Faulty heat mat

[snake man12]

I woke up this morning to find that my heat mat for my BCI had overloaded. I took my temp gun to do the normal morning check and on the cool side the temp was 115 the hot side was 138. I took out the boa to find him dead with his mouth partly open. This heat mat was two weeks old:mad: I just gave him a proper burial:(

[alessia55]

I'm sorry for your loss :(

Was the heat mat connected to a thermostat?

[snake man12]

Yeah it was connected to a dimmer switch and usually it is around 87 to 90.

[Tekpc007]

so sorry ! what brand was it? I like the flukers brand as they only get to 100 F but i always use a thermostat . get one of the hydrofarm thermostats , they are about 30$ . you both have my prayers !

[buffcoat]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

[MoreliAddict]

Yeah it was connected to a dimmer switch and usually it is around 87 to 90.
Switch over to using a thermostat with a temp probe.

Sorry about your loss bud.

[Will0W783]

Oh no, that's awful! I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Heat mats can fail, and I really have found dimmer switches to be unreliable. I used to use dimmer switches because they were cheaper than t-stats and could run multiple cages. When we lost power due to a storm, the dimmer switch came back on full power when the power returned. Fortunately I came home two hours later and caught the room at 105 degrees. A few of my snakes had puked, but no one had lasting damage.

I stay away from heat mats completely because of the danger they present if they malfunction. If you can afford it, radiant heat panels are AWESOME. Even at full power, they don't get hot enough to burn the snake, and they provide gentle, steady heat.

[snake man12]

The mat was a Zoo med 20gal size

[Will0W783]

I have had bad luck with those Zoo Med mats....I've had a few break and either overheat or stop putting out heat completely. They're crummy quality.

[Jay]

Wouldn't that just be a faulty rheostat?

[snake man12]

I have Flukers for all my other other snakes and they are the best in my opinion

[BarelyBreathing]

I've never had a problem with my Zoo Med mats. I'm very sorry about your loss. It pains me to hear about this.

[snake man12]

Thanks BB
I guess now I'm going to check all of may heat sources for broken or damaged parts

[BarelyBreathing]

Yeah, I will definitely be doing that, too. Have you contacted the company?

[snake man12]

No I haven't contacted them

[Terranaut]

Wouldn't that just be a faulty rheostat?

Thats what I am thinking. Did the mat melt or anything?
If not its the dimmer switch fault not the mat. I have read about these things screwing up but I have a couple and they have been fine if the mat appears normal I would blame the dimmer.

[snake man12]

The mat itself was browned and melty. So not the dimmer

[Kettennatter]

So sorry to hear about your loss. I also also have a BCI and I use two different wattage ZooMed mats for a temperature gradient. They are however connected to a thermostat with a temperature probe. Not that it makes me feel a whole lot better. :(

[Lankyrob]

So sorry to hear about your loss. I also also have a BCI and I use two different wattage ZooMed mats for a temperature gradient. They are however connected to a thermostat with a temperature probe. Not that it makes me feel a whole lot better. :(


Thermostats SHOULD fail in the off position rather than full on tho, so your snakes may have a slightly cooler enclosure but shouldnt over heat

[Becky Goings]

It could still be the dimmer switch to blame, the mat was way overheated, which could cause it to melt and discolor. We had a uth by zoomed that cracked the glass on the bottom of the aquarium. We now use flexwatt through a thermostat with probes.

[limey]

So sorry to hear about this mate. That's awful.

And to think I just bought a zoo med heatmat too, as my first ever heatmat. I wonder if it would be worth you writing a strongly worded letter to ZooMed?

[Slcburm]

Thats horrible. I hope you are able to determine the cause...the mat or the dimmer and go from there

when I got my new boa I tried a dimmer and it kept getting to the 110-115 mark or wouldnt even work and sit around 78-80. Just not very trustworthy in my opinon. Again im sorry for your loss

[snake man12]

The dimmer is fine I checked it on a spare mat I have. If I do send a letter they will probably just say sorry and give me a voucher

[helen davis]

we're so so sorry for your loss... thats a horrible thing to have happen!!

[SidewaysAt100]

Sorry to hear about your snake, that's tragic. I'm thinking about using both a thermostat and a dimmer with my UTH when My snake gets big enough and I move him to his new home, that way I can lower the dimmer a bit so it heats more gradually and if the thermostat fails in the on position the dimmer being set a bit lower might potentially save my snake.

[Brently]

I just found my zoo med heat pad destroyed aswell. I had it on a custom enclosure with about an inch of clearance underneath for ventilation and it still failed. It bubbled and seperated, I'm just glad that it didn't start a fire before I noticed it.

[Wildside]

Sorry for your loss, glad it didn't burn your house down or anything.