best thing for heating my tank for my emperor scorpion

Hi People

I have a plastic tank 30cm x 30cm x 25cm and i am using a ultrathrem heating pad my tank does not seen to be hot enough

the temperture is about 25 degree celsius and the coco fiber is cold to touch and the humidity is about 65

Is it ok or should i get a heat lamp are these better

and im a newbie please help

Damn i'm trying to start learning my metric system so excuse this stupid american. But as far as the heating pad, where do you have it? I know they're usually called under-tank heaters but it's best to put them on the side of the tank just above the substrate.

hi abyss

i have it on the side of the tank and its just above the substrate and it seems not warm enough

i dont know if the heat is wasted on the outside but the mat is warm but in the tank it doesnt seem as warm as it should

cheers

Try to post some pictures up.
You can use heat lamp if you wish but then you have to deal with the light, red light seems to cause the least amount of stress to scorps. Or you can try a ceramic heater. What's the temp in your tank right now? It might not even be an issue. I actually like heating pads the best but sometimes I would have to double them up.
-Eddy

25 Celsius is 77 Fahrenheit. A little cool for an Emp but tolerable; 85F would be ideal. Where are you measure the temp?

Most heat pads are very inefficient for heating an enclosure. They basically just heat the surface to which they're attached. Acrylic is a worse conductor of heat than glass, and glass is pretty bad, so most of the heat never makes it into the tank. The mats are primarily designed to provide a warm floor for reptile enclosures. A lot of folks use them (including myself), but as you've discovered, you often need something more.

The best way I've found to get heat into an enclosure is with an overhead lamp fitted with an IR bulb or ceramic heat element. The IR bulbs are less expensive but the ceramic elements last longer. I prefer the IR bulbs because they allow night time viewing--scorpions are less sensitive to red light. If you get a lamp, the extra cost for a built in dimmer is well worth the expense.

If you do stay with heat mats I agree that you often have to double them up. Try to place them on one side of the cage to get a warm and cool side. Also you might try putting a towel over the top of the cage to increase the temp.

I don't know why but my emp likes 90f best.

Also check what wattage your heat pad is because it could be low on the wattage. Heat wire is also an option but an IR bulb with a dimmer is best like shebeen said.

I like the heat emitter best without any lights in the tank. My emps seem to come out more often that way. Lights tend to make them shy in a sense and they will hide more. Just my personal experience so far.

Ultratherm heaters are pretty good quality afaik. What size do you have? And what's the room temp?

Also, what temp/humidity meters are you using? The usual petstore analog meters just give wrong reading 99% of the time.

IR lamps are preferred as they are well more effective. Personally, I do heat most of my collection with heatpads I'm able to keep most my enclosure at 32+ this way, but my place is heated everywhere and never drops under 22+ (guys, I'm talking Celsius here ). If you do prefer to go the heatpad route, but you feel that the temps are not enough, my advice is for you to insulate the backside of the pad.

DolbyR wrote:

If you do prefer to go the heatpad route, but you feel that the temps are not enough, my advice is for you to insulate the backside of the pad.

How would one go about insulating the backside? Seems like a good way to get the heat up on a cold day.

Basically any insulation material will do it. I use styrofoam and extruded polystyrene insulation board.

Dolby, if covering the heat mat with insulation won't cause it to over heat, I'll need to edit a reply I just made to another post. All the heat mats I've purchased here in the US warn against covering them, so I've never actually tried it.

In my experience the normal variety of heat mats need a bit of air circulation on one side so they don't overheat and deteriorate quickly. If you are using a mat stuck to the side of the cage I think you could insulate over the mat because the other side of the mat (enclosure side) would be exposed to the air. You could keep your eye on the mat through the glass and make sure it does not start cracking, etc. This would probably help raise the temp a lot. Again, you might think about laying a towel over the top of the tank as well.

When the mats are used for reptile use they are stuck on the underside of the enclosure and bedding is used on top. A thick layer of aspen bedding in a pretty good insulator so I'm guessing you could insulate on one side.

I can't say how it is with commercial heatmats, I am aware they do warn against covering them. I use flexwatt/heat tape, much cheaper than petstore heatpads, specially when you have more than 1 enclosure.
I've been running these insulated for over a year with no problems so far (both on the side of the cage for inverts, and underside for my reptiles).

In fact, the "flexwatt" aka "nano-foil" I use, is also marketed for floorheating under laminate flooring, this means it would always be "sandwiched between insulation and the flooring material.

I'll try to take a couple of pictures over the weekendi if I find some time, and post them here.

That does sound better than the commercial pet store heat mats. I would love to see pics of your setup! Thanks!