dumb novice question here but how do you keep your heating mats safe for both pets and people? Like how do you regulate the temp and make sure it doesn't become a hazard when you aren't home?
Thermostats! :) I use thermostats to control the CHE lamps for the hedgehogs & the radiant heat panel for Charis. Heating mats aren’t appropriate for hedgehogs & won’t work with the set up I have for Charis.
I’ll admit I do NOT have the hermit crab tank mats on a thermostat - I don’t worry quite as much with theirs because they stay at an appropriate temp while just plugged in without needing to be dimmed, and if they should malfunction & start to heat the tank too much, the crabs can & will burrow to stay cooler. So it wouldn’t ramp up to such an emergency situation as quickly as it would many other animals.
If you’re using a heating mat for any other animal (typically reptiles like snakes, leopard geckos, etc.), you should always use a thermostat with it. It can be much more dangerous to the animal & cause burns or overheating (which can kill them) if the mat malfunctions & gets too hot.Â
Some other safety considerations for heating mats (and other heating equipment):Â
- Always make sure there’s space underneath the mat. If you have it on the bottom of a tank, the tank should not be flat against a surface - this is why a lot of heating mats come with little rubber feet to raise the tank up & create airflow. This prevents the heat from building up & becoming dangerous.Â
(For other heating equipment like CHE lamps, make sure nothing can fall against the lamp or bulb - they DO get hot enough to melt fabric & possibly cause fires. If there’s any concern of a lamp sliding off a surface, wire it in place.)
- Pay attention to the instructions for the mat. Each brand is different - often the ones that have adhesive to stick them onto the tank cannot be removed & used again - peeling them off can damage wires in the mat & make dangerous malfunctions more likely. A lot of them also cannot be insulated without the potential for overheating (similar to the reason above, needing airflow). The heating mats I have for the hermit crabs are Ultratherm mats & they CAN be safely insulated.
(For CHE bulbs, double check your lamp! These bulbs get much hotter than the colored reptile heating bulbs & need to have a porcelain socket. The lamp MUST state on the box that they’re rated for use with CHE bulbs.)
Here are a couple great write-ups from Heather, WMSS, that discuss heating in more detail, and the second one explains how to set up a thermostat for a snake/lizard/gecko enclosure:
http://wheremyscalesslither.tumblr.com/post/158822876028/setting-up-your-enclosure-heating
http://wheremyscalesslither.tumblr.com/post/154521420053/installing-your-thermostat-for-your-under-tanktub
