I ordered this for my Red-Tail Boa along with theHydrofarm Jump Start Digital Temperature Controller for Heat Mats . As the other reviews state, there's no adhesive on these mats so you'll have to affix it with some clear packing tape, and provide some support underneath so it stays pressed up against the tank. I went out and bought a 4X8 foot sheet of 3/4 inch thick styrofoam insulation from a home improvement store and it works great; costs less than $10, and I like how it worked out so much that I cut another piece for my second snake's terrarium. I cut the styrofoam so it fit the entire bottom of the tank, but just inside the bottom lip of the tank edges and with the shiny aluminum film surface of the insulation towards the tank. After cutting the styrofoam, I put duct tape on the cut edges so the styrofoam doesn't flake off. The styrofoam cushions the tank and keeps the heat pads from harming whatever you have it resting on. Because the opposite surface of the styrofoam insulation has a plastic film on it, the tank can now be slid around on the stand, but it doesn't move so easily as to be a problem. The footprint on this pad is a great size for my 70 Gallon tank, 17X11 inch, and it's very thin; about the thickness of plastic sheet lamination. It covers the entire area of the snake's hide and then some. The molded electrical connector on one end of the mat is fairly thick; again, the styrofoam helped out because I could hollow out the styrofoam to accommodate the connector. The description doesn't tell you that the pad does take quite a few hours to get heated up, so plan for that. I was a little anxious about this because I had just fed my snake and was taking advantage of her being out of her terrarium to get the heat pad set up. It worked out though, and along with the thermostat it generally keeps the temperature within 4 degrees plus/minus of where I set the thermostat (85 degrees Fahrenheit) . The heat pad from another manufacturer that I was using previously just wasn't working; my snake would not stay in her hide after eating, and regurgitated on two feedings before I changed to this setup. That could easily have been because I wasn't using a thermostat previously, but after that brand of heat pad had failed twice, I'm glad I moved to this setup. Over two feedings later, I've had no more problems with this and my snake enjoys being in her hide. I would really like to give this product five stars; the way it's working out now makes me and my snake very happy, but the lack of information in the product description is troubling. Not only does the description fail to mention the lack of adhesive and the need for under-tank support, it's also missing information about the product warranty. Amazon's solution is to provide a link that tells you to either find the warranty information yourself on the manufacturer's page, or to email Amazon customer service with all the errata; model number, full product name, rank and serial number, yadda, yadda. Come on, Amazon! You already have this information, why not do the leg-work for your customers and provide the warranty information, or mandate that the manufacturer provide it? Fluker's website is useless in this regard, you'll have to do the email support cycle with them all over again to get anywhere; I'll update this review after exploring that option, but it certainly leads one to wonder why they have to make it so hard to find it. Compared to other manufacturer's heat mats, this product carries a price premium; providing warranty information would make me feel a lot better about that rather than putting me in the position of rolling the dice and hoping for the best.
