UTH wont heat

I just bought a uth by zoo med for the redtail boa. 60 gallon size since that is what I have her in with hides and water dishes, and screen covered. Had the heater on 24 hours and its not heating up the tank at all....i have jungle bedding right now and she's been on the cool side since i put the pad on. I mean the hot side feels maybe 3 degrees hotter and even measures that. It wont get over 83 or so on the warm side and I know this to cold for her warm side. I even put a heat lamp on the warm side for her to help and its still way to cool. I moved hte bedding and its warm on the glass but not hot. Only about a quarter of an inch of bedding also so i know its not to much not letting the heat up. What am I doing wrong???

Cover the screen except for an inch or so.

the uth will not increase the ambient temps by much. uths will only create a surface temperature. to raise the ambient temperature you have to use a heat lamp or space heater. if youre already using a heat lamp then you have to increase the wattage of the bulb. a 60 gallon tank will be hard to heat you may even need two heat lamps. a high watt bulb on the hot side and a lower wattage bulb on the cool side. hope this helps you out!

The ground temp on the tank is in the 80's. I know it wont heat the ambient to much which is why I have the lamp on already. And the screen is covered except for where the lamp is right now. I have a 60 watt bulb infared lamp on the hot side now since that is all the hood allowed as a max. I will be getting another lamp for the cool side today though.

How thick is the bedding? How thick is the glass on the tank? What type of surface is the tank sitting on, or it is on a stand?

If your bedding is more than 1/2", it's going to insulate the heat away from the surface of the bedding, and it won't work properly.

I personally use newspaper for my boa, since she pees like a racehorse and has bowel movements like no rottweiler I've ever seen. Just easier to keep things clean and I don't have to go hunting for it.

The bedding is about a quarter of an inch on the jungle bedding stuff we found at the petstore. The tank is on an aquarium stand but is lifed like an inch up os the excess heat can excape from the bottom. Im not sure how thick the glass is though but doesnt seem thick

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Originally Posted by Flirtycuddle

The bedding is about a quarter of an inch on the jungle bedding stuff we found at the petstore. The tank is on an aquarium stand but is lifed like an inch up os the excess heat can excape from the bottom. Im not sure how thick the glass is though but doesnt seem thick

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That might be part of your problem right there. You want SOME space beneath the heat source too allow for ventilation of excess heat...but if you have too much, you'll be losing most of your heat to the air beneath the tank. A mere 1/4 inch is plenty of space and will allow more of the heat to reflect back up where it belongs.

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Originally Posted by Flirtycuddle

I have a 60 watt bulb infared lamp on the hot side now since that is all the hood allowed as a max. I will be getting another lamp for the cool side today though.

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a 60 watt alone for a 60 gallon is way to low to get the high temps needed. just buy a new fixture and higher wattage bulb for the hot side and put the old fixture with the 60 watt bulb on the cool side and see how that works for you.

Go to Home depot, Lowe's etc.. pick up something called reflectix * it looks like aluminium bubble wrap. It's purpose is to either keep heat in, or keep it out. Put the uth under the tank, then take the reflectix and tape it over the UTH should work like a charm.