The Cold Blooded News The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society Volume 28, Number 4;   April, 2001

Hot Rock Maintenance

by John Ford, Member at Large, NCHS

Throughout time many reptiles have been severely burned by Hot Rocks and some have been fatally burned. This care article is intended to reduce the risk of burns to your reptiles by hot rocks.

This maintenance should be performed on all Hot Rocks old and new.

***** WARNING: YOU MUST UNPLUG THE HOT ROCK PRIOR TO MAINTENANCE ****

1. Unplug Hot Rock. Failure to complete this step could result in personal injury.
2. With a pair of wire cutters, remove the cord of the Hot Rock as close to the rock as possible.
3. Discard the cord. If you are environmentally conscious you could separate the copper wire from the insulation and recycle both.
4. Place the Hot Rock back into your reptile enclosure.
5. The Hot Rock no longer poses a threat to your reptiles, but you need to provide an alternate source of heat.
6. Provide new source of heat. You could use an incandescent lamp above the hot rock and create a basking site. Another good source of heat would be an under tank heater. I prefer human heating pads.

On the serious side, Hot Rocks are a serious burn threat to your reptiles, and I feel that they are a poor choice for a heat source.

Whatever heat source you choose, use a thermometer in your setup prior to introducing your reptile to it. Make sure your setup is the proper temperature for the animal it is housing. Many illnesses could be prevented by having the proper enclosure temperature. Also make sure to provide a thermal gradient in your enclosure so your reptile can thermoregulate.

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