Anybody use ZooMed Repti Heat Cable?

[BigBiscuit]

Here is the link:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3716152

Does anyone have any input. Smiley (Greek) has a cool side of about 74F, and the vet said I should look into a pig heat mat into her substrate, but those run about $100. I was wondering if this would do a good job of raising temps. Do I need to raise temps?

Currently Basking 105F, Warm Side about 80-85, cool side 72-74

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Your temps look alright to me, I don't think you need anything else...

 

[BigBiscuit]

Your temps look alright to me, I don't think you need anything else...

I took smiley in for a RI. They put her on Baytril. She is fine now, but I wonder if it was a classic case of a vet without tort experience trying to impress a new client. He told me to buy one of those big pig mats and raise the ambient temp around the enclosure to mid to high 80s.

Thanks for your input.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I think you do need to have an area in the 70s available. Only 80s and 90s sounds too high, even with a RI. I do not agree with using under substrate heating for a small tort and see no reason why you need to raise it either. Usually they would say to bump up the temperatures a bit for a RI but yours are already on the high side of what I would recommend (70-95/100) so I think you are fine, as Maggie said. Is Smiley spending a lot of time in the cooler area, or enough in the warmer areas? With that kind of advice yes I agree to question the vet's experience.

 

[BigBiscuit]

I think you do need to have an area in the 70s available. Only 80s and 90s sounds too high, even with a RI. I do not agree with using under substrate heating for a small tort and see no reason why you need to raise it either. Usually they would say to bump up the temperatures a bit for a RI but yours are already on the high side of what I would recommend (70-95/100) so I think you are fine, as Maggie said. Is Smiley spending a lot of time in the cooler area, or enough in the warmer areas? With that kind of advice yes I agree to question the vet's experience.

I don't think she really favors one side to the other. Sometimes she is in the cool side, other times, she is under her light. She seems to sleep all over the enclosure.

 

[Madkins007]

Here is my opinion. As a fellow mid-westerner, the room temps in my habitat get cold sometimes. That means that the soil is usually cool or clammy. Check yours- place a thermometer on the soil and lay some sort of insulating pad on it and see what the soil temps are.

With my Red-foots, my soil was ALWAYS cool and damp. Yuck. I installed some FlexWatt strips (Big Apple Herps) and use a thermostat to keep the soil at a mid-range 85F right on top of the strips. I have about 2/3rds of the habitat covered about 50% with the strips (or, I have a lot of strip coverage in most of the habitat.)

I was able to cut down on overhead heating a LOT and am not using as much energy to accomplish the goal.

Now- for you, a downside might be that it produces humidity. To make the strips or cables work IN SOIL, they heat the water in the soil, and the water carries the heat through the habitat. You can use the strips, tapes, or mats under the habitat- but a thick layer of soil will block most of the heat.

Personally, I would go with FlexWatt strips, OR with 'plant propagation mats', which are like pig blankets but cheaper (http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/heaters3.shtml about 1/2 way down) BUT I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND A THERMOSTATIC CONTROLLER FOR ALL bottom heaters (actually, I recommend them for top heaters too!)