Reptile Heating Pad

[Blooie]

I wouldn't even know where to start, @Smuvers Farm ! When you boil the whole thread down, it really comes down to two pages - the first one where I opened the thread (because aside from where the heating pad goes it's still identical) and Bee's posts at the link I gave. Oh, and @azygous' portal doors....oh, and the links to the heating pad...oh, and the chick pictures...oh, and the videos of the chicks using MHP.....oh, and - yeah, you see the dilemma!

 

[Diannastarr]

I lost all my chicks and hens in a fire caused by a heat lamp several months ago. I'm about ready to start again but am wanting the safest heat source for chicks. Has anyone tried a reptile heating pad? I've seen some that say they warm up to 85 or 125 degrees Fahrenheit so logically I think it should work...but not sure if it would in the real world.

O my goodness im so sorry to hear that, golly what a horrible experience ,i wish you the best of luck in the future , but i had also been thinking about that same problem & was not sure if the reptile heating pad would be the right temp or even to much heat ..? i believe that should be asked of the companies that makes them, plus i have seen those brooders that make the chicks stand around under them to keep warm , its seems a logical and simple solution , but i like to have an area were the chicks can move around eating & drinking & such and still be warm wile they develop so that did not fit the bill, since logic tells us that restricting any animal from daily exercise is never a good idea, so working with in those parimators i searched for a way to give the chicks the exercise they needed & still being kept warm at the right temp for them , so eventually i found this pretty kool no light heat lamp bulb for reptiles, its a screw in glass light bub , but its black & no light comes from it at all ,in fact it helps the chicks keep with in the natural sleep & awake patterns of nature , so here it is = i found this ad on Amazon.com for a Reptile Terrarium Heat Lamps Emitter, up to 250 Watt : Heat Lamp For Reptiles : Pet Supplies. ... $19.99. BYB - 150W 110V Ceramic Infrared Heat Emitter Brooder Coop Pet Infrared Lamp Bulb, Black ..... Black Ceramic Heat Emitter Terrarium Heat Lamp Bulb for Aquarium Snake Reptile Chickens Pet Brooder. i got one and it worked great, i will always use this kind of heat for my chicks if i dont have a mama hen to do it for me , so with this no light heat lamp the chicks stayed at the right temp, and could still run around eat & drink & all , but one thing, at night it was so dark in my brooder room i had to put in night lights by the floor so i could see to walk , i check on my chicks every few hours all night long , and it was so nice to see them all crashed out sleeping so peacefully all over their giant brooder box all sound asleep together with no disturbances, that never happens in a brooder with those horrible bright blaring heat lamps lights stressing then out 24/7. but this kind of heat no light worked great...!

 

[Folly's place]

I'm not making anything if it's already available, so the Premier1supplies heating plates are just the thing. The new catalog now has four sizes, too!
Mary

 

[Diannastarr]

I'm not making anything if it's already available, so the Premier1supplies heating plates are just the thing. The new catalog now has four sizes, too!
Mary

i agree...!!

 

[deepbluesea]

I brooded 9 chicks under this heat mat this past year as their SOLE heat source from day 5 on;

https://www.amazon.com/Viagrow-20-5-Seed-Propagating-Seedling/dp/B004PAGPVO

They were VERY robust and happy! This mat was bought for my plants, works great for chicks. Doesn't turn off at random intervals like some human ones do, a little warmer than some reptile ones I think, certainly more reliable. I find that reptile equipment tends to just be over-priced and breaks easily. I just used some sturdy wire mesh to make a low dome they could crawl under and I could lift up over time as needed. When they got cold, they went underneath. When they weren't, they just ran around. They frequently slept underneath it. On warmer days they gathered around the entrance to the dome to sleep instead of all the way under it.

I'm going lampless from now on whenever possible and never going back.

This is a great idea! I have a bunch of heat mats for my seed starting--I can absolutely repurpose one. Thanks!

 

[lilmillefleur]

This is why I am afraid of using infrared heat lamps.
I am planning to use MHP or just an ecoglow heat plate for this summer's new babies.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

@Diannastarr, when a mother hen broods her chicks they do not get to eat or drink while warm. They do not need to stand under a heat pad, they can easily sit or lay instead. The heat mat mimics nature very effectively. Like I said, the chicks use it as needed. If it's too warm they move to the entrance of the dome to get radiant heat instead. At some summer temperatures a mother hen's body heat is too much for chicks as well. They just go under their mother less.
Personally I found that with the heat mat they were actually MORE active, not less. This was the most active and rambunctious group of chicks I have ever raised. They turned into the most rambunctious group of adults I've ever had, too. I was just impressed by how much more robust they were under the heat mat instead of the hot lamp.

To answer some other questions;
I was brooding my chicks indoors in the spring. I would say for the first couple weeks it was in the low 60's. We keep our house a 62*F most of the time.
The heat mat SAYS it will raise the temperature "10*F"-ish, but that's not quite true.
What actually happens is it puts out a certain amount of energy that, when layed flat on a surface, it raises the air temperature immediately above the mat by around 10 degrees. The energy output is constant, so when you turn it upside down, make a dome, and insulate it, the actual temperature increase is theoretically very high. With perfect insulation you could theoretically make an enclosed area as hot as touching the open heating element. But the heating element is a surprisingly low temperature. I think somewhere around 120-150*F or less, it is hot to the touch only if you press your hand firmly against it for a long time, so the risk of fire or injury is very low. It's cool enough to place plastic seed flats directly on it and they will never melt, but hot enough that if you actually sat there with your hand pressed on it for a long time it would start to hurt.
As such, I would say a heat mat like this COULD be used outside OR inside, depending entirely upon how well your dome is insulated. My dome was fairly open. I did not even have a towel over it. But if you brooded in colder temps, you could theoretically insulate the dome better by placing layers of towels or other insulation, over the mat to help retain the heat. Because the max temperature can never exceed the output, it's safe to use even with layers of things on top of it; it will STILL never get hot enough to catch fire.
(Boiling temp is about 200*F and paper catches fire at about 450*F, so the mat could hit 200*F and not be a fire risk. A heat lamp produces 480*F near the surface of the bulb, hot enough to instantly ignite bedding or dander that gets to close, creating a hot ember that can fall into bedding. This is true of ALL heat lamps and bulbs! This will NEVER happen with even the hottest heat mat!)

As for "is it too hot/hot enough for chicks" there's an easy way to tell and we do this with heat lamps too. It's not like a heat lamp puts out exactly 98*F radiant heat at all times, in reality a heat lamp is 480*F and we just move it far enough away that the radiant heat is 98*F or so in the hottest spot. So the way we tell if it's too hot or not without a direct measurement is we watch our chicks behavior. If the chicks huddle under the lamp it's too cold, and if they refuse to go under the lamp, hold out their wings, or pant it's too hot.
The same principle is true of heat mat brooding. You have a radiant heat source (the mat/dome) that the chicks will either crowd under, shiver, and refuse to move from if it's too cold, or they will refuse to go under if it's too hot.
This is no different from brooding with a heat lamp, except the heated area is much smaller. If you are concerned about extremely bitter temperatures (lets say, below freezing), I don't know if this would work, but I would also NOT suggest hatching or raising chicks outdoors in that weather unless you have to. But if you're over about 40*F, I think you could easily create a warm enough environment for the chicks with a few towels or other insulation. I wouldn't know having not experimented with it much, but I plan on giving it a shot in the future.

 

[Diannastarr]

every one is right for their own needs ,no argument there..! as the old saying goes to each his own , but because i dont brood just 3 or 5 or 8 chicks , i brood 30 chicks at a time or more in a special room so we can keep an eye on them constantly & several times a night mostly for safety , so the 1 or possibly 2 heat lamps that Covers the whole large brooder box , the size of a box a large refrigerator would come in , but next problem thinking about the clean up ...lol... that is the big part of the equation ,the spilling of water & food etc, with 30 chicks running through it all so gleefully with out a care ......lol.. i have no words to even try to explain how to deal with this ...lol.. so out of these set of problems i choose the no light heat lamp when thinking on the other ways of keeping the chicks at the right temp, with 30 or more chicks , just saying this heat lamp idea does work the best for my purpose ...

 

[Diannastarr]

I wouldn't even know where to start, @Smuvers Farm ! When you boil the whole thread down, it really comes down to two pages - the first one where I opened the thread (because aside from where the heating pad goes it's still identical) and Bee's posts at the link I gave. Oh, and @azygous' portal doors....oh, and the links to the heating pad...oh, and the chick pictures...oh, and the videos of the chicks using MHP.....oh, and - yeah, you see the dilemma!

I wouldn't even know where to start either...lol.. but to say to each his own .

 

[Sarah47201]

Hi,
I found this listing on amazon that ships to belgium. Do you think it would do? I have no idea about the Fahrenheit degrees , so i would like some toughts...
Would this be for keeping the chicks inside or also outside?
Thanks!

I can't open the attachment. Can you post a link instead?