Questions for new BP owner!

A lot of people use Zoo-Med UTH's but mine even using a cheap rheostat from petco still reads 114 when on low. I even checked it with a infared handheld thermometer. is this normal or should I take it back? I use the accurite thermometer from walmart with the probe directly on the glass just a described from the tank setup in the sticky. He seems happy and has even ate in the 2 weeks we have had him. He comes out at night and we can handle him no problems every couple of days. Basically why I'm posting is of course I use a bulb to warm the tank but its killing my humidity. I can only maintain 30-35%!

Is this the temp of the probe on top in the tank or the probe outside the tank in between the uth and tank? If its 114 in the tank you are going to cook your snake, and I would be willing to bet its an issue with the rheostat rather than the uth.

The UTH is not the problem, they are basically a coil of wire so they will either work or they wont.
I have 2 tanks on Zilla 1000 controllers and there isnt any problems with those temps but it is a self controlling thermostat.

I had to do some major moving of the tanks this past weekend and had to run to Petsmart for a couple Zoo Med Repti-Temp Rheostats. I DO NOT like them. I have had to adjust them more than the Zilla, and from what I have found out a little bit on the knob of the rheostat is a HUGE temp difference.:mad:

I will be ordering a couple more Zillas after we recoup from Butterball LOL

Oh my lord welcome to the fun world of the Rheostat, what a gigantic POS. The only reason i even use one is for ball pythons in quarantine, every time i have to set up a new quarantine tank with it it takes about 3 days to dial in.

Heck i'm setting up tubs right now since my Ranco for quarantine is being used for my new Brazilian Rainbow Boas. I had the knob on medium and the tubs were about 115. I moved it down to low and the tubs were at 116!!! So basically i have it all the way down almost off and its too cold, so i just keep having to play with it.

So my best word of advice to you is to go ahead and get yourself a Ranco for $50-80 and sell that POS or bring it back to the store. You will only run into issues over time, especially if the temps in your house change by more than 4 or 5 degrees, then your snakes might be way too hot or too cold.

Having something specifically designed to CONTROL the temp, not just set it, is what you need. Your heat pads are probably fine, its just that dang Rheostat!

Zoo-Med makes a cheap thermostat called the ReptiTemp 500R. It is worlds better than a dimmer but not as good as a Ranco or even better a Herpstat/Helix. Yet it gets the job done for only 30 dollars. If on a budget this tstat is GREAT. Been used as a QT thermostat and when used on the Burm when he was in the closet. It takes a bit to dial in (1 to 2 hours) but after that it's golden.

Only downfall to this thermostat is that is a on/off and a power set thermostat. So the dial is not a temperature, it's the amount of power going to the unit as when the ambient temps drop the hot your heating drops with it. Unlike a Ranco or higher grade thermostat keeps the temps at the temp you set it.
Example my herpstat is set at 90 and if the heat goes out and the ambient drops to 60 my hot side is STILL 90 degrees

I will definitely go out and get a thermostat to control this. The UTH is already stuck to the underside of the tank. Can I just peel it back and stick the probe in the middle? Also I tested the UTH without the snake in it after reading a few things on here so thank-you! Also when I ran the UTH without a rheostat it got as high as 130! UI thought they can't even go that high. Once again this was verified using my infared thermometer.

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Originally Posted by sheffeyva

I will definitely go out and get a thermostat to control this. The UTH is already stuck to the underside of the tank. Can I just peel it back and stick the probe in the middle? Also I tested the UTH without the snake in it after reading a few things on here so thank-you! Also when I ran the UTH without a rheostat it got as high as 130! UI thought they can't even go that high. Once again this was verified using my infared thermometer.

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Heat mats can def go that high and can spike around 140. to answer you question just peel it back about half way and you can put the probe in. To make sure everything stays put use duct tape to hold it in place.

i had already stuck my uth to the tank and realized i didnt put the probe between. so i just stuck the probe to the underside of the uth on the outside of the tank and taped it there and it is working good!!

I have my probes under the mat............as in tank, mat stuck to tank, and them probe taped to mat. there is a little variation in temp but I used my temp gun and adjusted accordingly.

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Originally Posted by 06gt

i had already stuck my uth to the tank and realized i didnt put the probe between. so i just stuck the probe to the underside of the uth on the outside of the tank and taped it there and it is working good!!

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As this may work, the point of the probe is to detect the temperature that the heating device is putting out. Also a probe placed like this is more open to the ambient elements even when taped vs a probe covered by a uth. It may cause problems or it might not, but the point is that it could.

Peeling the UTH back once is not a big deal and it is better to do it the right way.