Is polystyrene a good insulator for snails?

[Johnnywho]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering, seeing as my room is rather cold in the winter, I found some polystyrene sheet things
And I was wondering is that ok to put around the snails cage for winter to keep them warm?

[axoloa]

hi jonnywho. polystyrene sheets/tiles, are perfect for insulating your tank. If its your Aspersa then I realy wouldent bother however. although a good insulator, polystyrene does not generate its own heat.. if you were to just put the polystyrene around your tank then all you would be doing is slowing down the temperature changes in your enclosure, but it would always work its way to whatever your room temperature is (maybe with an hours delay). If you want the polystyrene to insulate the heat then you would need a heat scource. personaly I would surgest a heat mat under your tank. Depending on the temperature of your heat mat you may even realise that you dont need to bother with the polystyrene at all. If your heatmat is under 10watt then I would surgest putting a sheet of the polystyrene down where you would usualy put your tank and then put the heat mat ontop of the polystyene and then the tank on the heat mat. this would deflect the heat mats heat up into your enclosure. make sure your substrait is at least 8cm deap when doing this. If your snails go into hybernation then remove the heat the polystyrene and tuck the snails into the substrait (the right way up). You might find that the snails tuck themselfs in before going into hybernation anyway. hope this helps

[Johnnywho]

Thankyou! But my snails are Fulica's

[axoloa]

Dec 10, 2011 22:17:14 GMT Johnnywho said:

Thankyou! But my snails are Fulica's

yes sorry, I forgot to mention that. What i said above was for the Fulica!! like I said for Aspersa I would just leave them be sorry for the missunderstanding

[forca]

Put the heat pad on the side leaving half of it non heated so they have an option, never under...it can over eat the substrate ----what I've read many times

[axoloa]

Dec 11, 2011 4:42:18 GMT forca said:

Put the heat pad on the side leaving half of it non heated so they have an option, never under...it can over eat the substrate ----what I've read many times

yes this can happen if theirs not enough substrait in the enclosure this is why i said no less than 8cm of substrait if the substrait is more than 5cm then the heat will even out and wont be hot at all but just a lingering of warmth for the snails...

[latebloomer]

I have got bubblewrap around the outside of my tanks, they are fulica but they seem to be better around 21 - 22C I do have heating on but not jungle temperature, it is expensive enough! I dont have the confidence yet to see what would happen if they hibernated so I wont risk room temperature under 18 and I let the heatmats do the rest.

[jessicamartin]

Sorry, I know this is an old thread, but as I always say Posting in an old thread your opinions is better than making a million new threads just for the same thing.


I have my substrate at about 4cm thick in my 2 and half foot tank.
Underneath I have a heat mat that's about 30cm x 20cm.
Underneath that, I have an inch of polystyrene that stretches across the whole underneath of the tank.
My tank stays at the right temperature, and because the whole of the substrate is not heated, if the snails get too hot, they can move to the cooler part of the tank.

I've had this set up for about 6 months, and have never had any problems.

[actos]

Jessicamartin, is your tank plastic or glass?

I'm thinking about a heat mat for Dave (in a plastic storage box, at work) and his future babies, which I'll bring home with me. I might invest in a glass tank, as I heard it's easier to heat - unlike plastic... But a plastic setup seems much more practical in every other way (cleaning, portability), so I can't decide.