Making a new home

[msparkes84]

Hey all,

Am going to be making a new home for my leo Gizzy.

Was thinking bout 1 metre long X 30cm wide X 30cm tall.

Would this be big enough?

Also is it safe to put a heat mat under the wood?

 

[Bellalee]

I don't think the UTH would ever get hot enough to radiate the heat through the wood. If you do a search on these forums, or even look around in the housing forum you might be able to find what people have done.

 

[Khrysty]

Here's how I heat my wood viv with a heat mat:

-Drill a little hole in the bottom of the back wall to run the plug through
-Line the bottom of the tank with a thin layer of tin/aluminum foil
-Place the heat mat on the foil and run the plug through the wall
-Plug up the rest of the hole with modeling clay
-Cover with substrate of your choice.

Keeps it all nice and toasty

 

[msparkes84]

Thanks for the info

 

[clarkee_04]

and yes it would be big enough

 

[msparkes84]

Here's how I heat my wood viv with a heat mat:

-Drill a little hole in the bottom of the back wall to run the plug through
-Line the bottom of the tank with a thin layer of tin/aluminum foil
-Place the heat mat on the foil and run the plug through the wall
-Plug up the rest of the hole with modeling clay
-Cover with substrate of your choice.

Keeps it all nice and toasty

Is it safe to put tiles onto the heat mat, does the heat mat need room to breath

 

[Khrysty]

You know..I hadn't thought of that. I'm using paper towels currently, but I'll be switching to tile in a few weeks.

The only thing that could possibly be bad about the tile being directly on the mat is that (hypothetically) the mat could get too warm and short out.

It is slightly raised where the cable/wire attaches to it, though, so it would be possible to "raise" the floor on the other side to meet it and just attach the heater directly to the tile. The space for "breathing" could be between the mat and the floor..just raised less than an inch.

That might be the best way to go, I think.