Since I am buying a bigger mat. Is there other or better mats then Kane?
Kane mat
- Thread starter Ray--Opo
- Start date
There's others, can't say they are better. I use the Stanfield mats from Osborne Industries. They offer sizes different than Kane. Just out of curiosity how big is the house you are heating? I ask because I am using the chicken coop heater & brooder from Tractor supply in the last 2 house's I've built along with the mat and a oil filled electric heater. The coop heaters look like a turned off flat screen tv even when producing heat. The tortoise can't have access to it so you can hang on a wall or ceiling.
Being in Florida and with only 5 to 10 days Opo cant get outside. The enclosure will be 4×4 and insulated I have 2 12"×12" RHP's on the ceiling and then the Kane mat. With the temps here that's all I need. Some might think the enclosure is small. But my thinking is, if Opo was in a burrow for 2 or 3 days. There is not much room in a burrow. I will look at the sizes of the Stanfield mats. There is only one size bigger than the 18"×18" Kane that I like. Maybe Stanfield offers something different.
This just a suggestion, if you are satisfied with the mat you have now except for the size. Get another one the same size and set them next to each other. This will give Opo a larger heated floor area and also leave him enough floor space for him to get off the mats when he wants to.
I usually recommend the 21 inch RHP, but in your climate, the 12x12 will probably be enough to get you through the rare cold spell in winter.
I use the 18x28 Kane mat. 18x18 will be too small when your little baby gets bigger.
A 4x4 house is perfect, and your burrow comparison is exactly right. This is not your tortoises entire living space. Its a small heated enclosure, somewhat simulating a warm burrow, that is attached to a much larger outdoor enclosure where the tortoise can roam and graze. Your tortoise doesn't "live" in a 4x4 box. It sleeps there sheltered at night, and it lives in its large outdoor enclosure.
With a rheostat your mat and RHP will always be on. You don't need this on a typical 90 degree Florida day. Its a waste of electricity and it simply overheats the box when not needed. With a thermostat, the heating elements are off when the temperature is over your set point, which in FL will be almost all of the time. No need to be heating a box on a normal hot day, but the thermostat will kick the heat on should the temperature drop over night or in "winter".
I was thinking about that but another member showed me his 65lb sully on a 18" wide mat and a 3rd of the body was hanging off the mat. Thought I would get the 27" x 36".
Thanks Tom, thermostat is definitely the way to go. Which is what I am using now. No need to spend more money. ?
My 100+lb sulcata sleeps on a 2'x3' pig blanket. He's a BIG boy. Yesterday when I had him in my contractor size wheelbarrow he covered the whole floor of the barrow and couldn't bring his legs out of his shell. So what I'm saying is he hangs off the pig blanket. So what? The main part of his body is on the pad and the ambient temp in his shed is in the 80's, so his whole body doesn't need to fit on the pad.
I agree, I am just thinking of getting a bigger one now. But maybe I should use this one since it is still working. I offered it to a new member for the cost of the postage but never heard back. But Rose is thinking she would like a radiant star so I should probably hang on to it.
I got a mat that fits in a corner, because any Sulcata I've ever had sleeps with their face in the corner. It's big enuf it makes Mary look small on it. I took pictures of the controller and the mat, but this new computer evidently can't handle my photo load...so I do not have the pictures I took...or most of the older ones...
Thanks, you are right though. Opo digs in the corner every night when going to bed.
