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UT heater way too hot

kurasumi

kurasumi

New member
I just got a young corn snake two days ago and purchased a 20-gallon long viv to house it in. I got a Zilla 10-20 gallon UT heating mat to keep the enclosure warm, came home from work today, and noticed that the glass above the heat mat was hot to the touch. I'm talking hotter than was comfortable for my hand.

I have a Zoo Med digital thermometer with a probe and when I slapped it over the heating mat, the temperature reading climbed up to near 101 degrees. I know this is far beyond the safe high for a corn--especially a baby--so I unplugged the mat and pulled the snake from the cage, let it rest in its feeding tank until the temperature in its viv dropped down to around 85 in the hottest spot.

My question is this: how can I stop this from happening again? I've heard of getting dimmer switches to attach to the heating pads; would that be a good way to go? As of right now my house is much warmer than normal, so I just have the viv riding on ambient room temp (around 80 degrees). It'll get chilly tonight though. My plan is to leave an overhead lamp on and, though it will get a bit warmer than I'm really comfortable with, I figure it will be better than letting my snake go chilly.
 
The heat pad gets hot, that's it's job. I'd be willing to wager it's a lot warmer than 101.
2vdradi.jpg

A thermostat or dimmer will lower the temps, others have used a piece of ceramic tile to disperse the heat. It's crucial to offer hides both on the warm and cool side. I'm also a believer in good thermometers -no matter how nice your equipment, you need to be able to measure it accurately.
 
elrojo said:
The heat pad gets hot, that's it's job. I'd be willing to wager it's a lot warmer than 101.
2vdradi.jpg

A thermostat or dimmer will lower the temps, others have used a piece of ceramic tile to disperse the heat. It's crucial to offer hides both on the warm and cool side. I'm also a believer in good thermometers -no matter how nice your equipment, you need to be able to measure it accurately.
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Thank you so much! I'll be stopping by Home Depot to get a dimmer switch as early as I can tomorrow. This is my first snake, so I flew into a bit of a panic when I saw the warm side of its tank was so much hotter than it needed to be. It has hides on both the warm and cool side of the tank--at the moment it's curled up under a cut-up tissue box, away from the heat pad.
 
If it's above 65 in your house, and you haven't fed the snake, it's okay to unplug it until you get a dimmer or thermostat. Remember with a dimmer you still need to keep a probed thermometer on it, because the temp will change with the room temp.
 
Nanci said:
If it's above 65 in your house, and you haven't fed the snake, it's okay to unplug it until you get a dimmer or thermostat. Remember with a dimmer you still need to keep a probed thermometer on it, because the temp will change with the room temp.
Click to expand...

I've got my dad watching the vivarium temp while I'm at school, and I'll be able to go out and buy a dimmer switch sometime before lunch. My corn hasn't eaten since last Wednesday, and I actually spotted his poop in the little plastic cup I bought him in, so it doesn't sound like digestion should be an issue. I don't plan on taking the thermometer out of the tank anytime soon (it does have a probe), and I'll be sure to watch the temp as closely as possible tonight before I need to leave for work.

Thank you both so much! You guys saved me from a panic attack; I'd thought maybe my UT heater had shorted and needed to be scrapped.
 
I really can't believe that there isn't a warning on the UTH packaging. We did the same thing when we started out with snakes about a year ago. If you don't know any better, and just go buy one from Pet(co)(smart), even if you read the directions, you wouldn't know that you need a thermostat or dimmer.
 
Thanks to everyone who posted a reply! I went out and got a dimmer switch from Home Depot, plugged it into the heating mat, and the temp in the cage seems to be sitting nicely at 86.7 now. Crisis averted, whew!
 
Great work! Glad things have stabilised for you. Alwys a relief when there turns out to be a (relatively) quick fix :)

even if you read the directions, you wouldn't know that you need a thermostat or dimmer.
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I know - it amazes me as well. You'd think that shops at least would be keen to sell an extra bit of kit. To not have some sort of general warning on the UTH that "different reptiles may need the temperature controlled" (all of them, in my opinion, even in the higher ranges), seems daft.

It's also odd that nobody has considered inventing/marketing an integrated UTH/thermostat, so that you just buy it as one combined unit. The initial cost would be more than just the UTH, but there must be a way of making it slightly cheaper than two separate bits of kit.
 
bitsy said:
I know - it amazes me as well. You'd think that shops at least would be keen to sell an extra bit of kit. To not have some sort of general warning on the UTH that "different reptiles may need the temperature controlled" (all of them, in my opinion, even in the higher ranges), seems daft.
Click to expand...
I offered thermostats in my shop for almost 6 years and have ever sold exactly one. I give the URLs to the Bean Farm and Reptile Basics to hobbyists and all the literature they get from me stresses that temperature control is the #1 necessity to keeping a reptile. I just wish some good IRs would come out at the 10-20 dollar price point. The most frustrating part for me is how many people have no idea what the temps are to begin with.
bitsy said:
It's also odd that nobody has considered inventing/marketing an integrated UTH/thermostat, so that you just buy it as one combined unit. The initial cost would be more than just the UTH, but there must be a way of making it slightly cheaper than two separate bits of kit.
Click to expand...
I tried the cheap Zoo Med Repti-therms, but they are pieces of junk. I don't think you can get a decent thermostat for under $50 bucks. And a pre-wired Ranco with a power strip is 70, so I suggest that. Rich at Reptile Basics is trying to make a hobby grade thermostat with a much cheaper price point than the Ranco, and I for one eagerly await it. There just aren't inexpensive options for the hobbyist with one or two snakes.
 
I use £15 on/off HabiStat Mat Stats here in the UK (that's what they cost when I bought them, anyway!). Only ever had one go 'phut' on me in all the years I've used them, and no electrical equipment will last forever. Most are well over ten years old and still reliable. So there are good cheap stats out there.

Nice to know of a shop that gives such good advice. I've always thought of my local reptile shop as very responsible, but even they don't mention thermostats when you buy a starter kit.
 
When Mark sells the UTH in the store he works he will tell them that they get hot and that they will need to get a thermostat or a dimmer switch. They do sell rheostats but most people don't want to spend the extra money. Mark will warn them that they will get up to 120 degrees. I know the rainforest exoterras don't seem to get as hot but they still get over 100 degrees~
 
I actually have no idea why they make heat mats without built in thermostats.

Yes it would make them more expensive, but as they are basically USELESS without, what exactly is the POINT!
 
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