortoises using the pads. Over the years I've had failures with the controller occasionally, but nothing that harmed the tortoise.

 

[SGT Fish]

It may be a gradual heat that doesnt alarm them. Many cold blooded animals cant feel a small change in temperature. you can actually boil a frog without him hopping out of the pot if you increase the temperature slowly enough. they don't notice the excessive heat and die