problem with heating

I am having trouble getting the temperature up to where it needs to be in my 20L. I was using a reptitherm uth rated for 10-20g but it only got the temps up to the mid 70s. So I took it back and got the one rated for 30-40g and the temperature is right around 83 and thats on the warm side but on the cool side its in the low 70s. I have a thermometer with a probe and these temps I took were right on the substrate. I stuck the probe down into the substrate on the warm side and it gets up into the 110 area so I know its working. I have about a 2" layer of aspen. What can I do to get the temps up? Should I get a different substrate or take some of my current one out? Should I get a light but what would I do at night when I have to turn it off?

thanks,
steve

i would use less substrate or switch to paper and see. also you might need to get a heat pad for the cool side too. use a thermostat! could you post pics of the setup? what are the temps in the room the tank is in?


vaughn

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kavmon

i would use less substrate or switch to paper and see. also you might need to get a heat pad for the cool side too. use a thermostat! could you post pics of the setup? what are the temps in the room the tank is in?


vaughn

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Ok I took out some substrate so there is about an inch of it. Would a thermostat really help? Because the temps arent even close to what they need to be and even further from being to hot. Its about 70 in the room.

I would definitely get a thermostat. Although it may not be warm enough in the enclosure at this point, if your snake burrows down into the substrate to try to get warmer, you risk the possibility of him getting burned.

i consider a thermostat a must have. they really work and control the temps. think about this, you're making a little house for your snake. how do you/we control temps in our homes? we use a heating system and a thermostat! the same works for reptile homes. the proper heating source regulated by a thermostat. you might need a bigger heat pad or go to flexwatt(heat tape).


vaughn

A thermostat will not make the temps hotter if the heating element is not hot enough. A stat will keep an element from getting to hot:)

When I had my bp in a 20L I first had a uth that covered about 1/3 of the bottom ( not sure which size that is) and I used a few sheets of newspaper then a very thin layer of of repti-bark along w/ a t-stat w/ probe and it kept it at around 90-93 but I also on the cool side used a heat lamp w/ a 50 watt red bulb as the uth was not nearly enough to keep the temps correct. I also had the lamp on a dimmer switch for a while but this takes a lot of monitoring so I switch to a t-stat on that also and it then would go on and off as needed.
I also covered the screen top w/ black duct tape leaving just a area cut out that was about 1/2" larger than the bottom of the lamp.
This kept temps at about 90-93 in the hotside hide and 80-83 in the cool side hide and about 84 overall.