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yet another heating question...

E

ekans

New member
I have a 20 long and a UTH, but the warm side is only about 75 degrees. Should I add a heat lamp? How much will that warm up the tank, and how are those controlled? (My thermostat should arrive tomorrow).
 
How big is the uth? What type of thermometer are you using? It's a good bet to wait on the thermostat before replacing or getting more gadgets. I've seen corn snakes out in chilly mornings, so a short time in 75 degrees is better than cooking under a hot light. Refrain from feeding him until you get the belly heat to the prime temp for digesting.

I think you should replace the uth before bothering with a heat lamp, but the problem is most likely the thermometer. I use the digital ones with the probes, they can get messy since one of my boys loves to poop on his.
 
I'm using a cheap Petco thermometer, and the thermostat I'm getting is a digital one designed for controlling heat mats for seedlings (as in gardening). I've seen it recommended here. I'll wait until tomorrow to see if everything is working, thanks.
 
That cheap petco thermometer is unreliable, if its the one that sticks to the side of the tank. I have one petco digital that I'll replace soon and two acurite digitals that I got from walmart for $12 a piece. The acurite tells you hot side, cool side, and humidity it stays inside the tank and gets pulled around and dirty, but it works very well. We keep the probes secure by sticking them in paper towels and covering with substrate, but the time the corns mess up the job it's time to clean the tanks out anyway.
 
The cardboard strip and plastic dial-type are next to useless from what I've seen. My nephew had a dial-type that never moved, even when the UTH was accidentally unplugged.

You need to be taking the temperature (with a digital thermometer) right on the floor surface, immediately above the UTH. With the majority of UTHs, without a thermostat you'd find that the floor surface is about 20+ degrees hotter than a Corn's safe maximum (90).

I'd hold off on the heat lamp until you can get an accurate idea of the temp.
 
If ekans isn't using anything to control the UTH and is only using a thermometer... This means that your UTH is probably on fire.. I tested mine before I used it with my snake. Without controlling it...it got over 100 degrees. When I use a cheap $10 dimmer. I get my temps in between 82 and 86.

:awcrap: Is this how I am understanding it or am I right?
 
My UTH jumped up to 110f within minutes and was still climbing. I had to get a Dimmer switch and put it inline on an extension cord to lower the power to lower the temp. Had I not been watching it I could have killed my snake since he was right over the pad and didnt move even when the temp jumped that fast. Be carefull.
 
My thermostat should be here sometime today. I'll post again later and update on how it's doing...and yeah, the thermometer seems to be totally useless.
 
My t-stat is plugged in and working. I have the probe placed on the glass (though it was hard because the cord kept wanting to fold and pull the probe up) and set it to 88 degrees. It just reached 78.2 and is steadily climbing...but the temp on top of the substrate hasn't really moved. Is that normal, or is it just because of my crappy thermometer? :\
 
Also, the probe seems really easy to move; I think the snake would be pushing it around all the time. Is there a better place I could put it?
 
Most people use a hot glue gun or something to secure the probe to the tank surface or something that way it doesn't get moved.
 
I use Blue Tak on probes in the vivs. Needs to be replaced regularly but doesn't stick to the snakes.
 
Ok, I'm going to use a hot glue gun to keep the probe down...another question. If the glass surface is 88 degrees what temperature should the substrate be, on the warm and the cold side?
 
ekans said:
Ok, I'm going to use a hot glue gun to keep the probe down...another question. If the glass surface is 88 degrees what temperature should the substrate be, on the warm and the cold side?
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on your substrate...but what I use is Aspen. I make sure that under the hot hide..that the substrate isn't very thick. Enough to where you can't see the bottom but still feel the heat.
 
When my heat is set correctly I don't feel any heat unless my hand is directly on the heat tape, yet the temps read correctly ?
 
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