Why is a heat pad harmful?

Herman_WA

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I have a heat pad that is under my torts hide. It is my main source of heat for night, because it gets cold where I live at night, and don't want to keep a lamp on all night.
Anyway, I would LOVE multiple reasons why it is harmful.

Thanks!
 

JoesMum

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We’ll start with, it’s electrical and a tort’s claws are sharp. There’s a fire risk.

If it’s under the enclosure and a proper depth of substrate it is unlikely to be effective

Tortoises evolved to take heat from above. A heat mat is a bit like you sticking a leg out from under the blankets all night. The bit of you next to the blanket is warm, but your leg gets cold. You have the option to pull your leg back under the blanket. A tortoise can’t roll over.

You should use a Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE) with a thermostat to provide night time heat in a covered enclosure if it’s getting too cold
 

Yossarian

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I have a heat pad that is under my torts hide. It is my main source of heat for night, because it gets cold where I live at night, and don't want to keep a lamp on all night.
Anyway, I would LOVE multiple reasons why it is harmful.

Thanks!

what heat pad are you using under the hide? And surely just one reason why it is harmful is enough.
 

Yvonne G

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In my opinion, it's ok for older, bigger tortoises , but babies don't seem to realize they can move off it if they get too hot.

I've never seen this, but have heard that sitting on a too hot heat mat causes the plastron to grow thickened. Don't know how true that is.
 

Herman_WA

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what heat pad are you using under the hide? And surely just one reason why it is harmful is enough.
Don't know the brand. Its made for tortoises though. And yes, one good reason is enough. I just would like a few.
 
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Tom

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Don't know the brand. Its made for tortoises though. And yes, one good reason is enough. I just would like a few.
Lack of safety and burns are why you don't use heat pads for small tortoises indoors. These products fail on a regular basis.

In the wild when the sun heats the earth's surface and they want to cool down, they dig down into the cooler earth. Even a few inches down is significantly cooler than the surface. If it gets hotter, they dig down more. This is their instinct. When the heat is coming from below, their instinct tells them they are too hot and they need to dig down further. With an undertank heat pad, they get closer to the heat, which makes them hotter, which makes them dig down more, and get hotter still. They do not have human powers of reason and logic. When they feel too hot, they know to dig down to get aways from the heat.

The exception to all of this is using "pig blankets" for larger tortoises housed in outdoor boxes. These pig blankets have multiple built in safeties and automatic shut offs, and we run them on thermostats too. They have no substrate over them to hold in heat or create hot spots, and there is no way for the tortoise to dig down deeper and get too hot.
 

queen koopa

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Don't know the brand. Its made for tortoises though. And yes, one good reason is enough. I just would like a few.
Knowing the brand would be helpful. Also there are tons of products out there “made for tortoise” which may and probably means made for reptiles a lot of time. I use a Kane heat mat for my 45 pound Sulcata to supplement her at night in her outdoor shed. It is very durable and made for larger animals. With heat mats the cords need to be secured away from the animal and you will need to spot check the temperatures of the mat so you know its not too hot. I probably wouldn’t use a heat mat for a baby tort because there is a good chance they wont know to get off.. over heat and die.
 

Herman_WA

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Knowing the brand would be helpful. Also there are tons of products out there “made for tortoise” which may and probably means made for reptiles a lot of time. I use a Kane heat mat for my 45 pound Sulcata to supplement her at night in her outdoor shed. It is very durable and made for larger animals. With heat mats the cords need to be secured away from the animal and you will need to spot check the temperatures of the mat so you know its not too hot. I probably wouldn’t use a heat mat for a baby tort because there is a good chance they wont know to get off.. over heat and die.
The heat mat was given to me, so I don't know. But I will see if I can get the brand! I always touch it to make sure its not too hot and not too cold. I have an adult Hermanns by the way.
 

Yossarian

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The heat mat was given to me, so I don't know. But I will see if I can get the brand! I always touch it to make sure its not too hot and not too cold. I have an adult Hermanns by the way.

I asked what heat mat you have because I want to know what kind it is, there are lots of different kinds of heat mats/rocks etc. . There are some that could work fine as long as they carefully control temps and dont get too hot and are waterprooof, bite proof etc. . . Ultimately its one of those things where the right product under the right conditions might work ok, but far more often than not, the wrong product us used under the wrong conditions, and they are also mostly unneccesary for smaller species so like humidifiers they are one of those things advised against on the basis of risk factors.
 

Herman_WA

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The heat mat that I have is water proof, and I can control the temp. Dont know about bite proof.....
 

JoesMum

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The heat mat that I have is water proof, and I can control the temp. Dont know about bite proof.....
If your tortoise decided to dig down... as they all do... is there a risk that his claws could break the fabric?

Torts like to dig into the earth when settling for a snooze... if they do it on a heat mat and the fabric of it tears then you have a electrical fire risk.

You seem determined to use it to be honest and I am not sure why you bothered asking us. I’m out now
 

Herman_WA

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If your tortoise decided to dig down... as they all do... is there a risk that his claws could break the fabric?

Torts like to dig into the earth when settling for a snooze... if they do it on a heat mat and the fabric of it tears then you have a electrical fire risk.

You seem determined to use it to be honest and I am not sure why you bothered asking us. I’m out now
Yes, I guess I am pretty determined. Because it seems to be working fine and really don't want to use lamps. If there other options out there instead of a lamp, or heat pad, I'm open to it. I have a pic of it. Its not made with a fabric outline. 20201209_091046.jpgsorry, its a bit dirty. If this thing is really that bad for him I guess I'll just have to get something else.
 

Yossarian

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Yes, I guess I am pretty determined. Because it seems to be working fine and really don't want to use lamps. If there other options out there instead of a lamp, or heat pad, I'm open to it. I have a pic of it. Its not made with a fabric outline. View attachment 312638sorry, its a bit dirty. If this thing is really that bad for him I guess I'll just have to get something else.

These pads work by emitting far infra-red. They are water resistant, but they are not supposed to be used where they are submerged in water, or directly underneath woodchips, bark, soil, or coco coir. They are primarily designed to be used under aquariums. If you still feel that you need the heat, you could stick it to the wall of your Torts habitat and use it with a thermostat it will still give you the heat you need.
 

Herman_WA

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These pads work by emitting far infra-red. They are water resistant, but they are not supposed to be used where they are submerged in water, or directly underneath woodchips, bark, soil, or coco coir. They are primarily designed to be used under aquariums. If you still feel that you need the heat, you could stick it to the wall of your Torts habitat and use it with a thermostat it will still give you the heat you need.
Yes! I'll stick it to the wall!
Thanks everyone for your very helpful replies!
 

Len B

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I use heat pads or heated crocks for just about all my tortoises at some point and at different times of the year. I just finished building a new house for a young sulcata so it can stay out all year. I bought a Stanfield 18x24 heat mat which runs uncontrolled at 90 watts and will run about 30 to 35 degrees above the ambient air temperature. I have reduced the wattage used to near 50 watts using a lamp dimmer to lower it's running temperature in concert with the temps in his house. I'm guessing you have something like flex watt in your heat pad and it's temperature output can be controlled with a lamp dimmer so it doesn't get to hot. There is nothing wrong with a tortoise setting on warm ground unless you let it get to hot and they can't get off of it.
 

Guts

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Without knowing the brand I can’t tell you for certain how old it is but I haven’t seen people use those for herps in decades personally.

Just because something “is made for X animal” absolutely does not mean it’s safe or good for said animal. Look at heat rocks, still sold in stores still absolutelay dangerous trash.

Using your hand to check the temperature is neither safe nor accurate. You need a temp gun to be certain, and all heat sources like that need to becontrolled by a thermostat or it’s just a blatant hazard.

You don’t need a lamp, you need a CHE which doesn’t emit light as well as an appropriate thermostat to control the temperature.

I’ve tried putting uths on the side of a viv, it really just doesn’t work. They’re terrible at warming the air to begin with and when placed vertically there’s a negligible impact on the temperature around them.
 

Learning123

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I have a heat pad that is under my torts hide. It is my main source of heat for night, because it gets cold where I live at night, and don't want to keep a lamp on all night.
Anyway, I would LOVE multiple reasons why it is harmful.

Thanks!
Emitters are cool
 

Skip K

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For our hides indoors I personally don’t like a situation where my torts are directly over or under any type of heating device. I want the air temp in the hide to be correct so I take a different approach. I have plastic hides and have CHE’s on the OUTSIDE of the hide...heating the hide itself which keeps the ambient temp inside the hide warm without the torts being exposed directly to heat sources. Because the CHE is mounted on the wall of the enclosures...at an angle...I can adjust the angle to adjust temps in the hide depending on external factors ( like room temps). I like this not only so my torts aren’t exposed to heating elements directly which can dry them out...but also humidity levels stay more constant ...and for longer periods without my intervention. I have a thermometer/hygrometer to monitor the conditions inside the hide continuously. But I also have multiple safeguards in place to make sure the CHE cannot fall and make contact with the hide
 
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VincentTH

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Long time lurker, first time post:

I have an infrared heat lamp that I put on top of the cover in a 30G tank, for my tortoise to pass the night. It has a temp sensor that keep the temp around 78 deg. The heater raises the temp to 78.5F then shut off, and then restart when the temp falls below 77.5F. That eases the wife with her concern about electric bill :) I bought the heater from Pedco.

I put the tank on a mover so that I can roll my tortoise outside (1/2 shade) during sunlight days, and roll them in when the sun comes down, around 3PM (in Southern Calif). In the summer, they are free to roam my backyard.

Hope this helps someone.
 
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