Heat Source

[Stacykins]

I know most people use overhead heat for their chicks in the form of a ceramic heat emitter or a red bulb, I have both. But, I also have two spare under tank heaters used for reptiles. Completely different from a heat rock, these literally go under the enclosure and are hooked up to a thermostat to maintain temperature (these things can get hot, using them with regulation can result in burned animals). Do you think the under tank heat would work for chicks? Has anyone else used an under tank heat setup for chicks? Or should I just go with the tried and true, and use the ceramic heat emitter?

 

[mrslb333]

I asked a similar question a while back but got no reply so hopefully I can learn from yours. I have thought about somehow mounting one overhead

 

[gumbii]

my brooder is a reptile critter condo... a huge one... like for a petshop... it has two 2'x2'x2' and three 4'x2'x2' areas with sliding glass windows... i didn't want to use bulbs because they are hard to regulate in those cages... so i used heat tape... i had a bunch of it left over from when i made my leopard gecko rack... i used the 4" kind and two 2' strips of it on each brooder... on the small condos i put one on the floor on the far side of the cage, and one on the wall just above it... just on one side... i have all of them connected to a light dimmer switch... i also have some terra cotta pots in there so they can play with them, but they hold the temp sensor down on the tape... turned all the way up the temp gets to 115°F at times, but at night i can't get it hotter than 105°F... so i turn it down in the day time and up at night... my room fluctuates a lot...


anyways... this stuff is only a couple of watts per brooder... less than a bulb and more controllable heat source... i don't think i'll ever try bulbs... i had a 50W bulb in there and it wouldn't go under 120°F and the cool side was 100°F... no bueno...


hth...