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Temp using Dimmer Problems

A

Andry

New member
Okay, I bought the dimmer from Home Depot and connected the UTH to it. I am having a really hard time getting the right temp so I keep giving up and disconnecting it. Even at the lowest setting on the dimmer the temp goes up to 89 to 91. Any clue on how I can get it to be at 83F?

When I turn it off it is 78 on that side of the tank and the other reads 73, so I guess it is warmer in general, but I would like to get it to the 80's for after we give the snake it's first feeding.

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Also....one more question:
After reviewing the photos on this website. Isn't our snake a Motley Striped rather than a Standard Motley snake?

http://www.reptileallsorts.com/cornphase/index.html
 
I use the same set up, but I have the UTH resting on the shelf and not stuck to the glass. I also got rubber couch "feet" for under two dollars. They look kinda like hocky pucks. I used those on all four corners of the tank for air flow. It works for us! :)
 
Hmmm, great idea!! Okay, so it sits on the shelf, is the shelf wood? Mine is a wood shelf. Maybe I should put feet on both sides? I have feet that I bought at the dollar store. Thanks, I will try that. So, is your dimmer on half way or how far up? Did you notice on yours that in order for it to dim you have to start at the top of the dimmer and go down? Mine will only work that way.
 
Oh, I just re-read your post and saw that the feet are on the tank, not on the UTH. Okay, got it.
 
The only way to know if your snake is a motley stripe (motley het stripe) is if the breeder told you that info, (one parent was a stripe) or by a test breeding with a snake carrying one stripe gene. You need two stripe genes, one from each parent, to make stripe.

Normal + motley = het motley
Normal + stripe = het stripe
Motley + motley = motley
Motley + stripe = motley het stripe
Stripe + stripe = stripe

Now, the motley pattern can have "mots" that are perfect round dots, or Q-tips- spots that run together, or lines- even a full stripe (pinstripe) running the length of the snake. It is still a motley.

I'd call your snake motley, from what I can see of him. The website you are referring to is using incorrect terminology.
 
Yes, if there is too much airflow or not enough airflow beneath the tank your temps will act erratically. Some dimmers are very touchy too. Just a small adjustment can often send the temp skyrocketing or plummeting. When I found the "sweet spots" on mine, I marked on the dimmer with a sharpie the correct position.
 
Thanks, I marked mine with Sharpie too, but unfortunately I had it wrong. But maybe the mark will work now that I know to not stick the UTH directly onto the tank. :) That would be luck.

Thank you Nanci for all the great info. I don't know anything about snakes and I see how complex it is. So the website I linked has bad info. I just thought per the pictures it looked more like the striped Motley. Thanks for the explanation.
 
Yes, I have a wood shelf. So far so good! It's been months. Just experiment and see what happens. I am sure you will see a HUGE change! Good luck! :)
 
Not sure what you mean by the cheap dial? I don't use a thermostat.

I have a concern. We fed Autumn for the first time at our house after 3 days of owning him. He wasted no time and he ate the pinky quick. The thing is, we left him in the feeding dish for about an hour trying to get the temperature right again on the warm side of the tank. I finally got it to be at 87 on the temp gauge, but I really doubt that it is 87. I think it is more like 85. Well, if it was 87, would that be okay?

I have lifted the tank up with feet to let air flow in through the bottom of the tank. Then I laid the UTH on top of a board wrapped in foil paper that is sitting on the counter. So, the UTH is not stuck directly to the glass.

Even doing it this way, it went up to 90 and then I turned it down and it came down to 87 and won't go lower. I pull the UTH out and touch it with my hand and I can barely feel the heat on the thing. I can just lay my hand on top and barely feel warmness. So, I doubt the tank is 87. This is why I think it is lower than 87. I even put my hand on the tank bottom to see if it is hot and it feels normal temp to me.

Could the probe thermometer be wrong, or am I wrong by thinking I am going to feel it warmer.

Okay, so the main question is 87 okay for the snake? I went ahead and put him in and I tried to do it without handling him. I put the dish that he ate in in the tank and let him slide out but he wouldn't get out. So, I tipped the dish ever so slightly and I felt AWFUL when he fell out. This is bad isn't it? I am soooo inexperienced. I will never do that again. I hope he doesn't throw up his food. He ate so well. :confused:
 
And I've been watching the temp and it goes up and down from 88 to 87. Please let me know if this is okay. Thanks.
 
It might not matter what temp it is because once he finished eating and got (was dropped) in the tank he went straight to the cool side of the tank. But he's never had a warm side and he was so scared that I'm sure he just went to the first hide out he saw and didn't care if it was warm or not.
 
Don't worry about him finding the warm side...he will! :)

Also don't worry about it not feeling warm to you. You are warmer (your body temp is 98F) then 85F so it will seem cool to you. I am sure the readings are right.

You and I have the same set up it seems. What size is your tank?
 
While I am waiting for you to answer (sorry if our posts get crossed) I wanted to tell you what I have done today that has helps temps stabilize.

My UTH was on the wood shelf. It's been that way for a good 6 or 7 months with no issues. I started to get spikes in the temps when the weather got hotter and wow...that was fun! I was always adjusting the slider! And then we really started to run our AC and temps went down. I have not really had major temp fluctuations during this whole time, but between 78 and 90.

But today I think I fixed things after reading up a lot about this! I am so thankful! For the last 5 hours I have been at 82! No fluctuations! None!

I have a 15 gallon tank right now so not much different from a 10 or 20 at this point. I think we both might have the same size UTH? about 6x8 inches?

Today I got two slate tiles. Not the slate rock in a funny rock shape, but 8x8 inch tiles...bumpy and rock like on one side and flat/ridged on the other. Just go to a tile shop and they are either a few bucks each OR free! I got mine for free! Just because the lady was nice! But I have heard that if you go in and ask for samples to take home, they will give them to you!

This is how I layered things....

Shelf
Slate tile
UTH
Glass (Tank)
Slate tile (I left mine uncovered so I could really see what temps I am dealing with)
Temp Prob thingie.

Perfect temp! The tile holds the heat and spreads it out so I had to turn the slider up a little to add heat. The bottom tile takes some of the heat away too. Because it's only 85F and the ridges give some airflow...I don't fear fire. The shelf does not even feel warm!

And I really thought that the rock would get way too hot...but nope! Perfect!
 
And as far as putting him back into the tank the way you did...no biggie! Just leave him alone now.

What I do is just tip the box slightly and he wiggles out into my hand and I put him back into his tank. They climb and fall so one little fall is not going to do anything. They don't know not to fall when they have just been fed.

And the 87 temp...that's fine for tonight. They are pretty good at finding the right temps. I find the most times my corn stays in the middle of the tank, up on his ceramic log to digest and the temp is 76-77 there! LOL

But try the tile thing...give it a few hours for the true reading and see what happens. Good luck! :)
 
Thank you Kimberly Ann for all of the great info. I have a 10 gallon tank. And this morning it occurred to me that maybe when you all said to lay the UTH on the counter it meant to put it sticky stuff/face down on the counter. So, I put it face down on the card board wrapped in aluminum and I think it worked. For the last hour or so it's stayed on 85F. If this doesn't work, I will try the slate tile. I think I have a few pieces left over from a floor we did at our house, so I would have some tile available. My tank is not that high up. It only fits the cardboard and UTH and give little room before the glass. Just enough for me to pull the UTH out if I need to.

He has not even peaked out of his hiding rock and I have a feeling he won't until maybe next feeding time. He's been acting very scared and nervous after the 2nd day with us. I hope he gets better with time and doesn't become this snake that is always in hiding.

After two days of digesting, I will have my kids pick him up once a day for playtime and adapting. Maybe he'll calm down with time and get used to us.

That pinky sure seemed like not enough food for him. He took no time to swallow him. Am I giving him the right size food? He's about 21 inches long.
 
I don't think it matters what way you put the UTH. Maybe someone else can answer that? I just have the sticky side up because it was made to go that way. My thing was heating the glass and how It either cooled down too quickly, or heated up too fast and just too much fluctuation. This morning when I got up, I was greeted with a whole snake skin (he shed! Yay!) And a temp of 83. This one degree higher from last night must be because we turned up the temp on the AC while we slept. But wow...no wild fluctuations!

I don't think you really need to have the tile under the UTH. The one in the tank is most important, I think. I just had two and someone on here told me where he put his and the combo worked just great! And one less thing to store somewhere! LOL

Feeding, that's a tricky thing. It has to do with size and weight. I have yet to get a food scale, so I do not know how much my snake weighs yet. I am going to try to get one today if I have time. I am embarrassed to say, I don't know how long he is either! LOL It was march when we last measured him at somewhere between 13-14 inches. He is well past that now and I feed him 2 pinkys a feeding every five days. I will be moving up to fuzzys when I go to the pet store this weekend.

The way I know to move up in food size, is s/he will not show a mouse bump after 12-24 hours after feeding. You want to feed a mouse no bigger then one and a half times bigger then the biggest part of the snake (think middle). If you feel that the next size up is too big, but the size you are feeding is too small, then feed one and a half to two of the smaller size. People here use what they call "The Munson Plan." I do not have a link, but you can just Google it and you will see a list of weight in grams and the size of mouse you may need. I heard it was just a guide and not a rule.
 
Thanks I will look up that plan for feeding.

And turning the UTH upside down seemed to work for me. So far so good. All morning it has stayed at 85 and 84. I will keep checking it all day today.
 
Good! That's perfect!

Also, about them hiding, they all hide A LOT! I have cypress bedding in my tank and he is coiled up under it about 90% of the time. Since yours is new, it will be hiding a lot more. Mine comes up around 7pm when he wakes up (the are nocturnal) and perches himself on his ceramic log and watches TV with us until we go to bed. Sometimes he's still up when we get up for work, sometimes he's under. Today he was under and I am sure it's because of the shed.

We take him out to play in the afternoon, just search for him carefully in the multch and lightly pet him until he starts moving. So far, he's never showed distaste for this besides trying to hide on occasion. He's never tried to bite or hiss.

Here he is on his log. He has two smaller hides and this big log, but he would rather stay up on top of his log. I will have to make him a new one when he gets older. LOL

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