regulating temps in the hides!! need help

I have a few questions....after countless times last night checking and re-checking temps in our sterilite 40 gall (1986?) I kept finding that our temps were too hot on the bottom especially in the hides. They obviously trap the heat. Do any of you have problems with the hides being much warmer than the surface temps surrounding them?



After numerous attempts to get my temps right on (using acurite digital) I ended up moving the zoo-med heat pad (temp. until my order from Matt comes) to on top of the lid. There is a towel between the pad and the lid. The surface on the warm side reads 86 and the cool side 78. I know I have to get the temps up and I have asked my husband to put a blanket over the lid as well.



Does this seem OK? I know everyone talks about belly heat so I was reluctant putting it on top. I also added a space heater to the room so it will be consistent at 75.



One more question, when I get my flex watt, should you elevate the tub a little and if so is the added air flow supposed to increase temps or bring them down b/c with all my trials and errors I couldn't get anything consistent.



Gee....I haven't worried this much since my children were born and I finally have my 18 month sleeping well and here I am back up at 2 and 3 in the am worrying about temps!!!



Thanks for all the help, Gee our newbie questions can be exasperating

temps will be a little bit warmer inside the hides than on the floor of the tub. I was having the same problem a little while ago, the hot side hide was consistently 5-6 degrees warmer than the floor of the tub. I drilled some holes in it for ventilation. My BP doesn't seem to mind it, he still uses it regularly, and it fixed the problem.

What are you using to regulate the temps of the UTH? If you have a thermostat (or worst case, a rheostat) you can safely put the Sterilite container right on the heat pad. Attach the thermostat probe right to the UTH and the thermometer probe right to the floor of the tub. Then make your adjustments based on the actual floor temperature. That is where you want you 90-94 hot spot. Hope this helps and doesn't confuse further!

Jamie

I put my thermometer probe right inside of the warm hide. Most BPs spend most of their time in the hides anyway.

i have this problem on my hot hide. so i placed a single layer of a towel under the hide and aspen. the extra thickness of the subsrate brought the temps down in the hide.