Moving a Heating Pad?

[Zack and Kora]

Here in Mass it gets quite cold during the winter and my heat lamp wasnt quite doing the job in my 40- gallon breeder tank. I went to PetSmart and bought an All Living Things heating pad and in the instructions it said it could be mounted on either the bottom or side of the tank. To avoid having to lift or lay down the tank to attach the adhesive pad to the bottom, I mounted it on the side of the tank which was not a good idea because it gives off little to no heat into the tank, but if my animal were to touch the glass, she could be burned, as it heats the glass where it is attached. Is there any way to remove and reattach the heating pad on the bottom without hindering its ability to do its job? Thanks

 

[mike taylor]

You're not supposed to remove them after installing it .

 

[Tom]

I would not use the pad for exactly the reason you want to move it. What happens if your tortoise discovers the warm spot on the bottom of his enclosure and digs down to it? If the tortoise is breathing the cooler air in the enclosure, or the part of the tortoise that tells it to move away fro a heat source when its warm enough is not in contact with the pad, it could easily burn itself. And the pad does not have to be scorching hot to "burn" the animal. Just prolonged exposure to temps that feel "warm" to your hand, like sleeping on it overnight, could damage the tortoises tissues. Best to use heat sources from over head and warm the whole enclosure. A closed chamber will make this much easier.

 

[Yvonne G]

Once it's stuck to the glass, and you un-stick it, it won't re-adhere.

Go to a nursery or look online for seedling heat mat. I use those inside my tort tables that are outside in the tortoise sheds. I lay the mat on the floor of the table then put a layer of substrate over it. I keep the substrate moist. The box tells you that the pad won't heat up any hotter than 80F degrees. I've been using them for about 5 years now (not the same ones because they don't last more than a couple years) and I haven't had one malfunction yet. Of course, I guess that's always a possibility, but I certainly hope not.