Dubia set up heating Questions

[Pinky81]

So I had a ZooMed UTH on a thermostat under my rubbermaid tub for heating for my dubia's. The other day I came home and the tub was 71 degrees...I felt the UTH and it was cold...so I took it out from under the tub and this is what I found!!!

this is scaring the shit out of me!!! :main_thumbsdown: What do you all use to heat your tubs safely??? Is heat cable a better idea?? Flexwatt is out of the question as I don't have a place for it. but I can get Zoo med heat cable from the local pet store. Right now just to keep my Roaches warmer I have a human heating pad under there...which i am NOT happy about...and only doing because Im sitting 2 feet from my tub all weekend.

Any ideas guys?? I don't want my roaches to kick the bucket, just as they seem to be starting to breed. Is this temp crap gonna mess that up???

 

[BadKelpie]

Cooler temps won't kill them, just slows the breeding. The human heat pad will work fine, lots of people use them. I have a heat rock in mine, it was at goodwill for $2, it gets too hot by itself, so I buried it in sand (and I have the roaches in an aquarium, seemed more heat stable). Seems to be doing the trick, I've got a whole bunch of little babies running around.

 

[12many]

i use a human heat pad that i bought from cvs. it works great. I had zoomed uth too but for some reason, it gets hot after i plug it in, but the next day there's no heat. so i switched to the human heat pad.

 

[ReptileWorld]

I personally use the repti therm made by zoomed under tank heater. i use a 30 to 40 gal size one and i stuck it right on the bottom of the plastic tub and plugged it in watched it for the day and it never had a problem. please consider that you might have had a single defected item and may not be the same result with another.

i use the 30 to 40 gallon size because it covers about 75% of the bottom of the tub leaving a small area with no heat where i keep the food dish and water gel dish and place the fruits and what not.

i have had this heat pad on for approx 8 months now and its going strong. i also got a 2nd colony set up in a 10 gallon tank i taped the standard screan lif so that only a small area was left un taped as a vented area and i use the same concept. i get better production out of my plastic bin rather then my glass tank. this single heat pad keeps my bin at 78 to 88F it really depends how hot it is in my apartment. i keep the central air on 75 at night at 80 during the day when no one is home.

 

[Pinky81]

I personally use the repti therm made by zoomed under tank heater. i use a 30 to 40 gal size one and i stuck it right on the bottom of the plastic tub and plugged it in watched it for the day and it never had a problem. please consider that you might have had a single defected item and may not be the same result with another.

i use the 30 to 40 gallon size because it covers about 75% of the bottom of the tub leaving a small area with no heat where i keep the food dish and water gel dish and place the fruits and what not.

i have had this heat pad on for approx 8 months now and its going strong. i also got a 2nd colony set up in a 10 gallon tank i taped the standard screan lif so that only a small area was left un taped as a vented area and i use the same concept. i get better production out of my plastic bin rather then my glass tank. this single heat pad keeps my bin at 78 to 88F it really depends how hot it is in my apartment. i keep the central air on 75 at night at 80 during the day when no one is home.

Ok Im gonna try the UTH again. I just can't think about using a human heating pad as those weren't made to be left on 24/7. That was also my next question what size. the one I used was LARGE as I got it off CL for $15. So you answered that question 30-40 sounds about right! Thanks!

 

[bananaphone]

ive seen more people that use a human heatpad 24/7 for their roach bins then anything else. just pick one up from CVS for $20 and your gtg.

 

[rickmoss95]

this is EXACTLY why i dont use those crap uth's that those "pet product' companies make...i lost a fifteen hundred dollar chondro once due to those "company" products! i only use professional thermos(helix, herpstats, and the ones i make) and flexwatt for the actual heating element. i have personally seen MANY times where those store bought products have caused fires and animal deaths. i am not saying this is the "usual" case with these products, but i AM saying...i have seen(and experienced) way too many for me to trust these products anymore...i would rather spend the money and know there is way less of a chance of these malfunctioning. and i am also not saying that the stuff i use is perfect and bomb proof, but they are waaay better products and the chances are way lower for malfuntions. and flexwatt is actually cheaper than an under tank heating element....

 

[fl_orchidslave]

We make heat mats out of the wide flexwatt also. It's very convenient, simple, and cost efficient when you have a lot of reptiles.