I had to cave in and purchase a heat pad but it worked. My different "peppers" are now germinating so I'm off to an early start being only still mid-winter. Some seed can take 3-5 weeks to rise but having them warm seems to be helping.
I have several different varieties on the go. Capsicum grown from collected seed of bought fruit in red, green and yellow. I have germinated bought seed for red and green cayenne and some jalapeno as well as one called Aussie Red. I also have 2 Indian varieties in Kashmiri and Rajah and yesterday I collected and planted seed from red, orange and yellow sweet baby capsicum. I also collected and planted seed from some Indian grocers whole Kashmiri so I'll be interested to see if they are viable.
Unfortunately, there is some creature, or creatures, that are partial to the Indian varieties with the seed leaves of some plants "disappearing" without explanation almost as soon as they sprouted. This occurred 3 times on different days to plants sprouted new on the day, outside in the sun and raised off the ground. It can only be explained as an insect attack but I have no idea what. 1 Kashmiri and 2 Rajah were attacked with 1 of the Rajah not surviving having been completely topped. When I replanted the other day several of these Indian variety seeds were dug up on the first night in what appeared to be a targeted raid with 3 Indian seeds taken from a mixed tray of 24 seeds. Evidence suggests this was a mouse. I may need to construct a secure grow box. It has me wondering why the Indian varieties appear to be targeted.