Glass tanks and heatmats. Safe?

[ricktheartist]

Iv had glass crack with heatmats under then in the past. Especially the very humid tanks. A fishtank i bought said if used with heatmat sandwich it between half inch polystyrine. Do you lot find this works? does it restrict the ammount of heat too much? of do you have any other suggestions?

Ta.

artyrick@aol.com

[Ian Metcalfe]

I use heat mats with glass tanks but I do not have them underneath the Tank. A spider would instinctivley burrow to get away from heat . If the mat were underneath it would be actually getting closer to the heat mat.
I use the mats on the wall behind the tank insulated from the wall with polystyrene sheet I have a small gap 5mm or so between the heat mat and the tank back and have not had any problems.

[ricktheartist]

TA

Ta, im currently designing and buliding my "tank bank" and will use your suggestions. How would you suggest keeping the mat away from the tank? Im using glass tanks in a woodern cabinet so the heatmat stuck on the back before the tank goes in should work fine.

BUT. For arboreal species i find the heatmat under the damp substrate and/or water dish works perfectly for the required humidity of Avic for eg. A bulb just seems to dry out the air which also has its uses for Ts which prefer a more arid environment. Il create a mixture of the 2.
Its just a bank of 8 12"x8"x8" for adult Ts

Thanks. Any other suggestion would be great especially some plastic mesh/grill to use for air vents?