heat mat cost and safety

[nympho]

Hi. Are they expensive to run? Also, are they safe in terms of fire risk etc and ok to be left unattended for long periods. I would think they are ok as i've never heard of any problems, but thought i'd ask the experts just in case. cheers

ps this is my first post. I hope to get some mantids soon. I used to keep them as well as some other interesting critters. Anyone ever kept Great Diving Beetles, the most vicious and powerful insects (probably!). Its abit cruel but its entertaining to watch them hunt down tadpoles in a large aquarium :twisted:

 

[Jwonni]

i also have never had or heard of a problem with them

are these beetle big? when you said diving beetle i pictured a water boatman but not sure if they would take down tadpoles so presumably its not them

 

[Samzo]

heat matts are 3-8 watts depending how big... pretty pathetic really, so cheap to run.

 

[nympho]

Ok thanks. I bought a mat about a year ago but never used it. I have just been testing it to see what temperature it heated a small plastic container up to. I just placed the container open side down on top of the matt. After about 2 hours the thermometer read 30 centegrade with no sign of it going higher but no holes for ventilation so this is not my final set-up. The room temp is 20 degrees.

It is a 12 watt habistat vivarium heat mat, by 'euro rep', 11"x11"

Will this be ok for idolomantis, violin and orchid mantis or do I need higher temps. I have not got any mantis yet, but I have ordered some idolomantis, so hopefully arrive soon. quite exited ! On the subject of idolomantis, anyone know what habitat they live in in africa, ie dry savanna or rain forest. i cant find any thing about them on the net.

The water boatmen mentioned are quite powerful and probably could just about manage a taddy, but the insect I meant is a beetle with latin name 'dytiscus marginalis' which are over an inch long (35mm) and are quite common (if you know how to look for them) in the uk living in most ponds and slow rivers. if you have a garden pond they may turn up as they are good flyers. the larva are even bigger and in some ways even worse, or better depending on your point of view, than the adults. They have pretty vicious curved jaws which inject poison, so you definitely dont want to be bitten by those things. The beetles themselves can live 2 years and are very interesting to watch but have a tendency to rip into everything else in an aquarium, so really have to be kept apart from fish, newts or other small creatures (unless its their dinner). Ive gone a bit off topic now, so i'll shut up :0)

 

[Peekaboo]

Heat mats are pretty cheap to run. While they are great at keeping substrate warm, I don't know how well they warm the air. We had a discussion on heat mats recently that you can find here: *clicky*

 

[Samzo]

if you do use some kind of heating what I do is have it on in the day and turn everyhting off at night (i do this even with my lizards etc) it means cheaper electricity bill and its more "natural" as even in hot countries it gets cold at night. Well thats what I do and it's fine for me seeing as my house stays around 22-25c even at night...

 

[Ian]

For idolomantis, I would highly reccomend a heat bulb, or, depending what you are keeping them in, just a normal bulb. I don't think a heat matt gives out sufficient heat for the needs of idolomantis.

Cheers,

Ian