- Joined
- Mar 9, 2007
- Messages
- 303
You hear this all the time and i'm guessing most people state it because that's what everyone else says....but i'm interested. How many people have actually experienced a scorpion dying because it cooked itself due to a heat pad on the bottom....I have basking lights in some of my enclosures and it's not uncommon to see scorps basking under the hottest part of the beam, especially gravid and pre moult desert species. I also have other enclosures with large heatpads (20 watts) placed on the back wall and again it's common to notice some species laying up against that wall. My point is that scorpions are obviously well aware of the direction of heat and move to and from it as desired.
The usual argument is that scorps are dumb animals that burrow down to get away from heat and because of their low intelligence, don't have the savvy to realise it's getting hotter as they burrow down..hence, they cook or die of dehydration........but do they?? .. and as we all know, not all scorpions burrow.
A heatpad placed on a side will give a slight heat gradient with it being hotter by the pad and cooler away from it giving them the chance to choose their positioning. Yet, as we all know, heatpads don't give of a huge amount of heat and i speculate whether or not a heatpad on the bottom would do no more than give a diffuse warmth across the entire groundplan of the enclosure.
Agreed..it's unnatural that burrowing species would experience increasing temperatures as it burrowed down and under those circumstances i wouldn't have a heatpad on the bottom simply because it would go against from my purist approach....but for non burrowing species, would a heatpad on the bottom be so disastrous?
Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?
Has anyone actually experienced a scorp dying because of a heatpad on the bottom?
Will anyone go against the grain and admit to have used/using a heatpad on the bottom without any ill consequences?
Regards
Den.
The usual argument is that scorps are dumb animals that burrow down to get away from heat and because of their low intelligence, don't have the savvy to realise it's getting hotter as they burrow down..hence, they cook or die of dehydration........but do they?? .. and as we all know, not all scorpions burrow.
A heatpad placed on a side will give a slight heat gradient with it being hotter by the pad and cooler away from it giving them the chance to choose their positioning. Yet, as we all know, heatpads don't give of a huge amount of heat and i speculate whether or not a heatpad on the bottom would do no more than give a diffuse warmth across the entire groundplan of the enclosure.
Agreed..it's unnatural that burrowing species would experience increasing temperatures as it burrowed down and under those circumstances i wouldn't have a heatpad on the bottom simply because it would go against from my purist approach....but for non burrowing species, would a heatpad on the bottom be so disastrous?
Anyone have any thoughts on the subject?
Has anyone actually experienced a scorp dying because of a heatpad on the bottom?
Will anyone go against the grain and admit to have used/using a heatpad on the bottom without any ill consequences?
Regards
Den.