what do use to heat your sterilite tubs?

[sunshynseeker]

Hi,
I am getting two hedgies from beachbum hedgehogs this month.
A pinto baby named Haley and a retired breeder named Libby.

I am getting the sterilite tub setups that beachbum sells and also building a C & C cage and modifying a critter nation. (I tend to get a little excited about my pets!)

The sterilite tub set up is pictured here: http://beachbumhedgehogs.com/supplies.html


Anyway, how do you heat your sterilite tubs? This is most imperative for me since I am starting them here.

How do you heat your C & C cages?
How do you heat your ferret nation?

Please feel free to PM me if you want to be friends!
Erin

 

[xXxSarahBearxXx]

Right now I am using a space heater in the room where she is, in addition to a human heating pad underneath the tub. But I am looking into a ceramic heater that I learned about on this site because my heating pad has an auto shut off which is extremly inconvenient.

 

[elvira.]

i wouldnt use a heat emitter to heat a plastic bin

 

[Kalandra]

I use an oil filled radiator style space heater to keep mine warm. I have both sterlites and FN cages.

 

[sunshynseeker]

Just out of curiosity, does it cost much to operate the space heater?

 

[Adhafera]

For a plastic bin I would think the safest bet would be a space heater.

 

[xXxSarahBearxXx]

it's not cheap. i have an electric one and i have to find something else because my dad was angry about our last bill.

 

[StarstruckAngel]

I'm pretty sure a heating pad would use less electricity than a space heater, but it's also less effective and less safe to leave on unattended. No matter what you use, the hydro bill will go up.

 

[Nancy]

Your electric costs will go up with a space heater but how much depends on the heater you use. The oil filled radiator style heaters are fairly cheap to operate as once the oil is hot, it stays hot and radiating heat for some time. Ceramic space heaters are also fairly economical to operate. The worst once are the ones with the coil that looks like a big spring. They waste electricity.

An increase in the electrical bill at this time of year is often blamed on space heater use but actually very little of it is. We are using our lights in the evening now, cooking on the stove more often instead of the BBQ, inside watching TV or on the computer more. The furnace is on etc etc which all add to electrical usage.

Many people use human heating pads or electric blankets. Used with some common sense they are safe. Don't use the one inherited from your grandmother. Go buy a brand new one and a name brand good quality. Don't constantly flex the pad. It's flexing, folding and laying on the pad that makes them more of a risk to use as the wires can break.

My choice is a ceramic heat emitter with a thermostat but they cannot be used on a bin. You would have to get a plastic bottomed wire topped cage.

 

[Schlyne]

I have no idea how hot it needs to get for a hedgie, but I use flexwatt to heat all of my plastic tubs for my reptiles. However, it MUST be used with a thermostat, or you will burn your animals. Flexwatt can reach over 100 degrees, which will even give snakes belly burns. I would sugggest something like this over using human heat pads, which are not designed to be running 24/7.

 

[elvira.]

reptile heating pads can be used on plastic bins, theyre very flat and the exo terra ones come with little rubber nubbies to life the bin just enough off the floor. if you use fleece liners i would use it with a temp regulator but if you use aspen or pine i really dont think there would be a problem

 

[sunshynseeker]

Thanks for the tips. I will look into the oil filled radiator cost and the safety of reptile heating pads. Thanks!

 

[StephTech]

I wanted to add that depending on the room and your insulation problems, you may want to look into getting thermal backed curtains to help conserve heat as another option and what kind of window insulation you have, if there are windows in the room.

I have extreme insulation problems with the new place we moved into last Feb. Room temp would be 60-65 F when our thermostat would be up to 70-75 F and you can feel the drafts when you put your hand near the windows. Our room heater has blown out various sockets three times when it's set to a certain temp, and maintenance has done their job and checked the wiring. I find that as long as I run the room heater at a constant, low rate, there's no problems with the sockets blowing out. The room heater is pulling so much juice from the socket every time the temp drops below a certain amount and it has to start back up again that it over heated, despite the use of a quality surge protector. We fought against this problem all last winter, and are in for the long haul this time :hair:

So we're caulking the windows in the next few weeks, using thermal curtain panels and using heating pads until the new oil radiator heater arrives (supposedly this one is marketed towards being low electricity/wattage and specifically says it will not blow out our sockets... We'll see!) Surprisingly, all this is still cheaper than getting heat emitters, but I am working with one pog in a sterillite bin setup (so wouldn't want the emitter anyway for her) and two others in plastic/wired ones.

And we never had problems with the bill being higher due to the room heater- it would be cheaper for us to run one of these in every room/general living area of the place than using the furnace, and we have three levels, a living room/kitchen, bath and a half and two bedrooms. Gas is just so much more expensive now.

 

[Nancy]

Covering windows with plastic is a good idea as well. They sell window kits for this purpose but because we have cats that shred the window kit plastic, I buy the heavy clear plastic that you buy by the yard at fabric stores or Walmart. They also sell the thin two sided tape that is used to put it on. For all you Canadians, Canadian Tire sells the tape and Fabricland the plastic.

We have fairly new windows that are supposed to be energy efficient and have been installed properly well caulked etc, yet during the winter we could not sit by them as the cold just radiates in. The plastic has cured the problem and the rooms are so much warmer. Even now when it's not that cold out yet and I can feel the cold radiating in. Time to get the plastic on. :thumbsup:

 

[StephTech]

Covering windows with plastic is a good idea as well. They sell window kits for this purpose but because we have cats that shred the window kit plastic, I buy the heavy clear plastic that you buy by the yard at fabric stores or Walmart. They also sell the thin two sided tape that is used to put it on. For all you Canadians, Canadian Tire sells the tape and Fabricland the plastic.

We have fairly new windows that are supposed to be energy efficient and have been installed properly well caulked etc, yet during the winter we could not sit by them as the cold just radiates in. The plastic has cured the problem and the rooms are so much warmer. Even now when it's not that cold out yet and I can feel the cold radiating in. Time to get the plastic on. :thumbsup:

We wanted to do the plastic thing as well, but our cats jump on windows, and would completely tear it down. The time when we had plastic around the windows, it was a constant battle as it peeled off all the time, never stuck quite right, and it was a constant battle.

What kind of thicker plastic do you use? Is there a name for it? What do you use to attach it to the window sill?

Thanks!

 

[Nancy]

The fabric stores sell a heavy clear plastic. It comes on a roll that they cut off by the yard, just like fabric. It comes in several different thicknesses. I use one of the middle ranges and on occasion a cat will put a claw through it until they figure out it's there, but it doesn't rip and shred like the thin plastic window kits.

I put it up with two sided tape. This is a very thin two sided tape and is made for installing the plastic. It is the same as what comes in the window kits. Ask at Home Depot, Rona, Lowes and tell them it's for installing plastic over the windows. It also peals off easily and doesn't usually take off the paint.