HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Callalilly-GREAT SUGGESTION! Thank you. I did actually move the heat lamp, but as of yet, the temp / humidity has not changed.

The main reason I moved the lamp was to see if the crabs liked that spot because it was under the heat lamp or because they just like that spot because of the placement of moss / barnacles / plants. So, far they are still in the same spot, even though I moved the heat lamp.

Suebee-I did try that link, but nothing specific came up. Is it one of the zoo Med UTH? Please show me if you think there is one brand that is better than another!

Thanks again. Everyone is very helpful.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/heating/

under heating no its not zoo med the brand is ultratherm..

I'm very cautious about putting a heater underneath. I don't want the substrate to dry up nor do I want the glass to crack. Can I put that on the side of the tank?

UTH's were made to go on glass so no they wont break the glass. as well they dont dry out the sand any more than a heat lamp would

tlivs wrote:UTH's were made to go on glass so no they wont break the glass. as well they dont dry out the sand any more than a heat lamp would

not entirely true! the UTH on our snake nursery did crack the tank. we had it filled with aspen and when my son changed the snakes water and spilled some where the pad was, it cracked the glass. but this might only be a problem if the substrate is not moist already! under moist substrate, i dont see a problem! even if you spill water, the temperature difference wont be big enough to cause a stress crack on the glass

what kind of heating pad was it? ultratherms, as i have read, are a big step above normal heating pads
it could have also been defective, like getting too hot or something.. i will change my words to very rarely!

yes you can use them on the side of a tank.. Just never put cold water on the inside of the heated glass. The hot v cold will crack glass but that would also happen on the bottom of any tank. Ive even cracked glass lids with a heat lamp. One time i splashed a light bulb and that cracked and broke too. Just use warm water if you have to add any to the substrate.

tlivs wrote:what kind of heating pad was it? ultratherms, as i have read, are a big step above normal heating pads
it could have also been defective, like getting too hot or something.. i will change my words to very rarely!

back then we used ZooMed heating pads, but moved on to ultratherms. at first, because you dont have to cake the ultratherms to your tank. you can move them as you please. after a while i realized how great they are besides that! i love the different sizes!!!
as far as the glass cracking... not a malfunction of the pad! it worked fine! they even tell you in the instructions that stress cracks can happen with rapid temperature changes of the glass. (like dripping cold water on the glass heated by the pad!)

Ultra therms are also the only pads safe to put insulation on the back of. Doing that keeps the heat in the tank instead of losing it to the room the tank is in. They are sealed off in a way i think is safer around water too. The best part is that you can use them tank to tank without having to get a new pad.. you tape them on they are not peal and stick like zoo med.

If I get a Ultratherm for the back of my tank, from the bottom to the top of the substrate, do you think it would be safe to put in against the glass, then put insulation of some sort, then have my tat background behind that? I sure don't want to catch the background on fire. The other option would be to put one at the end where there is no background, but I'm not sure if that would be enough on a 90 gallon. I will have overhead heating as well. I just want to add a UTH on the side to heat the substrate.

Best bet would be to ask ultratherm. they are very good with questions. they helped me lots..

suebee wrote:Best bet would be to ask ultratherm. they are very good with questions. they helped me lots..

Do you know the company's website or contact info? I'm having trouble locating it.