I don't know what the smallest is but I bought a SeeK thermal imager for my cell phone. it just plugs into the USB and works pretty well. its about the size of your thumb full-up. I think you can buy a FLIR Dev kit for $300 US from SparkFun, that camera is about the size of a thumbnail.
Dear Cameron in some how could be the Flir Dev is cool but the resolution of the thermal image it will not be good enough. But really thank you so much it is really good idea at least to examine my hypothesis