hot hands

Heather H

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I bought "hot hand" to. Keep in my tortoise supply box. For power outages.....or if traveling. Have any of you used these? Do you wrap them? I'm trying to be prepared for any situation. Thanks
 

mini_max

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I do this when we go to the vet, since it's winter here. I put him in a shoe box with some substrate and put a heat pack underneath and wrap the whole thing in a towel. He seems to like it. Actually, the second time we went I used a hot water bottle which I found to be warmer and longer lasting.
 

Mavrik

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I was always told to wrap it in a towel so that the torts couldn't accidentally rip it open and ingest the stuff inside. When my power went out a few weeks ago, I put my bigger torts in clean litter boxes lined with paper towels, wrap the boxes 3/4 with towels (leaving a window for air) and put the handwarmers in the folds of the towels in the bottom. The shellings seemed to like it, didn't get too hot and everybody was comfy for the 3hrs we were without power.
 

wellington

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I have these too. My thought was to put my tortoise in a small box, inside a cooler with the hot hands in it. If that makes sense.
This is the best idea I think. However, you could just use the cooler. I would wrap the warmers and put them on one side of a small box, but big enough box for the tortoise to get off the heater if he wanted and maybe some substrate of paper towels on the other side.
 

Levi the Leopard

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I used hot hands once with the group of leopard tortoises when I moved out of state. We made the 12hr drive at night so it was important that they stayed warm.
I had the torts each in their own plastic totes (holes in the lid) and the hot hands were in the corner, wrapped in paper towels. I had my temp gun and checked them at pit stops/gas stations. Their shells were always in the high 70 range.
 

Yellow Turtle01

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I need to get some of these, just in case :(
I like the cooler idea, less heat will escape.
 

Robyn@TRR

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Hand warmers should never be used with animals. They get too hot, and the duration is too short to be very effective. Get some shipping heat packs for your emergency or travel kit, they are safer to use and have a much longer duration.

Hand warmers ("Hot Hands") peak at 180F+, while shipping heat packs are much lower, and more consistent. Check out this link for a chart of peak temps and duration times. The 60 hour and 72 hour heat packs have an excellent heating profile for shipping, traveling and emergency use.

You aren't going to find 40+ hour heat packs locally, unless you luck out at an amazing reptile store. Get them online now (we stock them at ShipYourReptiles.com) so that you have them when needed.

Heat pack temperature peaks and duration profiles.

Ah, I can attach the pic directly here : )

syr 1524119_661701010519735_1226693571_o.png
 

Heather H

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i would put in in a cooler ( I bought a soft sided cooler that fits a large plastic pet carrier, it is shiney inside) with the tortoise in a carrier. not near the pet and monitor the temps. we have frequent power outages.
i will look into getting the other kind. thanks
i checked them out they are reasonably priced.
 
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HLogic

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I agree with Robyn. Hand warmers are not ideal. Too hot & too short-lived for any real emergency or situation of more than a few hours duration. If used, insulate them with layers of newspaper or similar, tape them to the top of the container to prevent direct contact and be certain to allow some ventilation in the container - they use oxygen...
 

Robyn@TRR

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I will argue though, that Hot Hands are cheaper and more readily available for the general population, so as long as you are smart in your usage of them with your tortoises they would work perfectly fine in any kind of emergency.

When you buy a ten pack, shipping heat packs are $1-$2 each. You need something cheaper than that to ensure the safety of your animals? We have shipped hundreds of thousands of animals through ShipYourReptiles. I can tell you instantly the number one cause of DOAs- misuse of heat packs, overheating and causing the death of the animals, including turtles and tortoises. Breaking down that number one cause further, the most common denominator issue? Using Hot Hands/hand warmers instead of a shipping heat pack. It is incredibly sad and discouraging to see people still recommend their use.

I wouldn't use a hand warmer within ten feet of a live reptile. I know very well the damage and DOAs they cause. Paying $2 for a proper heat pack seems incredibly reasonable and smart. Taking a short cut for an emergency situation does not.
 

Mavrik

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When you buy a ten pack, shipping heat packs are $1-$2 each. You need something cheaper than that to ensure the safety of your animals? We have shipped hundreds of thousands of animals through ShipYourReptiles. I can tell you instantly the number one cause of DOAs- misuse of heat packs, overheating and causing the death of the animals, including turtles and tortoises. Breaking down that number one cause further, the most common denominator issue? Using Hot Hands/hand warmers instead of a shipping heat pack. It is incredibly sad and discouraging to see people still recommend their use.

I wouldn't use a hand warmer within ten feet of a live reptile. I know very well the damage and DOAs they cause. Paying $2 for a proper heat pack seems incredibly reasonable and smart. Taking a short cut for an emergency situation does not.

I respect your view.

Quite frankly, I prefer not to ship reptiles at all, and my preferred method of keeping them warm during the rare occurrence of a power outage is using my own body heat. I've never shipped a reptile to anyone, have only received them, and it was not during cold weather so the use of a shipping heat pack was not an issue.
 
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