New setup.....

Ok so you may have seen my posts about dexter and his not eating/runny poo. Well I took people's advise and got onto the vet and also the store I got him from, the vet asked for a poo sample but the store are pretty good so have taken him back today to check him out and nurse him back to health etc. they are pretty good guys and are gunna help him get better as he was ill when I got him. But anyway dexter is in animal hospital for a while so I'm gunna take everyone's advice and get his home in tiptop condition for his return. This means new viv, heat mat, hide and other stuff.

Few questions to throw your way people...

What is the best heat mat I can lay my hands on? I saw a video for adjust a temp heat mat on YouTube and they seem good but want to know what is the best quality I can get for dexter?

I have ordered a ceramics heat lamp for the air temp aswell and already have a thermostat I can hook it up to to avoid over heating, also already have a blue night lamp for viewing at night/keeping temp up if the ceramic bulb is off.

So that's the plan anyway, good plan? Bad plan?

Just got to get him home next

No need really for a ceramic heat emitter and the best mats in my opinion are cobra heat mats. They are made by ultratherm and t-rex. You can get them at reptile direct.com and they aren't any more expensive than your average mat they use all copper filament banding and more bands than zoomed or exo terra. I've posted all over the forum about them, your can check my threads thru my profile if that'll help or just google ultratherm or t-rex cobra heat mats.

That's true kermit. I use the zoo med UTH and it does not warm up the tank. I have to use a Sun Glo Daylight Reptile Bulb for extra heat if not they hardly move and have small poops. Might have to look in to that ultratherm brand myself

Thanks people, only reason I have got a ceramic heat lamp is its the middle of winter and really cold so don't want the air temp getting too cold. In the summer it'l be fine to do without it.

If you're going to use the che you're going to need to put a little extra monitoring into your humidity levels to make sure they stay betwen 40-50%. Nw pa. Gets pretty cold, and in the years I've kept herps, aside of my ball python, I've never needed to use a che to make sure ambient temps were good.

When I get all the new stuff I will set everything up without the lamp and see what the temps at like, leave it for a day or so and monitor it. If it stays warm enough I will scrap the lamp.

Has anyone ever use the Habistat thermostats? Are they any good? Can get a twin channel one for decent price but didn't want to commit to buying it of they are rubbish. Was going to use the twin channel for the heat mat and lamp (if needed) you can set both channels to different temps as well.

One more question I have that may sound retarded but I was going to get a wooden viv for dexters now home to put all his new stuff in so does a heat mat have the power to go outside or do you have to put it inside?

For a wooden viv you would have to put the uth inside since wood is a terrible conductor of heat then place a tile over it. I've done this in my balls tank until I got the better cobra heat mat, just placed a 1x1 ceramic tile on the corners to lift it off the floor a bit so the uth could breathe. Just make sure its a natural stone like slate, granite, marble, soapstone stc, since porcelain and ceramic are insulators (think coffee mug here). Worked really well for us

Cool, was just reading a big long thread about it haha. If I was to use vynal tiles could I sit them directly on top of the heat mat? Or is it best to make some sort of thing to raise them a little bit? Like a really thin wood to give a 5mm gap about the heat mat?

Wouldn't use stick on vynal either as I like to lift the floor out every now and again for a deep clean

Stone tiles won't cost much more than vinyl, maybe a buck or 2 and most places will precut them for you. Anything that you use to make an elevated floor would likely work ok but you should have some airflow under your mat.

Thanks, should be getting the new stuff next week, off to animal hospital to see dexter tomorrow n see how he's getting on, may not get to see his new house That would be such a shame because its gunna be like a 5 star hotel.