Ben02
Well-Known Member
Should I use a heat mat or a CHE at night time
Heat mat or CHE
- Thread starter Ben02
- Start date
I believe you can try each for a moment and then decide what works best for your set up.
I use both, but then, my tortoises have a large shed to live in over the winter and a pig blanket just doesn't do it to heat the whole shed. I set the pig blanket so it generally stays around 80F degrees, then I hang a 250 watt brooder lamp from the ceiling, and it hangs about 3' above the tortoise's back.
Heat mats are for larger tortoises living in outdoor night boxes. Indoors, for smaller tortoises, CHEs or radiant heat panels work best. Either needs to be set on a thermostat.
For Testudo species, you should not need night heat at all, unless your house is as cold as a refrigerator, which is apparently the case sometimes over there in the UK. Over here, most people heat their homes in winter. As long as your home stays above 16 C you don't need night heat. Personally, rather than run night heat over your tortoise, I'd rather heat that whole room above 16C. Unless you are using a viv, or some other type of closed chamber. Then it would be easier to run a CHE or RHP on a thermostat inside of it.
For Testudo species, you should not need night heat at all, unless your house is as cold as a refrigerator, which is apparently the case sometimes over there in the UK. Over here, most people heat their homes in winter. As long as your home stays above 16 C you don't need night heat. Personally, rather than run night heat over your tortoise, I'd rather heat that whole room above 16C. Unless you are using a viv, or some other type of closed chamber. Then it would be easier to run a CHE or RHP on a thermostat inside of it.
Ben02
Well-Known Member
My house doesn’t get to cold but would it be useful for sick tortoises as it keeps up there body temp
