How Long Does It Take For A UTH To Heat Up

ok i plugged it in a hour ago i think but the substrate isnt hot on top its moist though i have 2 inches of aspen bedding in there btw.

We bought ours last week, and it took a few hours to fully heat up. :)

thanks i was worried

First off, Flexwatt heats up to a good temp in a matter of SECONDS. But will take an HOUR or TWO to stabilize.

You need to be measuring your temps INSIDE the enclosure UNDERNEATH the substrate. and controlling the temps OUTSIDE the enclosure with your thermostat's probe.

Get the hot spot up to 92-94.

Obviously your temps on top of your substrate will be a little lower, but NO SPOT in the enclosure should ever get hotter than 95.

Cut the substrate down to MAYBE an INCH or a little less. If your getting 94 degrees on top of your substrate, your gonna cook a snake once he reaches the bottom of the enclosure.

IF your snake wants to warm up, they'll find the heat:D

Also, using a hand to judge relative temperature doesn't work so well as it's not comparable with actual temp that the snake's receiving.

Just installed 2 MedZoo UTH today on my 40g tank. I have the hot side dialed down with a rheostat to 95 degrees. It took the UTH about 3 minutes to come up to temp in a 78 degree room.

also is it ok to peel the white part off and stick it on the tub and it has been a day and the heat hasnt gone through the tub

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Originally Posted by DarkComeSoon

also is it ok to peel the white part off and stick it on the tub and it has been a day and the heat hasnt gone through the tub

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Better idea so you can reuse the UTH and move it around:

Remove white paper backing. Cover stickiness with foil tape.
Then, just use more foil tape to attach the UTH to the bottom of the tank.

It should have warmed up by now. Is it on a thermostat or rheostat? What are the temps reading?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DarkComeSoon

also is it ok to peel the white part off and stick it on the tub and it has been a day and the heat hasnt gone through the tub

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What are you using to measure temps. Also, if you have too much substrate and no air circulation under the UTH it won't heat up properly.

I bought a boaphile enclosure once with the UTH add-on for like $15. I felt ripped off because for that much money I was expecting something more than flexwatt tape. I plugged it in and waited all night, even right against the plastic it never got above 75 degrees. I could feel it was very slightly warmer than the unheated plastic, but not at all a significant change in temperature. Sucked. I don't know if it was wired wrong or what, but I tore it off and switched it with a zoomed heat pad which worked awesome, it was HOT to the touch in just a few minutes. The hot spot on the ground stays at a nice comfortable 95 degrees now. That was fairly pricey though. What kind of heater do you use?