New Tank Questions

I got a 30 gallon tank from craigslist today!!! When I brought it home I noticed a couple of surprises. 1. It had a UTH already on it, that is supposed to be in working order, but it covers a little under half the tank so I'm guessing it's a large or medium. Is this too big for a 30 gallon? 2. It came with a light holder that is meant for a 60 watt bulb. Would it be ok to use a 60 watt CHE in it? and 3. It came with an Accurite but it only has one probe on it. I need one with two probes right?

it is recommended it be under 1/2 of the enclosure, perferebly 1/3. BE SURE TO HOOK THE UTH AND HEAT EMITTER TO A QUALITY THERMOSTAT. better spend a good $50 now then $50 10 times due to a burnt snake, yes that bulb will work but be careful and monitor your heat. they only need a 90 hotspot any higher and you could have an unwanted bbq. the accurite has 2 probes actually, one is inside of the unit itself, you put the probe on the hotside and keep the unit on the cold side, i like to put my prob in the hot side hide for most accurate reading. good luck and welcome to bp.net and your new addiction :D

Thank you so much!!! It looks like it's a little over 1/3 of the tank so is that ok? I'll take it off but it will save me money, but I don't want my snake to be uncomfortable or burn itself. Also what should I clean it with? I took Chlorox wipes to get all the dirt and stuff out of it.

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1 more question lol. Will the UTH burn my table? The tank is from glasstanks.com and it has a little bit of space between the mat and the table.

If the UTH is regulated by a thermostat it shouldn't.

Read this thread, it covers UTH's/thermostats in detail:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

Can I plug both my lamp and UTH to a Hydrofarm? Would a dimmer be sufficient to keep the heat ok on a lamp?

No you cannot plug 2 different types/wattage heat sources into a single thermostat.

a lamp dimmer is ok for heat lamps but reality isn't sufficient for UTH's

If you are worried about the table getting burned, just glue some soda bottle caps to the bottom of the tank ( I bought some rubber protector pads to raise my tank slightly off the table)

To remove the UTH that is on the tank, without damaging it, to put the thermometer probe on it, look at this post: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Remove-a-UTH! A GREAT tutorial!


Hope that helps!

Thank you!!! This has all been very helpful!

A CHE is not to be used in a regular heat lamp fixture. If you read the box it instructs you to use the wire frame type. They are about 23 bucks at both big pet stores. Using a regular fixture the heat will back up and burn out the unit.

I have two CHE units in the proper fixture that have out lived all of my bulbs and I keep the CHE units on 24/7 and the bulbs gets 12 hour shifts.