Safely securing digital probe?

That should work fine. I would not use electrical tape as it becomes brittle and lets go after some time. Aluminum foil tape works best IMHO.

I guess I could check the hardware store tomorrow. The grocery store I went to only had the electrical, I don't live right in town. Would the electrical tape work in the short term?

Now I'm totally confused...I have a Tstat that one probe is on hot side, hangs down near floor near uth, the overhead lamp (heat only) and the uth are Plugged into Tstat. It keeps warm side ambient and uth at 90f. I monitor cool side to between 80-83f and have prob that measures cool side temp and humidity 60-70. Is this correct?


Molly & Precioucess

Just to clarify, do you mean you have both the thermometer sensor and the thermostat sensor under the hot hide with the actual thermometer reading room temperature on the cool side? If so, and keep in mind I am also new to this, but what everyone has told me thus far is that because snakes often burrow to get up against the warmest part of the tank (the bare glass) it can be a danger to have the thermostat inside the tank. Basically what can happen is the snake can knock the thermostat loose which will make it thing the glass temp has dropped. This will in turn cause it to heat up the heat mat to try to get the temperature right, but since the thermostat is no longer reading the glass it will just keep heating and heating until the glass gets dangerously hot. In other words, the thermostat has to be against the heat mat somewhere that it will not get bumped or other dislodged. Although you would eventually notice if this happened, the thermometer reading would spike, if you work or are ever gone for large portions of the day it could happen when you are not home to notice and by the time you realized it could be too late.

It is never safe to put tape or hooks of any kind inside the terrarium so the safest and most stable method is to secure the thermostat probe outside the tank in direct contact with the heat mat so that you are measuring the absolute hottest point. This way the snake can burrow as much as he likes with no risk of overheating and thermal burns. Just make sure you have enough elevation and clearance under the tank that there isn't any pressure on the thermostat cable running underneath it and that you use some kind of insulated tape that will not melt or otherwise be compromised. :)