Question in regard to UTH's

[justinsane82]

I have two separate tanks and I've been setting up my tanks without dimmers or a way to monitor the temps coming from the UTH's. However, what I've been doing, with the snakes outside of the tanks obviously, is setting up the substrate, putting their hides in and then a thermometer under the hide, leaving it for 30 minutes and checking the temps and going off that. I would imagine that this isn't a suggested form of control and that I should be going about it another way. I do have a digital thermometer which some people on other sites say can be used to monitor temps, however, not only do I not know where to position it to get an accurate temp (I wouldn't imagine putting it directly on the glass would be smart as it's not measuring the difference with the substrate) and I would still have no way the monitor the heat other than adding more substrate. Any suggestions or comments? Should I just suck it up and get two Rheostats? If I do, how do I take accurate temps while setting that up?

[dr del]

Hi,

My advice would be to bite the bullet and order a thermostat and one dimmer - set the thermostat to get the warm end temps right (see below ) and then dial down the dimmer switch ( fitted inline between the thermostat and the cool end heat mat ) until the temps are right in the cool side as well.

All snakes are pefectly capable of burrowing into or moving the substrate and your system is honestly just not going to be able to gaurantee no burnt snakes.

Thermometer

You should start by putting the temp probe inside the hot end hide under the substrate i.e. directly on the glass or plastic above the heatmat. Adjust whatever you are using to control the temps so that this reads 92-95f. It is probably best to wait for a couple of hours at a minimum for the temps to stabilise before checking them.

Then move the probe to the surface of the substrate inside the warm end hide and adjust the depth/ type of substrate until this reads 90-93f approximately. This gives the snake the temps it needs but also limits the max temp it can directly get to at a safe level.

Next move the temp probe to inside the cool end hide below the substrate and adjust the dimmer switch until this reads around 80-83f (again leave it a while to stabilise ) then check the temps on top of the substrate inside the cool end hide and get them into the 80-83f range as well - hopefully they should be there already though.

Thermostat

Place the probe for this directly onto the surface of the heat mat between it and the base of the tank - use the foil tape to stick it on firmly. This prevents the snake from being able to directly influence it or move it off the heat source - both of whiuch can lead to dangerous temperature spikes.

What are the ambient temps in your room that you need the cool end heat mat to compensate for?


dr del

[justinsane82]

I'm not sure of the temps as I live in a basement suite and the heat is controlled upstairs by my land lord....I know it sucks as much as it sounds. I actually only have a UTH on the warm side with a heat lamp.