Having some problems with my first glass tank. (heating, it's getting too hot)

So first of all no animal is currently housed in this tank. This is my first tank ever, and I'm having some problems getting the hotspot too the temperature I want it too be, i have a standard petstore UTH heatpad by I belive zoo med, and a VE-100 thermostat. I have the prob laying over the hotspot of the tank, right where the heat mat is, but sometimes the probe will say 90 F and ill temp gun the bottom of the tank and it'll be 110 F on the bottom while the substrate is about 80, so I'm wondering if anyone here has any advice for me, because I obviously don't want too cook the snake when i put her in her new house.

where is the temperature probe for the thermostat located?

The probe for your thermostat should be directly touching the heat mat. Is this the case or is it on the inside of the tank?

Sent From My Man-Cave

Im not sure how you have yours set up. It should have the uth with the tstat probe between it and the bottom of your tank, on the outside. Then you need a thin layer of substrate, about 1/4 inch is good.

Is this how you have it set up?

I'm trying different stuff out, inside the tank didn't work it was shooting too like 100-120, I tried it between the mat and the tank using the mat's glue too hold it in place. I don't like this very much but it's giving me the best temps, I think i'm going too try too duct tape it too the bottom.

Yes I just set it up just like this, befor i had the probe inside the tank, I think I'm going too duct tape the probe too the mat instead of having it between the mat and the tank. Thank you.

Sometimes you have to be careful not to cover the probe with tape or glue. This can insulate the probe and cause control issues.

Tape the wire just behind the probe and if you want take a small piece of tape and tape just the end of the probe to the mat. This leaves the probe exposed directly to the heat and should work out better for you.

I would leave it between the mat and tank for awhile. It can take a few hours to settle it and start regulating to give the temps you want.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Im not sure how you have yours set up. It should have the uth with the tstat probe between it and the bottom of your tank, on the outside. Then you need a thin layer of substrate, about 1/4 inch is good.

Is this how you have it set up?

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This is correct. In a situation where you have a glass tank, a heat light and a UTH you should have 2 heat probes. One for the UTH as stated here, with the probe situated between the pad and the bottom of the tank, and the other probe dangling low to the substrate and out of the way of the snake monitoring the ambient temps.

Aaron, AKA Serpent Merchant has a good post for glass tank setups.

I'm not sure if this is how you are set up but if you are using a light and a UTH you need 2 probes. The Herpstat II is perfect for this.

One probe will proportionately dim your light for optimum temps and the other will control the hot spot at the UTH location.

Glass tanks can work, but they need some special attention.

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Originally Posted by Gio

This is correct. In a situation where you have a glass tank, a heat light and a UTH you should have 2 heat probes. One for the UTH as stated here with the probe situated between the pad and the bottom of the tank, and the other probe dangling low to the substrate and out of the way of the snake monitoring the ambient temps.

Aaron AKA Serpent Merchant has a good post for glass tank setups.

I'm not sure if this is how you are set up but if you are using a light and a UTH you need 2 probes. The Herpstat II is perfect for this.

One probes will proportionately dim your light for optimum temps and the other will control the hot spot at the UTH location.

Glass tanks can work, but they need some special attention.

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I do have a light, but I only have the one spare thermostat with only one probe, I havn't thought much about using the light, I don't have a second probe for it but I do have an abundance of temp/humidity gauges so I have a few of them in this new glass setup. This room is fairly cold so I might need too use the heat lamp for ambient temps, but for my now my problem is pretty much solved, is it okay too keep the probe on the back side of the mat, that isn't the glue side, so basically taping the cord of the probe too the back side of the heat mat ? I've never worked with a heat mat befor.

I have a TSTAT probe between the mat and the glass just like described above. I also have a temperature probe under 1" of substrate inside the tank. I have it like this for the following reason. My TSTAT is set at 96 degrees. That's a little hot for a snake, but the temp probe on the inside setting on the glass is reading 91. The substrate will read 89-90 degrees. You loose a lot of heat through the glass. If your only using a TSTAT set at 90 or so, you are probably only at 85 on the substrate where the snake is actually laying. Just my 2 cents.