The comfort and happiness of reptiles are partly based on a source of heat in their habitat. Reptiles are cold-blooded animals; they cannot regulate their own body temperature. This is why the external sources of heat are very important for them.
One of the best ways to provide heat for reptiles is to use the best reptile heat mat. The heat mat not only keeps your pets warm, but it also helps reptiles digest their food. There is a large supply of heat pads are available, not all of them give good performance and value for your money.
So in this post, we’ve put together two bestseller reptile heat mats with their pros and cons that you should consider. They are Zacro Reptile Heat Pad with Thermostat and Zoomed Reptitherm Undertank Heater.
#1 The size of the heat pad
Ensure that you choose the heat mat that fits with your tank. Too large or small may lead to the risk of overheating your reptiles or do not provide them enough amount of heat.
As mention above, reptiles cannot regulate their own body temperature. With the reptile heat mat, you can give them a chance to do that. Choosing the hat mat that takes 2/3 your tank bottom will create the gradient temperature inside the tank. Your reptiles will choose where they want to stay.
The Zoo Med Repti Therm Under Tank Heater is available in four sizes; from 4 x 5 inches to 18 x 8 inches. That means you will have 4 options to choose from.
Zacro Reptile Heat Pad is available at only one size: 12 x 8 inches. It will suitable for 30-40 gallons tank. Make sure that it is fitted with your tank before buying.
#2 Temperature controller thermostat
The thermostat is an extremely important device that works for control temperature of your heater as well as the temperature inside the tank,
Zacro heat pad includes its own temperature controller. This controller do a great job since it allows you to adjust the temperature at some different levels but the drawback is that it does not show the current temperature. In order to know what exactly temperature each level corresponds to, you will have to purchase on an external thermometer.
Zoomed reptitherm heat mad does not come with a built-in thermometer that means you will need to buy a thermostat controller separately. The thermostat controller will help you rest your mind when using it 24 hours per day.
#3 Heating element
Zoomed reptitherm heat pad has a solid-state nichrome heating element and uses the adhesive to attach to the bottom of the tank. It is designed for optimal heat transfer using low energy as little as 16 watts of power.
Zacro Reptile Heat Pad also use nichrome heating wire distributes heat evenly over the heating pad. It won’t make certain hot spots, instead, this head mat creates the temperature gradient inside the enclosure. It is also made of high-quality PVC, which makes it flexible and foldable.