quick question regarding herpstat4

[05kas05]

i have my snakes in 20 long aquariums with zoomed u.t.h i dont have a thermostat on them at this time i have been monitoring the temps on the substrate and they are where they need to but i dont trust it and im in the process of fixing my rookie mistake. so i ordered some new hides,enclosures,and a herpstat 4 and i already have my accurite's. my new enclosures wont be here until possibly the end of next month but my herpstat and hides should be here monday.i want to know if there is a way to mount the herpstat to the u.t.h other than pulling the u.t.h off the tank and putting it between the u.t.h and the glass. if i just mount the probe straight on the u.t.h and monitored temps to get the right hot spot inside the aquarium would this be ok just for one month.any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated

[reptileexperts]

I would really only trust it by sticking the probe directly between the glass and UTH. You can try and affix the probe to the glass inside the tank above the UTH, but you would have to mount it with a safe adhesive that is NOT tape or tape like or toxic etc. if you did not affix the probe to the tank properly, and the snake was able to move it, it could dislodge the probe and cause the t-stat to push at 100% to try and get to the temperatures up. Dangerous game, although most zoomed mats at 100% does not get hotter than 105 from what I've tested.

[kitedemon]

I actually would suggest the probe being inside the tank in your case. I would suggest hot melt glue to hold it in place as it can be pulled free and the glue removed from the probe will not too much problem. I would enable the relay and the low temp shut down on the 4 if you choose to do this. if the probe comes loose the HS will kill the power to the heat source and prevent burns. Same for poo or pee on the probe (I have never seen this make a big difference personally but it is one of the arguments used against interior mounting) The HS4 is exceptionally safe and Dion should be applauded for advancing the stat of herp electronics and increasing the safety of animals.

The interior mounting is the most accurate way to get stable temps especially in rooms that vary the ambient temp frequently. I use interior mounting on many of my enclosures and find it very refreshing to set the unit at 90ºF and get 90ºF with almost no variation regardless of the room temps.

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Oh, please don't use hot melt with the snake inside the enclosure! Wait until it is cool before returning the animal.

[Simplex]

A general tip from my experience on probes.. They do not need to read the tub temperature. Or enclosure temperature. You must try and find what works..

Ex
My probe is under my heat tape, grooved into the rack. And reads 103 deg at all times..

Tub Thickness, and heat loss throught the rack drops the 103 to 92 degrees inside the tub at the lay point. Substrate cools this further.

Regardless that its at 103, it stays there. So my inside tub temp stays constant all the tome. Thats what you want. Its some trial an error, but i do not reccomend putting the probe inside the tub, you run a big risk of the snake moving the probe.

[kitedemon]

Glass and plastic have VERY different heat transmission. I found with glass that sandwiching the probe failed to account for the ambient temp and the glass temp and allowed a variation of 5-6ºF as the room changed. The room the animals were in at this time varied by about 10º. I am guessing that you mean a rack and that your ambient room temp is stable? It is hard to compare a glass tank in a house to a controlled rack in a regulated room. BTW Flexwatt is not recommended to be run over 100ºF for extended periods of time FYI.