What is the temperature needed on the surface of a whelping box floor to prevent a herpes outbreak? Any special precautionary hints used by experienced breeders would be appreciated. I know of several litters lost recently from herpes and it scares me.

No idea, sorry I cant help you out any.

I do not suggest turning that heat so high unless there is a reason. Herpes needs temps of over 100. That's way too hot for pups that are not sick.

Breeder is absolutely correct.

If in fact your litter contracts herpes you would need a steady temp of 100-101 degrees. We know this from experience as we had 2 herpes litters about 15 years ago. The saving grace was the constance temperature and antibiotics, etc. Thankfully, we had a great vet in CT that helped us after searching the country for an expert. She saved our 2 litters!

If you set your temp area with a healthy litter to 100 you run the risk of overheating, dehydration, etc. Not a good idea.

Stay calm and keep yourself away from exposure.

M

The best way to prevent a Herpes virus outbreak is to expose all your girls to other dogs before their first litter. Dog parks, shows, boarding, etc. Once they are pregnant, isolate them from unknown dogs, and dogs that go out to shows, parks, vet clinics, boarding, etc. The critical times are the last 3 weeks of pregnancy and the first 3 weeks of the puppies.
If you have people coming to see the puppies there is no much you can do there. Ask if they've been to a "dog" place the last 2-3 days and offer some alcohol gel to disinfect their hands. That's good for parvo too.

I started running a herpes titer on my girls before they are bred. So far the results have had a value of 1:2 with a comment from the lab on the report stating "Titer is unusually elevated and may represent recent infection". This meaning they have been exposed which is good. As Breeder24 said, the critical time is 3 weeks pre and 3 weeks post whelp. I do use a heat lamp, but the whelping box temperature is about 80 degrees

Unless I am mistaken, both herpes and parvo are spread by viruses. I'm afraid that antiBACTERIAL gel isn't going to do much in that case...

The rest of the tips were excellent, though. Not trying to be snarky.

Herpes and Parvo ARE viruses. No much you can do if the puppies get it other than supportive care, antiviral medications like tamiflu or antibody rick plasma. Antibiotics are use to control secondary bacterial infections, not to kill the virus.