temperatures and thermostat Qs

Considering a glass cage setup with coconut husk substrate and a UTH:

There are 3 temperatures you can monitor.. the ambient air temperature, and the substrate temperature at both sides of the cage(cool and warm)

If you are using a thermostat, which temperature should it be regulating? Or do thermostats regulate multiple temperatures somehow?

Also, do UTHs really provide enough heat to get the ambient air temperature up to the low 80s?

The thermostat needs to be controlling the surface temps over the heating mat. Where the probe goes can vary from set-up to set-up...but making sure that particular surface doesn't get too hot is its primary job.

You can get a digital thermometer that measures two different temps at once as well as humidity. (Acu-rite brand from WalMart or hardware store) Place one probe at the warm end (I like mine under the hide since that's where the snake will spend most of its time) and place the unit itself in the corner of the cool end. The probe gives you the "outdoor" temp and the unit will measure the "indoor temp" and humidity where it is sitting.

Will the UTH be enough to raise ambient temps? That depends entirely on the room the cage is in. However, in MOST American homes that are kept cool for our comfort....no, it won't be enough. Especially for a glass tank. You may need an additional heat lamp on the cool end to keep things warm enough overall...which can cause havoc with your humidity levels, but can be dealt with.

You should probably get it all set up well before putting any animal in it, and let it run for awhile, tweaking as needed until you dial in those steady temps and humidity. :)

Technically the thermostat can only regulate 1 temperature. But if you have more than 1 identical UTH/Flexwatt like in a rack system that 1 thermostat can control the whole rack. Helix makes a unit that controls 4 heat sources I believe but it is a couple hundred bucks and not worth it if you only have 1 snake. Most people only monitor the warm side substrate and ambient temps, no need to monitor the cool sides substrate. Depending on the room that your tank is in the UTH may or may not keep the ambient above 80. You can just put in a heat lamp on a rheostat (ceramic, infrared, ect) to get the ambient up.

Judy beat me to it :P

For a heat lamp or ceramic heater in my glass tank:

What side should it heat up? The side with the UTH or the side without? Currently the water bowl is in the non-UTH side to keep bacteria growth down. I could see how being over the UTH side might create a too-hot side and a too-cold side. I could also see how being over the non-UTH side would help keep humidity up by evaporating water in the water bowl, but again then we have the bacteria growth problem.

I've got a spare heat lamp and 50W "moonlight" a.k.a black light Exo Terra bulb (a friend of mine heard I was getting a ball python and dumped a bunch of extra equipment he wasn't using anymore) so I'll put that on and see how that affects temps and humidity.

I'm actually running a more-humid-than-I-want tank right now, at about 80% humidity, so I'll see if I can't get a good balance of temp and humidity with a bit of work.

Also I can't find a rheostat or thermostat at the local target, going to have to look up where the nearest walmart is. I've only seen like.. one.. in Minnesota ever, since this is Target country.

Put the lamp (or CHE) on the "cool" side of the enclosure. Set it to maintain around 80 degrees. Then the UTH on the other side creates the warmer zone for the snake to choose when it wishes.

What sort of substrate are you using? If you've put in the coconut husk and its still wet, then the humidity will read very high...but will drop eventually as the stuff dries out. If you're using a dry substrate already....then adding a lamp may very well be helpful to you.

I wouldn't worry about the warmth causing bacteria growth in the bowl. You should be providing fresh water frequently anyhow.

You need to find a Home Depot or Lowes for the rheostat. I don't usually find them at WalMart.

thanks a ton JLC!