Ok, so my baby Amel Motley is coming in Tuesday! Just getting all the last minute details taken care of before he gets here. I'm likely going to swap out my repti-mat carpet substrate for either aspen or shredded newspaper. One more minor detail I'm looking to get some feedback on. I got a Brinks digital timer for the UTH that repeats daily and allows for 6 "events" which are 6 separate times I can make the UTH go on and off. So my question is, should I just do on during the day and off at night? or should I do something like 3 hours on, 2 off, or any other such pattern? the temperature in the room is about 70-71 at night and 73-74 ish during the day. We keep the A/C on 71, but its hot here in central FL during the day, so my clock thermometer reads a bit higher. What do you all think?
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Turning UTH on and off?
- Thread starter dr82692
- Start date
You could use a thermostat to regulate the heat mat for you, that way you won't have to guess when you think the mat may or may not be needed throughout the day. You can plug the heat mat into thermostat, set the thermostat for a certain desired temp, and it will do all the work for you... automatically turning the mat on when it needs to be warmer and off when it should be cooler. No guesswork and the mat will stay in the appropriate heat range.
This is the one I just received (I saw it recommended here): http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPRTC-Digital-Thermostat-Heat/dp/B000NZZG3S
I like it because it's digital, displays the current temp (not just what it is set to), and the probe is nice and small with a working suction cup to hold it in place. I was borrowing a different thermostat before I got this one and it worked good too, but I like this one a lot better so far for the reasons stated. I definitely recommend a thermostat of some sort though.
This is the one I just received (I saw it recommended here): http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPRTC-Digital-Thermostat-Heat/dp/B000NZZG3S
I like it because it's digital, displays the current temp (not just what it is set to), and the probe is nice and small with a working suction cup to hold it in place. I was borrowing a different thermostat before I got this one and it worked good too, but I like this one a lot better so far for the reasons stated. I definitely recommend a thermostat of some sort though.
Also, I am a new snake owner as well so have been doing a lot of reading... I believe your apartment temps are fine for the cool side, but for the warm side of the tank they should be a bit warmer, around 85. If you get a thermostat you can set it to 85 and it should keep the UTH in that range. Then the snake can choose between apartment/room temp on the cool side of its tank or 85 on the warm side.
No problem! Oh, you could still use the thermometer for sure. You could use it to monitor the UTH to be sure the thermostat is working properly, or you could have it measure the temp of warm side on top of the substrate versus right on top of the UTH. I have two probe thermometers (cool side and warm side) in addition to my new thermostat that also measures temps (UTH) all in my little one's Kritter Keeper. 
Something I just thought of... If you don't have something to regulate the temp that the UTH reaches it can get pretty hot, 100+. If it's just going off and on, but with no regulation, it might just go from 0 to 100 to 0 to 100, etc. Not sure if that would work very well for maintaining a warm side temp of 85, plus the risk of burning the snake if he burrowed down to the UTH while it was super hot. I'm not sure though, so hopefully someone else with more experience will chime in!
so just to make sure im understanding it correctly, what the thermostat does is is turns the mat on and off to keep it at a set temperature. like say i set it for 85, it keeps it on till it heats to 85, then turns it off, then as soon as it drops heats it up again, etc? like an A/C? If that is the case, thats the same intention i had for the timer, so if i can get it to regulate like that with just the timer, ill do that. thanks!
moukin
New member
Are you home constantly to monitor this? I have the Hydrofarm thermostat that was linked above and it goes off and on quite often to keep the heat mat in the correct range. A lot more than just 6 "events" per day.
I tend to think a thermostat or at the very least a dimmer switch/rheostat is going to keep things more stable than trying to manually turn it off and on. Those heat mats heat up pretty fast and get too hot in no time at all.
I tend to think a thermostat or at the very least a dimmer switch/rheostat is going to keep things more stable than trying to manually turn it off and on. Those heat mats heat up pretty fast and get too hot in no time at all.
wstphal
working in the Gulag
I use dimmer switches on mine. Like these:
It takes a bit to get it adjusted right and it varies if the temp in the room varies, but it holds the temp pretty good and is a lot cheaper, albeit less reliable, than a thermostat. They cost about $10 at Home Depot.
I use them too. I have them set so that the temp on top of the heat mat doesn't go above 86F or below 80F during a normal day. In the winter, when the temps in my apart vary only slightly, I can keep the warm side floor at 82-84F no problem, but spring & fall I have the windows open and the apartment temps change more, so I accept that the warm side warms & cools a little. I check temps every day and adjust the dimmer if I need to. During the hottest part of this summer, I just left the windows open in the rooms the snakes are in and turned the UTHs off altogether, and everybody was living at ambient, and seemed fine with it, although I did see a lot of snakes lounging ON TOP of their hides, I guess enjoying the fact that their whole viv was 85-86F. Only one took to his water bowl.
moukin
New member
Yeah, even with a dimmer switch on mine at first, I felt like I was always making adjustments. If it went up a couple degrees I would get paranoid that it would go higher while I was gone to work, so I'd dial it down a bit, but then I'd get home and it was a bit lower than I'd like, so I'd dial it back up.
It was never ending and I was checking it so many times a day it was driving me nuts.
I really like that Hydrofarm thermostat. I keep my thermometer probe right next to the thermostat probe. I'm not sure which of them is accurate but the thermometer reads about a degree and a half higher than the thermostat says it is.
It fluctuates 2-3 degrees on either side of what I set it at, but it's consistently in that range and now I can just check it once or twice day and see that it's still doing its job.
It was never ending and I was checking it so many times a day it was driving me nuts.
I really like that Hydrofarm thermostat. I keep my thermometer probe right next to the thermostat probe. I'm not sure which of them is accurate but the thermometer reads about a degree and a half higher than the thermostat says it is.
It fluctuates 2-3 degrees on either side of what I set it at, but it's consistently in that range and now I can just check it once or twice day and see that it's still doing its job.