How about heat mats?

christinaland128

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Yvonne G

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I use the Stanfield pig blankets like in your link, but only for full grown tortoises. Babies don't seem to realize the can move off the spot if it gets too hot. However, the instructions that come with the pad tell you not to put anything on them. It's like your electric blanket when you set a magazine down on top of it, the blanket heats up pretty hot under the magazine (at least they did in the olden days when I had electric blankets). (I want to know what's the difference between a thin layer of substrate sitting on the pad and a 100lb tortoise sitting on the pad -or mama pig and her babies, but oh well)

For smaller tortoises and my box turtle babies, I use a seedling heat mat like this:

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/seedling-propagation-mat/propagation-mats-cables

I put it down on the bare floor of the baby container, then add moist substrate over the top of it. You can pull away substrate to make it warmer, or add substrate if its too warm. The writing on the box tells you that it doesn't get hotter than 80F. I've been using these for about 5 years now and I swear by them for babies. The heat percolates up through the moist substrate and causes warm humidity. A word of caution, though. Be sure to keep the cord up out of the substrate. I was setting up one of my baby habitats earlier this year and the mat didn't warm up. Upon further inspection, the cord, where it went into the mat, had rotted through to expose the wiring and the wires were rusted through.
 

Tom

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I would not recommend heat from underneath. I've seen it cause too many problems for too many reptiles.

I agree with J and Yvonne that you cannot put anything on top of a heat mat.
 

christinaland128

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Thank you! I was looking at seed mats as well but I couldn't find something larger than 12". :(

I'll keep that in mind with the cord. Thank you. :)
 

christinaland128

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Ok maybe I'll just stick with the CHE's. It's going to be fully enclosed so the CHE's should keep the substrate warm I'm hoping.

Thank you guys. :)
 
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