New T-stat! with temp question

First off, thanks to Matt G for the T-stat, it was well packaged, and very user friendly (Ranco). I was surprised to find out that the temp under the newspaper in Sir Hiss' tub was running about 122 F* to achieve a belly temp of 94*. Does this sound about right? I set the thing to kick off at 122 (94) and pick back up again at about 116 (92). It worked perfectly all through the night and I woke up to find a tub that wasn't at either 88 or 98 degrees! The piece of mind is awesome! I will say that I am using an Ultratherm UTH, and I like it (no stickyness, just sit it down on the stand), but the advertising slogan of theirs that states you don't need a T-stat because it won't get that hot is a big load of BS.

Anyway....let me know if something about this sounds off to you....thanks for the help. Thanks again Matt.

Well.. nowhere in a snake's tub should it be over 100 degrees like that.. how much newspaper are you using? The temp on the bottom of the tub should not be a dangerous temperature like you are saying it is.. the snake can get under the newspaper and burn itself.

Also.. set the thermostat to kick on/off at a one degree difference from your preferred temp, not six like you have it.

How are you taking your temperature measurements? Where is your probe located? How many layers of newspaper are you using?

I use a Ranco on my rack. I have it set on 100 deg with probe placement directly on the flexwatt to give a belly temp of 95 deg on the floor inside the enclosure below single layer of newspaper. AND I also have a 1/4" gap between the tubs and heating elements for air flow.

I don't know why you would have to set it so high. Please explain your setup a bit better :)

Oh and by the way.....To everyone that has a powerstrip on their thermostat....make sure you do not hit the off switch when cleaning....that gave me one hell of a scare last night....i thought the Tstat went out when it was just the switch on the powerstrip...

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

Oh and by the way.....To everyone that has a powerstrip on their thermostat....make sure you do not hit the off switch when cleaning....that gave me one hell of a scare last night....i thought the Tstat went out when it was just the switch on the powerstrip...

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I have several customers call in here every week telling me their thermostat does not work and it is their powerstrip that is off..lol..

I have 5 or six layers of newspaper, and half maybe .5-1 inch of aspen shavings on top of that. I don't see my bp getting under the paper, he has never went digging, and even if he did, it would be hard for him to get under the paper....i might go to less paper though I suppose that would help. I like to keep some paper under the aspen just for easy clean up.

BTW...probe placement is under the paper...inbetween the paper and tub.

sorry.....I am using accurite digital thermometers, I acually have one probe in the hot side hide , the rest of the unit on the cool side, and a probe in the cool side hide....(I had an extra thermometer, might as well use it.)

I use 1-2 sheets of newspaper and a small amount of aspen, and I only have to set the thermostat at 95 to generate a 93 temp. I notice I get hot spots if I don't fluff the aspen, but otherwise have no problems. Something's not right there. I agree with April you don't need such a wide difference in temps. Stick with a 1 degree difference and set the temp where you want it to stay.

Is this a rack or just a single tub? Is there any space between the floor, heat mat and the tub?

While it may be difficult for your snake to get under the newspaper, it certainly is not impossible! And if he does.. he WILL get burned. I certainly don't want to take that risk with mine.. and I only use 1-2 sheets of newspaper.. no aspen or anything.

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

Is this a rack or just a single tub? Is there any space between the floor, heat mat and the tub?

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single tub, there is space between the tub and mat....i think that less paper will fix the problem...I'm changing it out tonight...i'll know more tomorrow. Thanks for the help. I may abandon the aspen all together.