nubbin
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 237
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Post by nubbin on Oct 16, 2011 9:33:30 GMT
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Post by madjakmclaferty on Oct 21, 2011 10:31:48 GMT
I have a cage and I am thinking about using one of these but I thought I'd give the Vivarium heat mats a try first, which ever you go for I'd strongly recommend using a temperature control unit as well. I went for this; www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002UEB0RQwww.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002SQM4USwww.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0002604WQI put the sensor the cage protected by wood so they cannot gnaw it. The heat mat is mounted to a flat board hooked to the outside of the cage by their bed, though it does keep the chill off it doesn't generate a lot of heat. It doesn't get hot enough for the stat to switch the mat off, but it does switch the mat off once the room gets warm enough so they don't over heat. They do get down their and look quite comfy though so I think it is keeping them warm. I'm going to try a few other designs out and see if I can improve things then try a stat controlled heat lamp. For info I also worked out power consumption for my 20W heat pad; Watts * Hours / 1000 * "Unit Cost of Electric" = Pence Cost So for me to run it from November to the end of March is 152 days or 3648 hours, 20 * 3648 / 1000 = 72.96 Kilowatt Hours For me one KWH is 11.52 pence 72.96 *11.52 = 840.4992p 840.4992/100 = £8.404992 Crackin' only £8.40 to heat the Degus continually for the winter, obviously plus what I have paid for the equipment. Sorry if this post rambles on a bit. Will post some low quality pics off my phone hopefully. Interested to see what other people are doing who just have cages though, had thought about attaching a tank for them to play in and heating that as it would be easier. |
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Post by madjakmclaferty on Oct 21, 2011 10:34:08 GMT
Also I think i read somewhere the 60 Watts is the max you should use for a heat lamp but I suppose it depends on where and how its mounted.
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