• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Setting up my Zoomed 500R

Coty

Coty

New member
My thermostat was just delivered and I am in the process of setting it up. I have a digital thermometer with probe which has a really skinny cord, but the cord for the thermostat's probe is too big to fit in the groove I used (for the digital thermometer). Should i get the power drill and try to make a big enough hole along the edge (either in the screen itself or along the edge) for the thermostat cord?
 
You could do that. Just make sure that the t-stat's probe is secured next to the heating element, whether you make a new groove or silicone it, or whatever, you should be good to go.
 
Don't go through the screen! You have to make the hole, actually a groove, at the edge of the lid, so you don't have to remove the probe to open the lid, or at the edge of the actually viv. What kind of lid is it? The Critter Keepers have little plastic tabs in the lip around the viv that you can pop out if you need to.,
 
I have an R Zilla Critter Cage. There are really small grooves which the digital thermometer probe cord fit through, and there were a couple spots that were a little bit indented so they looked like good spots to drill so I just took my power drill and opened one up (along the edge, not on the actual screen). I thought about going through the screen briefly but realized that it would not work when I wanted to take the screen off - plus the whole would have to be big enough for the probe to fit through which would be longer than I needed to for the cord.

Do you think a suction cup to fix it in place would work, or should I just grab some silicon?
 
Coty said:
I have an R Zilla Critter Cage. There are really small grooves which the digital thermometer probe cord fit through, and there were a couple spots that were a little bit indented so they looked like good spots to drill so I just took my power drill and opened one up (along the edge, not on the actual screen). I thought about going through the screen briefly but realized that it would not work when I wanted to take the screen off - plus the whole would have to be big enough for the probe to fit through which would be longer than I needed to for the cord.

Do you think a suction cup to fix it in place would work, or should I just grab some silicon?
Click to expand...

Had the identical problem with my little brothers setup (rzilla Critter Cage) and the 500R.
What we ended up doing - we sandwiched the thermostat bulb between the heat pad and the bottom of the tank and used small blocks of wood to elevate the tank so it would not squish the thermostat bulb. Then we put a digital thermometer in the tank itself, it's lead worked with the RZilla hole.

We adjusted the thermostat until the temps read properly on the digital thermometer.

btw - if you record peak and low temp - the 500R thermostat is junk, wide variance in a 24 hour period. Works well enough though.
 
Coty said:
Do you think a suction cup to fix it in place would work, or should I just grab some silicon?
Click to expand...

I suggest against silicone - you want to be able to clean the tank.
Use electrical tape. Yes, you have to reply it from time to time, but you can also remove it easily to thoroughly clean.
 
FunkyRes said:
btw - if you record peak and low temp - the 500R thermostat is junk, wide variance in a 24 hour period. Works well enough though.
Click to expand...

Not in my experience. When set up properly, it kept the temps to within 2-3 degrees below the max point set. I set it at 85, and it would drop to about 82 then turn on and warm up to 85, then turn off, and so on.
 
My 500R has never been too far off, but let's find out. I'll record the temps in my viv from now, 4am, to sometime during the night tonight every half minute. It's certainly not the highest quality unit, but we'll see how good well enough really is.
 
No Tape!

FunkyRes said:
I suggest against silicone - you want to be able to clean the tank.
Use electrical tape. Yes, you have to reply it from time to time, but you can also remove it easily to thoroughly clean.
Click to expand...

Oh and DO NOT ever put any kind of tape inside your viv. Snakes ALWAYS find their way to get under it and that could damge their scales. This is something that Kathy Love has said herself on another thread that I was in not too long ago. Here is the link... http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68478
 
kcaven said:
Oh and DO NOT ever put any kind of tape inside your viv. Snakes ALWAYS find their way to get under it and that could damge their scales. This is something that Kathy Love has said herself on another thread that I was in not too long ago. Here is the link... http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68478
Click to expand...

I've never had that problem (I only use tape in one setup), and neither has my brother.
Electrical tape may not have the same issues as masking or duct tape. It's not as sticky as some tapes.
 
So far I used a littler bit of tape on one hide that I first used (actually they were brand new band-aids that i had cut just to use the sticky part). I replaced the hide shortly after because I was not going able to clean it (and I actually did see a post regarding the dangers of tape inside of enclsures) and I am trying to make sure that everything is relatively easy to clean (aside from the silk plants which are a bit of a pain). I had a little suction cup with a bread tie (I trimmed it so that the ends were covered w/ plastic and the metal wasn't exposed, but the middle was skinny enough to wrap snuggly around the suction cup) that I used to keep the cord for the digital thermometer in place near the very top of the tank. I will need to grab some silicon, and I think that having electrical tape around can never hurt (especially if I want to put together one of those rheostats I read about, very nice guide btw).
 
If you simply feel you must use tape, aluminum tape works ok. It only sticks once, and if it comes up, it won't restick. I can't imagine a snake getting stuck to it. HOWEVER, it is always safest to never mix snakes and tape.
 
I must say that my experience with electrical tape is extremely limited, I only use it for the thermostat bulb in a python tank and an adult king tub, and my little brother uses it in his young king tape, so I would suggest following the consensus here and not using it.

I wonder if there is a better way than silicone though, it just sounds like a royal pita when thorough cleaning is due.
 
I had a strange vision when i read royal pita..... my brain isnt working well enough this morning to recognise chat talk LOL. I use a non toxic sticky tac to secure wires and a few other things in my viv. He wont get stuck to it and i doubt he would eat it so i dont see any harm using it.
If there are any reasons it shouldent be used, i would like to hear them, but in my experience its like gold.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top