Temps

Hey guys I am having some money issue and so I can not afford an thermstat anytime soon. Probably in the next two weeks to 4 weeks but not nwo unfortunatly. My heat levels are about 80 cool/90-95 hot during the day. 80/hot/75 cold at night. Humidity levels are constant and good although due to a humidifier I have set up. I am wonderign if there is an issue with ym heat levesl as without the stat it is almost impossible to get heating right. My snake already had a feeding and she seems to be doing fine so far.

the problem with having a uncontrolled heat source is the risk that the UTH could spike and reach harmful levels. even if it reads 90-95 on the hot side, it could possibly be hotter then that and burn the snake. not to mention that 90-95 is a rather large temp swing, and dropping to the mid 70's at night is dangerous. the least you could do is get a rheostat (lamp dimmer) from lowes for $10. this will keep the temps from hitting high levels but with fluctuating room temps you're gonna be checking the temps constantly.

if you don't have the money for a thermostat, what happens if the snake gets an RI or gets burned... can you afford the vet bills? those are going to be a lot higher then the $75 for a thermostat.

once my temp bill issue finishes out I will have all the monety the snake needs as I am thinking of upgrading her tank and getting all gear needed but right now my main concern is with what is going on right now. After I deal with what is going I will be fine. She does not seme to mind anythign as she is very very healthy so far. I had her taken to a vet a couple days ago for free from a friend who is a rep vet here in utah. She said she was nice and healthy and all that. Can anyone give me some advice on what to do rather then make me feel liek I am doing something wrong please? Any CONSTRUCTIVE help would be nice. thank you

i don't mean to sound rude or anything, and i understand that things come up and money can be tight. i just wanted to put things in perspective.

i would say get a lamp dimmer from home depot or lowes. the UTH plug right in to it and then plus it into the wall. you can adjust the power the UTH will receive which in turn will lower the temps. i would say this is a top priority.

when then money things get settled, hit up Rich at reptilebasics.com for a nice Johnson Control, or a Ranco. until then a lamp dimmer and a nice layer of substrate will do wonders.

again i hope i didn't offend you or anything like that... i was just trying to help.

Hi,


Just wanted to ask why does it drop at night again? ( my memory isn't what it once was) Is it just ambient room temps dropping or something else?


dr del

I am sorry kagez. I am having a hell fo a day at work. I was trying to edit that post but the time limit ran out. I meant to say thank you for the advice. I will do that tonight. I am checking on her temp and such every 20-30 minutes when I am home to make sure she is alright. That includes a probe temp check of her sub also to avoid belly burn. Once again soryr about that.

I am nto sure why the temp drops it just does. I have been keppignt he house pretty normal for temp and such. The day gets hot as hades but at night ti can drop. I have AC going on in living room only pretty much. I have been trying to figure that out myself.

What are you using for heat sources?


Heat pad?, Lights? Ceramic Heater? Are you shutting them off at night?

Yes I am shutting the heat lmap I have off at night. I am using an UTH with no regulator on it on hot side and as I said a single heat lmap with blue bulb.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tripppysmurf

Yes I am shutting the heat lmap I have off at night. .

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Well that explains your night temp drop. Why not switch to a CHE that you could leave on all the time? This would stabalize your night temps. As a trick you can regulate the tank temp by how high up to place the CHE over the tank. The further away the lower the temp the closer the higher...you can tweak it from there. This is just a short term stop gap till you could get a thermostat.