How thick can substrate be with a heating mat?

[Harperg86]

I have a heating mat on the outside of the bottom of my terrarium with a thermostat attached. There’s a bar for the sliding doors that obstructs my view into the tank. I was considering putting some substrate under the tile slab my gecko currently has in order to raise things up so I can see my gecko better. I am wondering how deep substrate can be without causing heating issues? Would 2 inches be too much?

 

[acpart]

I recommend you put the substrate in, plug in the heat mat with no thermostat, let it reach it's top temp and then measure the heat reliably (temp gun or digital thermometer with probe) on the surface to see if you have achieved the proper heat (low 90's F). If it's too hot, use a thermostat. If it's too cool, remove some of the substrate. Hopefully you're not planning to use sand as a substrate; it has problems. If for some reason your gecko is an adult and you just have to use sand, get play sand, not calci-sand.

Aliza

 

[Herpin Man]

Substrate does not conduct heat well. You can certainly experiment with it, but if it were me, I would choose overhead heating in any vivarium containing loose substrate.