General Care Discussion

My baby girl got it again!
Went to the vet. Penelope has sepsis - a really bad case.
The vet sent us home with some major antibiotics, and instructions to keep her dry-docked for 3 weeks (letting her swim in her tank once or twice a day for 30 minutes to eat and get a little exercise) In between, I need to keep at or above 80 degrees 24 hours a day.
Any ideas I can use that won't create a fire hazard?
Right now I have her in a jumbo rubbermaid container with a couple of towels on the bottom. Since it's winter and the floor is cold, I put the container on top of a double folded comforter, and surrounded it with umpteen pillows and blankets to keep the draft off. I put a wire cover over the top with two heat lamps, but the heat escapes through the mesh top.
I laid towels over the mesh (not over the lights, but around them).
Now I have her little habitat up to a wonderful 81 degrees, but....with the towels so close to her lamps, it screams fire hazard. Any ideas on how to regulate the temperature without having to cover the top with towels?

what are you using for "heat lamps"? When I dry dock, I use a 10 gallon rubbermade container and use a 100w bulb, gets it right up to a toasty 90+ Im in NH so i know the cold sucks, what do you use for heat?

I'm using her basking lamp and also put a good old light bulb in one of her old basking lamps. As for heat - forced air (68 degrees indoors)
Your comment about using a 10 gallon tub gives me a thought....maybe if I use a smaller container I will get more mileage from the heat lamps...She is 11" so I need something escape-proof, but I think I can downsize. It's worth a shot. Thanks!

I'm very sorry to hear it

Would keeping the tub over some styrofoam help? You might also try some foam on the top, though it's not completely fireproof.

What about a heating pad under the tub. The modern ones are so safety proofed that I don't see a danger in this.

That sounds like a good idea. I downsized to an 18 gallon tub and that helped a bit. Using my thermal temp checker, the temp is perfect directly under the lights, but areas beyond that are too cold (and she does scoot around). I bet a heating pad would be great for the areas not hit by the lamps. Ill give it a whirl. Raising the temp under the lights is easy, but trying to keep an all around temp is harder than I thought. I'll let you know if it works. Thanks!!!!

You could try to cover the open areas with aluminum foil. Won't catch fire and conducts heat.

Aluminum foil wins the prize! A grand idea! It's been nearly a month and the temperature has remained fairly constant throughout. Warmer (like 90 degrees) under the light and above 80 everywhere else. It's like an incubator with room to move around. After all the times of on-and-off it started to wear out, so I tried to see how the temp would be without the foil. The temperature quickly became very inconsistent and sometimes dropped too low. So...Yep! Aluminum foil was a great idea! Thanks!
I still have her bin surrounded with pillows to retain the heat along the sides, but I'm not afraid of a fire anymore.
So, if dry docked for short term, a bin and lights is fine. If long term, and steady temp required, Aluminum is good option.

General Care Discussion :: How to Keep a Dry Docked Habitat at 80 Degrees

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