Help please! My ball's belly is flaky and scales are coming off individually

If you have a UTH, you must regulate it either with a dimmer or a thermostat (the latter being preffered). I have used both and they both suit my needs, although the thermostat is most convenient.

Here is the dimmer you can get at the home depot: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...10000003+90401

You just plug your UTH into it and use the dial to get the UTH to the proper temp.

Here is a thermostat that I have used and has worked well for me. It is nothing fancy though. http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=75

Keep in mind you MUST use a thermometer with a probe to measure the temperature of the UTH to make sure it is right. The little stick on dial things are un-reliable and usually off by as much as 10 degrees.

that dimmer will do just fine.

A few things to note when using a dimmer... it does not regulate. It provides a steady amount of power.

So if it hits the right temp but is not stabilized, that is not to say your cage temps will not continue to creep up.

If the temp in your room drops by five degrees, the temps in your cage will drop by five degrees. If they raise, same thing.

A thermostat will measure the temps in your cage, and will either dim itself or shut off when the temps hit the right range. Proportional thermostats will dim and on/off thermos will shut off.

I would onlly use a dimmer in a room that had constant temps.

I use a heater in my snake room that has a thermostat attached to it, to keep my ambient room temps at 80 degrees, and I use another to keep the hot end UTH of the enclosures at 90 degrees.

Bruce

Thanks, everyone! I am probably going to get a thermostat because the temps in my dorm are very unpredictable. How about the stick-on dial hygrometers? Are they usually pretty accurate or should I get something better?

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Originally Posted by vonnegut

Thanks, everyone! I am probably going to get a thermostat because the temps in my dorm are very unpredictable. How about the stick-on dial hygrometers? Are they usually pretty accurate or should I get something better?

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you can pick up an acu-temp hydra/thermometer from wal-mart or home depot for about $15

ideally you would get 2 digital thermometers with probes mouth them both under the substrate one on hot side on the glass over the UTH one on the cold side and get a separate digital hydrometer and mount it center tank about an inch above the substrate. the acu-temp thermometers have a hydrometer on it too but measuring humidity from under the substrate will be inaccurate.

anything with a dial or needle or those stick on temperature gradient stickers are all highly inaccurate and should barely b trusted with ambiant air temperature.