Measuring temp

[afman916]

So quick question regarding general measurement of temperature within a snake enclosure. Snake/enclosure in question is a Dumeril's in a 20 gallon long. UTH on right-hand side, controlled by a HydroFarms thermostat (I know not the best, HerpStat will come once I'm out of grad school and have more disposable income). Supplemental temp measurement by one of those small digital reptile thermometers.

My question is, where should I be placing the probe to measure the temp? For instance, many Dumeril's care guides recommend a lower temp range due to their natural habitat: 80-85 hot side, 65-75 cool side. Should that 80-85 be measured directly over the UTH, or right on top of the substrate? He does burrow, but it's 50/50. I just worry that pegging my UTH at 85 may lead to a too-cool enclosure, even if I do jack the heat in that room.

Just wanted to see what the rest of the community does regarding temp measurements in context of recommended temp ranges, species notwithstanding.

Thanks!

[KMG]

An uth does not heat the cage. It only creates the hotspot. Whatever you need the snakes hotspot to be you should create that and monitor it on the cage floor. Then you place a very thin layer of substrate over it.

As for the rest of the cage and monitoring the air temp the thermometer is best near the floor of the cage. An inch or two from the substrate is usually pretty good.

If you have a thermometer with a wired probe most people will run the probe to the hotspot and then place the unit on the cool side.

Depending on your home and the temps you keep it you may find it necessary to add a heat lamp.

[AllThatInThemGenes]

The prob for your thermostat should be directly on the uth and you should be measuring the hot spot inside the tub under the substrate. look online or go to Wal-Mart to buy a something that reads temps/humidity digitally and place that prob under the substrate over the UTH. they are cheap ($12-$14). This way you know the exact temp of the uth and the temp of the hottest place your snake could come into contact with inside the enclosure. I would also suggest that you get a temp gun so you can double check the top spot while also getting accurate readings of every spot in the enclosure.

[PitOnTheProwl]

[afman916]

Really appreciate the informative posts, especially the graphical representation. Thanks all!

I currently have my probe placement exactly as depicted in Pit's picture; I guess my question could really be distilled down to, when care guides and other herpers recommend a certain temp range for the hot side, absent any explicit "hotspot" recommendation, is this temp range referring to the warmest possible spot in the cage (i.e. the UTH in this case)?

I was always under the impression that temp ranges for warm and cool ends were more general recommendations for ambient temps. And, by extension, that UTHs would generally run a few degrees hotter to account for heat loss through substrate absorption and the general inefficient nature of UTHs at least as far as thermal radiation is concerned. But, I know nothing of the scientifically-tested capabilities of UTHs, so good chance I'm way off base here.

So, warm side recommendations outside of "hot spots": ambient temps or hottest spot in cage?

[afman916]

So just as an experiment, I have three temp probes on the warm side right now:

1) Affixed directly to UTH, 85.6
2) Under substrate against glass, 84.3
3) Top of substrate (substrate ~1 1/2" thick to allow for burrowing), 76.4

Nearly a 10 degree differential between hot spot on top of UTH and top of substrate. So I'm still back at my original question: when a care guide says warm side 80-85, am I setting the UTH to 80-85 or am I setting the UTH a full 10 degrees warmer?

- - - Updated - - -

Or am I jacking up room temp/providing overhead heat source?

[PitOnTheProwl]

You are setting the temperature to the surface your animal can touch....... This would be under the substrate as snake can burrow.
Room temperature is for ambient temps.