For heat mats you can use a on off or mat thermostat.
How to use heat mat for reptiles.
Add a second heater.
This keeps your pet at a safe distance from coming in direct contact with a very hot glass surface.
There is three leads that come off your thermostat one is the plug another is the plug socket for your heat source and lastly there is the probe.
This is generally good practice for avoiding reptile burns but doubly so when it comes to fire safety.
That s not always the case though.
Most heating pads are meant to be used with a half inch to one inch of bedding as an insulating material on the bottom of the tank.
A second option is to add a second source of heating to the mix.
It should cover approximately 1 3 of the floor space and definitely no more than 1 2 as you must allow your pet to move to a cooler area if it is getting over heated.
Use the right heat pads.
Using substrate with your reptile heat pad.
This ensures that your precious reptiles won t overheat even if the ambient temperature in the room starts to rise.
The heat mat should be placed in the hot zone of the vivarium.
Some species like burrowing frogs do better with the heating mat stuck to the side of their enclosure.
In this video i look at what makes a heat mat unsafe and tips on how to prevent this from happening.
Just be sure to test your setup first to make sure it reaches the correct temperature.
Under tank heating pads supplement a basking light for lizards like bearded dragons and snakes like ball pythons.
The heat mat is either mounted on the side of the tank or on the bottom.
They use less electricity than a heat lamp does.
And like heat lamps replace immediately if it gets damaged.
Just because your heat mat isn t quite getting the temperature high enough doesn t necessarily mean that you need to replace it altogether.
A common mistake that first time reptile pet owners make is having the incorrect bedding or no bedding at all when setting up their terrarium with a heating pad.
First and foremost you need to decide where to place the heating pad.
Use heat pads with adjustable thermostats only.
Step 3 now plug the thermostat into your plug socket which should light up the light.