hello! heating pad?

chomski · 02-06-2018, 07:43 AM

Chomski here looked cold, it gets as low as 50F in my home, so i got a reptile heating pad, a small one, its under a glass aquarium, glass gets warm in one corner of the aquarium where her nest is.

So anything issues here that i did not consider? i mean heating up a coldblooded creature might be different than a warmblooded? i dunno, her corner is not hot and she likes it, but i dont want cooked hamster in the morning...

thank you for your time, happy to be here!

cypher · 02-06-2018, 01:49 PM

If my conversion is right & 50F is 10C then that is way too cold for a hamster, the temperature shouldn't fall below about 65F at the lowest in the room.
Heat pads should never be touching the cage, at least a few inches below & not under the nest area, they are ok for short term use if your ham is cold but not ideal by any means, can you get some kind of heater like an oil filled radiator to warm the room up? They're economical to run.

Dalis_mum · 02-06-2018, 03:37 PM

I use a heat mat in winter as in the north facing side of a back to back terrace we can have a very cold house even with heating. I have it attached to a thermostat so the cage does not exceed 21 degrees C ( which is the mid range suggested in the ASP Act, I've never seen anywhere else give a specific range). also, only have the heatmat covering one third of the tank so they can get away from the heat and not directly against the glass. There is argument about whether you should put it underneath or on the side of the tank. That's a judgement to be made about your individual set up.

Another way to help maintain stable heat in a tank is insulation with polystyrene and/or bubble wrap on the outside.

cypher · 02-06-2018, 11:39 PM

I did forget to mention substrate & tissue! If you don't already, make sure she has a really deep layer of substrate, if it's cold then about 6" would be good & provide a really big pile of shredded plain white toilet tissue for nesting too.

chomski · 02-07-2018, 09:15 PM

Thank you much. The heating pad is a 4 by 6 inch reptile pad, i have it under the tank. The aquarium does not have a draft near it and only gets 50f for a few hours in late night. i added some extra TP and aspen.

i checked chomski ( a BEW Syrian) in the cold morning today, she did not like it, but she was warm n soft and ran around with ease. i will get a thermometer for that corner, she moved her nest from the adjacent coner to the one with heat pad. spring is coming.

is it odd that chomski dont like pop music much, but dont seem mind any instrumental....????

Dalis_mum · 02-09-2018, 01:10 AM

If your home gets significantly warmer outside those hours eg, when the heating clocks on, I would definitely invest in a thermostat. Small heat mats can still dispense a lot of heat and make a big difference in a glass tank. I managed to get one for about £5 off eBay not long ago for my snails. You just plug the heat mat in and place the probe in the tank and it will turn the heat mat off should the tank get above whatever level you set.