Grr for the heating

[padiente]

:evil: Ok, I made Kitty's new enclosure, new hide, and put a 150w bulb over the holes on the warm end, with a heat pad onder the bottom on the hot end. I still have 2 problems, the temps on that side still won't get high enough, I have never had a problem when using this bulb and pad, I actually had problems with it getting too hot at one point, now it won't get past 82 on that side. Also, Kitty keeps haning out behind the waterfall on the cool end, this would not worry me much normally, but the cool end is way to cool, HELP. how am I goind to get those temps up? I have tons of wattage going into the tank and that used to be may more than enough heat. I am worried about RI . I have dealt successfully with one before, but that was when I had help, now I am on my own and I don't want to go through that again and his was mild. Please help

[Smulkin]

WHat's the state of the room the enclosure is in - has that changed at all? Any changes in the configuration of the cage compared to when you had to struggle with it being too hot? Couldn't be a thermometer issue could it? Afraid I can't remember what sort of enclosure you have either. We'll do everything we can to offer helpful suggestions just give me a few more details.

[padiente]

Oh, it a rubbermaid 34 inches long about 18 deep and 17 high. Before I had a 20 gallon long tank with a screen top. The whole container is different, but it was supposed to be easier this way, not harder. It is set up in the same configuration, but just is not getting hot enough, I even bought a new lamp to help and it didn't really. I cannot figure out what the deal is. The overall room temp has not really changed, it did for a few days, but it has sinced warmed up and I can't get the temps in the cage to rise past the 82 degrees

[Smulkin]

One thing to note in the transition from glass to plastic is that the glass conducts the heat far more effectively than the plastic and this may well be what accounts for the difference - that coupled with the fact that there is now more volume which needs heating. Is the rubbermaud directly on the heat pad and what is the heat pad set to? If you bump it does the surface (of the substrate) become too hot? I have mine set on 1/2' "rails" (front/back) to keep enough ventilation under it but have had to bump a couple the past couple days due to an overall drop in temps in our area.

[padiente]

The heat pad it one from the pet store, one with one setting. I hadn't had a problem with it so I didn't get a different one. The surface is a good temp, its the ambient air that is too cold. I forgot about the plastic vs glass conductivity. That proably explains some of the problem. What would you suggest? A bigger bulb is hard to come by.

[Smulkin]

First suggestion I'd make is to get hooked up with a human heating pad (no auto-shutoff). WOn't set you back any more than $10 at walmart/target (walMart seems to be phasing out the ones without auto-shutoff though. Once I'd transitioned to plastic the need for bulb heating went byebye, and once I'd tried the human heat pads I'd not consider going back to the commercially available heat mats (except FlexWatt solutions). Certainly wirth a shot. Please keep us posted on how it works out for you.

[Cody]

One thing I thought of is maybe the batteries are low in your digital thermometer(s) so the readings aren't correct. I have a phobia of this. I keep changing my batteries like once every few weeks just to be sure. I say try popping in some brand new batteries and see if the temperature readings rise a bit. I dunno if that is possible for the readings to be lower because of low batteries, but maybe.

[padiente]

how long do those batteries last? I have only had that thermometer since chirstmas

[Smulkin]

If batteries are low you may see faint/flickering LCD readout - it wouldn't affect the sensor or thermometer. It may get to the point it can't measure/display the readings it is trying to take but won't start misreading or lose calibration due to battery weakness.