Almost had a MAJOR disaster...

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Originally Posted by Danounet

Good god, I have always wondered what is it like to live away from the city in a nice place away from that many other people and make all the noise you could ever want and what not... But I never realised how annoying it would be if you need a last minute thing... lol

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It's actually the opposite problem... I live IN the city, and Walmart is only in the boonies. We don't believe in Walmarts here in San Francisco, for what reason I have no idea. :weirdface But I guarantee it would be protested constantly, which is why they're all waaaaaay far from us. The closest one is in Hayward, which is across the bridge (leaving SF) plus another 15 miles south.

P.S. As I mentioned above, we also don't have a lot of "big-box" stores in the city, probably due to lack of space... so even Lowes & Home Depot are a good 20-minute drive away! It's easier to find head shops & adult video stores than a hardware store in the city, LOL.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Btw, will aluminum tape hold down the probe securely? Is that what you all use?

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Yes, that is the only type of tape that I will use for my flexwatt and probes.

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

Yes, that is the only type of tape that I will use for my flexwatt and probes.

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Right on... the packaging on the electrical tape claimed it did the same thing, but clearly that is not so. :colbert:

I went through the same sort of thing a couple of weeks ago where the probe became dislodged and temps shot up to 100-108. Had the thermostat dialed waaaaayyy down, and took me awhile to realize that the probe was the culprit. I also check that AcuRite at least a dozen times a day.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Right on... the packaging on the electrical tape claimed it did the same thing, but clearly that is not so. :colbert:

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The electrical tape isn't intended to deal with the heat. It's mainly for insulating from current. The aluminum tape is intended to stay secured even with the heat. It's used on heating and air ducts as well sometime, so it had better stay put! :P

That's all I have keeping my probe down and it stays just fine.

This exact thing happened to me today. Tubs were at 120 when I checked this morning and sure enough the probe fell off the heat tape when I pushed a tub back in :/

Fortunately, everyone is fine.

So as I understand it your probe sits under one of your tubs on top of the flexwatt?

If so, this is the solution I came up with as I used to have my rack set up that way.

I made a notch in the shelving for the probe and then taped the probe to the underneath of the flexwatt using aluminum tape, then taped the heat pad back down on the shelf so it lays completely flat.

By doing this it is impossible for the probe to ever move!

It is important to completely cover the probe with foil tape when taping it to the heat pad. I originally just placed the probe in the notch without taping it to the flexwatt and I noticed my temps were not as consistent as I wanted. Foil tapping the probe directly to the bottom of ther flexwatt and then positioning the flexwatt with the probe taped to it so that the probe sits in the notch has made my temps very consistent with no worries of the probe ever moving.

P.S: I used a dremel with a drill bit to carve a notch

Good idea, Chad! I'm planning to re-drill the shelves anyway (to go lid-less), so maybe I'll try to do that. :gj:

Btw, I tried to get some aluminum tape today at Office Max, since I was in that neighborhood... they didn't have any, so I'll have to schlep to Lowe's tomorrow. And in a weird twist, the near-disaster actually helped my tubs by warming up the ambient temps! I've always had trouble keeping them high enough, since my house is super cold... but now Mona's Acu-rite is reading 80/90, so maybe the incident was a good thing. :D

Thanks for sharing the story:) I have my wife check a couple times a day while I am at work as well. My best advice is directly on the heat tape and get the probe off to the side the best as possible to make sure tubs etc do not knock loose. The electrical tape is a great idea. Secure the sucker down, I personally do not tape the probe totally under the tape, i think this allows that area to give a false heat reading, I let the front tip of the probe be free from tape.

In aquariums I had really good luck hiding the probe in the hide under the bedding. This requires some attention but for the most part worked very well. I have seen probes on sides of tubs and aquariums and this does not give a true temp reading where we most need it, and that is the surface reading where the ball python lays.

It does no good to have a 94 tub bottem reading and then put paper, aspen or bedding of choice so thick that their belly heat is 86...Anyways I am getting off topic lol.

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Originally Posted by Patricia

I went through the same sort of thing a couple of weeks ago where the probe became dislodged and temps shot up to 100-108. Had the thermostat dialed waaaaayyy down, and took me awhile to realize that the probe was the culprit. I also check that AcuRite at least a dozen times a day.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

This exact thing happened to me today. Tubs were at 120 when I checked this morning and sure enough the probe fell off the heat tape when I pushed a tub back in :/

Fortunately, everyone is fine.

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Glad to hear I'm not the only one this has happened to... also glad everyone's snakes survived! :)