Where do you place your thermostat probe?

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Originally Posted by JasonGranger

Does it have to be foil tape? Or can you use duct or black electric?

I'm in the same area as liam_rokocoko; I'm getting a Johnsons thermostat soon, and using Flexwatt. I can tape the flexwatt to the surface I'm putting my tub on, then tape the probe to the flexwatt (the probe should be on top of the flexwatt, but underneath the tub, right? Because some of the flexwatt will be sticking out from the tub, in the open), put the tub on top of it, then just set the temperature to whatever it takes to get 83-93 in the tub, correct? So basically I can just lift the tub up to clean or whatever without having to drag a thermostat and flexwatt with me.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I like foil tape. It is an excellent adhesive tape. Electrical tape will fall off. You want to make sure that probe isn't dislodged from the heating element.

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Originally Posted by JasonGranger

Alright, I will get foil tape. ;)

So does my description sound okay?

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...that was weird.

I put the probe directly on the heat tape but what I also do is use a digital thermometer with a probe and tape the probe on the bottom of the enclosue directly over the heat source so i get a reading from my thermostat and an actual reading from my thermometer of what is going on in the snakes hot spot. The digital thermometers also have a high and low reading which i use to monitor :snake: adjust the thermostat. some also come with humidity hi-lo too which is helpful. I tape the themometer to the front of my tubs so i can see the temps at a glance.

My vote is inside the enclosure taped to the back or bottom. :D Of course my breeder buddy tapes them to his flexwatt and it works for him. So I suppose it depends on the enclosure and room variables. I have had better results with the probes inside the enclosure because that is what I want to monitor the temp on. It doesn't make sense to me to monitor the temp of the heating device when that completely changes after you count in airflow around the enclosure, thickness and type of material the enclosure is made out of and the constantly changing ambient temperature. If your flex watt is set at 95 and it reaches 95 degrees the heat inside the enclosure will definately still change in reaction to the ambient temperature changes. If it goes up 5 degrees in the room it could very well go up 5 in the enclosure. The thermostat won't adjust for that because it is keeping the flexwatt at its set temperature. If the probe is inside the enclosure (on the side closest to the heat source) I have found that the stat can do what its meant to do and that is keep the environment at the temperature necessary. Also if taped to the flexwatt sometimes you will see some wild swings (overshoots and undershoots by a degree or two) as it is stabilizing temps for the first couple of hours. With all that being said my buddy and I still happily disagree and apparently both ways can be implemented with success as his business thrives. Thats my story and I am stickin' to it. :D

Dion Brewington
Owner, Spyder Robotics

I was speaking to Jeff from Boaphile plastics today concerning the rack I ordered and the T-stat probe placement and he came up with something I never really thought about but was a legit concern.
Everyone seems to use foil tape to tape their probes to the flex or heat cable.
Foil tape conducts electricity. If you would ever have a small hole or opening in the flex or heat cable it could cause a problem w/ foil tape. He suggested and uses clear packing tape to hold probes in place.
Just a thought.

Mine is taped directly to the flexwatt, and then I use a separate thermometer to measure the temps in the tubs.

what if i use a che and uth to heat my tank, where should the probe go then? I want to control both of those heat sources. It seems like I want the stat to keep a constant temp where the snake will be laying. So i should place the stat probe near or in the hot side hide. Does this make any sense? I have a johnson control stat with a 6 plug power strip.

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Originally Posted by jotay

I was speaking to Jeff from Boaphile plastics today concerning the rack I ordered and the T-stat probe placement and he came up with something I never really thought about but was a legit concern.
Everyone seems to use foil tape to tape their probes to the flex or heat cable.
Foil tape conducts electricity. If you would ever have a small hole or opening in the flex or heat cable it could cause a problem w/ foil tape. He suggested and uses clear packing tape to hold probes in place.
Just a thought.

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That is what I use to tape my FW down to the rack. The main reason I used it was because it is thin.

So what would you do with a display cage such as a boaphile?

I can now post here I run a dummy tub for the probe. I tried on top of the substrate and on the flexwatt. Substrate made it to hot and the flexwatt not hot enough.

On top of heating element/UTH can cause a completely different / higher temperature so i put it on the substrate where my snake rests.

I have a boaphile with a Herpstat, and place the probe inside the cage taped to the floor over the flexiwatt. The boaphile is designed with a small air gap around the door for ventilation. The Herpstat probe cable fits perfectly through this gap, so I just run it through there.
You could drill a hole if you wanted :)

I put the probe directly on the heating element and here are the reasons

BP can move the probe around if it is in their enclosure and the probe is no longer above the heat source of the temp will shoot up.

Also if your BP urinate near or on the probe or tip his water dish, it cool down the probe and there again will make the temp shoot up.

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Originally Posted by GA_Ball_Pythons

I put the probe directly on the heating element and here are the reasons

BP can move the probe around if it is in their enclosure and the probe is no longer above the heat source of the temp will shoot up.

Also if your BP urinate near or on the probe or tip his water dish, it cool down the probe and there again will make the temp shoot up.

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There is the reasoning why people tape them down.

if you have a boaphile with the flexiwatt intalled by them, your temps shooting up due to some accident with the probe are less of a concern....the flexiwatt used is not powerful enough to seriously harm your snake. The Boaphile web site talks about this a bit.

definitely tape the probe in place though :)

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Originally Posted by fishmommy

if you have a boaphile with the flexiwatt intalled by them, your temps shooting up due to some accident with the probe are less of a concern....the flexiwatt used is not powerful enough to seriously harm your snake. The Boaphile web site talks about this a bit.

definitely tape the probe in place though :)

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I would like to see where he says that. He uses 11" - 20 watt flexwatt. Without regulation it can DEFINITELY reach dangerous temps that can cause thermal burns.

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Originally Posted by fishmommy

if you have a boaphile with the flexiwatt intalled by them, your temps shooting up due to some accident with the probe are less of a concern....the flexiwatt used is not powerful enough to seriously harm your snake. The Boaphile web site talks about this a bit.

definitely tape the probe in place though :)

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120* is something that could hard your snake I would say.

the cage installed flexiwatt is very low wattage, and the site preaches how safety is the reason. Not sure if I trusted it to be true, I did a test.
I ran mine wide open (plugged straight into the wall with no thermostat) for several days (no animal was living in the cage) and the floor surface temp over the heat source never got above 100 degrees. That's with no substrate & with the cage closed up tight.
I know that most heating solutions (including standard flexiwatt products) can cause serious and immediate harm if they go haywire. I'm just saying that in this case the risk has been minimzed by good design.
your mileage may vary :)

Someone posted on kingsnake the other day who had his probe placed in the bottom of one of the tubs. The probe got moved or whatever, flex watt got to hot melted the tub and killed a snake that was on a breeder loan.

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Originally Posted by biggc1

Someone posted on kingsnake the other day who had his probe placed in the bottom of one of the tubs. The probe got moved or whatever, flex watt got to hot melted the tub and killed a snake that was on a breeder loan.

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he was probably one of the ones who had it just laying there.

I too was contemplating where to place the therm probe. Bailey Reptiles has a pretty good picture if there is still confusion. It is in step 24 of the "how to build a rack" link. They talk about wrapping the probe to simulate the plastic of the tub that the heat needs to pass through. This may be useful in lowering the difference between what you need to set the thermostat at and what the temp actually is in the enclosure. Makes sense to me. Hope it helps someone.
Here's the link. :)

http://www.baileyreptiles.com/cb70rack.html

- Catie

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Originally Posted by sirhissball

My T-stat probe is under the newspaper substrate, taped to the bottom of the tub, directly underneath the warm hide.

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This to me would seem like one of the best ways, you think so? That way since the prob is taped to the bottom it wouldnt be able to move and you can set the thermostat accurately (maybe a little higher since the heat still has to go through the substrate). I am actually planning on building a rack today into the next couple days and I didn't really think about where I should be putting the probe, I just assumed that you put it on top of the substrate over the flexwatt heated area but didn't relize that the snake could easily just move it.

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Originally Posted by BaLLPAddICT

This to me would seem like one of the best ways, you think so? That way since the prob is taped to the bottom it wouldnt be able to move and you can set the thermostat accurately (maybe a little higher since the heat still has to go through the substrate). I am actually planning on building a rack today into the next couple days and I didn't really think about where I should be putting the probe, I just assumed that you put it on top of the substrate over the flexwatt heated area but didn't relize that the snake could easily just move it.

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I found that method flawed. Since most tubs do not sit 100% flat on the surface that they are set on, each tub will sag slightly as weight shifts in the individual tub.

For example, if you have a rack system with the thermostat probe taped to the bottom of the tub. Since the tubs sag slightly as the ball python's weight shifts.....If you have a heavy ball python lay on top of the probe and 'push it' closer to the heating element causing increased heat due to distance from the heating element and heat trapped between the snake and the heating element.....you will not end up with an even heating across the rack because the thermostat will adjust accordingly for what is happening in that tub ALONE.


Did that make any sence? ;)

Putting the probe directly on the heating element leaves for less error if setup properly.

Im suprised to see so many of you vote that you put the probe on the substrate, whats if the snake :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:s on it, or worse tips the water bowl... I dont think some of you know what the probe is for exactly. If water got on it, it would instantly cool, and you thermostat would kick on full power to try and heat the probe back up, even though your snakes are frying.

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Originally Posted by Subzero

Im suprised to see so many of you vote that you put the probe on the substrate, whats if the snake :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:s on it, or worse tips the water bowl... I dont think some of you know what the probe is for exactly. If water got on it, it would instantly cool, and you thermostat would kick on full power to try and heat the probe back up, even though your snakes are frying.

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Any good thermostat has safety precautions built in to stop that.

Yep, water messing up your temps [in most cases] isn't something to worry about. Unless your t-stat is old and unreliable, it should not be a problem. :)

I'm wondering about this too. I'm in the process of setting up my enclosure for the arrival of my first snake. It's a Ball Python and will be anywhere from 2 to 6 months old. The substrate I'm using is compressed coconut husk. The type of heating I'm using is an under the tank heating pad. Most people say to put the probe of the thermometer UNDER the substrate in the tank, right on the glass where the heating pad is. But wouldn't that be an inaccurate reading? Because the heat has to transfer through that 1 or 2 inches of substrate...so the surface temperature would be quite a bit cooler on top of the substrate than under the substrate right on the glass where the heater is.

So I would think the most accurate reading you could get would be having the probe right on top of the substrate in the enclosure...but then I'm trying to think of how that would work? The snake would probably move it around a lot.

Anyways...am I just crazy though or does anyone else see my point? I think having the probe under all the substrate would give you an inaccurate reading, because the temperature down there wouldn't be the temperature on top of the substrate.

Hi,


We know the point you mean.

But.

Your snake can burrow and it's important to make sure it cannot come into contact with temperatures that could damage it.

So the solutions we use are;

Place the probe outside of the tank so it gives an accurate reading and cannot be affected by the animal inside - most recomendations are to place it between the heat mat and the bottom of the glass tank. But use the therometer(s) to take the temp readings inside the tank both at the surface in the hot hide but also under the substrate next to the heating element.

Then adjust the depth of the substrate so that the surface temperatures can get to the correct levels without the under substrate readings being dangerously high.



dr del

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Originally Posted by Sausage

Yep, water messing up your temps [in most cases] isn't something to worry about. Unless your t-stat is old and unreliable, it should not be a problem. :)

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I don't think the original poster if referring to the probe shorting out by getting wet (in which case you are correct that if it did the thermostat should shut down) but I think he meant to say that water being put on the probe would cause the probe to register a lower temp (the water temp) and therefore turn the heating element on to raise the temp...if the water temp is significantly cooler then the heating element could be turned on for quite awhile risking a potential burn.

what about in the case of back-heated racks (such as the 15qts from RBI)? Should i tape the probe to the Flexwatt?

when users mention using foil tape to tape down the probe, are they wrapping the probe itself in foil tape and then taping it down to the heatsoure? or just taping the probe to the heat source using foil tape?

Hi,

the latter - just using the heat resistant tape to hold it in place.


dr del

I put mine over the heat tape in a spare tub in one of my racks. I always see that a lot of people tape it directly to the flexwatt, but that only keeps the tape consistant. What about changes in ambient room temperature? Why not just use a rheostat, since the temperature of the tape doesn't change with changes in ambient temperature? If you have the probe on the tape, and the floor of the tub reads 95 at a room temp. of 73 degrees, doesn't your hot spot hit 98 if the room temperature hits 76 degrees?

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

I put mine over the heat tape in a spare tub in one of my racks. I always see that a lot of people tape it directly to the flexwatt, but that only keeps the tape consistant. What about changes in ambient room temperature? Why not just use a rheostat, since the temperature of the tape doesn't change with changes in ambient temperature? If you have the probe on the tape, and the floor of the tub reads 95 at a room temp. of 73 degrees, doesn't your hot spot hit 98 if the room temperature hits 76 degrees?

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well yes and no. i put mine on the tape on belly heat racks and set the temp by the temp inside the tub so say i set my therm. at 95 it wont be 95 in the tub but maybe 89 then i adjust fro my liking.

on backheat models iput my probe about aninch or so from the flexwatt and set it towhat i want the tempinside should be.

its always a plus to have a temp gun, especially with racks

I put the probes directly on the heat tape secured with foil tape. I do make sure to not cover the actual probe with the tape.

On the substrate inside the hide. It is easy to prevent movement of the probe by anchoring the wire a few inches away.

My Helix probe is taped right to the flex watt on my rack systems and on my 3 cages. Works like a charm!

You don't need to compensate for heat making it up through the substrate. Your snake will burrow down in the substrate if it feels the need for additional heat. You do not want to overheat the bottom surface of your enclosure just to make the substrate surface your desired temp. You do not want any part of your enclosure that your snake can possibly come in contact with getting over your desired temp. Just dial in your bottom hot side surface (not substrate surface) and your ambient temps and your good to go.

I have my probe foil taped to the inside bottom of my enclosure directly under the hot side hide with about 3/4" of substrate over it. The surface of the substrate reads about 89/90 while the bottom of the enclosure reads about 95. If he needs the additional heat he'll burrow down.

I'm going to be taping my thermostat to the bottom of the tub, beneath the substrate. I was thinking of putting a thin piece of rubber flat over the probe, and then taping the rubber down with foil tape. This would prevent water ever coming in contact with the probe. Do you think this idea would be effective?

tape could be problematic if it comes loose... I just put the thermostat probe on the outside between the flex watt and tub, monitored for a few days with my thermometre's probe inside the tub under the paper towel and then worked out that there's about a 2-3 degree difference and just adjusted my herpstat accordingly.

Ok so I'm getting my first snake tonight (ball python) and I have a repti therm U.T.H but how do I know it is at the right temp? and if I find if it is not what do I do? If I go and buy one of these thermostats and place it on the heater will that work just like the tape u are describing? And how much do these thermostats cost?

:taz: Confused :snake:

Hi there, :colbert2:

:welcome: to the site.

Our caresheet should help answer a lot fo the basic questions for you and , once you've read that just ask us if theres anything you need explained or want more help with. :)

Oh and remember and take some pictures to share with us before he begins his week long no handling settling in period please. :please:


dr del

I don't even use a probe anymore. I bought a temp gun and that thing is a godsend.

Is it possible to put your probe between the UTH and the glass? I didn't want to because I wasn't sure if the UTH would heat properly like that.

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Originally Posted by V1L3 DiaL3cT

I don't even use a probe anymore. I bought a temp gun and that thing is a godsend.

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How do you adjust the temps in your tank without havng a thermostat probe? A temp gun is great for instant surface readings but unless you plan on sitting by your enclosure 24/7 with your temp gun I don't see how just using a temp gun will work.

Definetly put the probe on the element, it gives you an exact temp reading. At least you will no what temps your putting out.

I put mine in a small prescription drug tube. I drilled a hole in the top, then stuck the probe through, then foil taped the lid. Thia way the probe isnt touching any plastic, its dangling in the air of the tube. That way I can tape the tube to the flexwatt and get a reading of the air inside the tube instead of the plastic...Afterall, I need to know my snake is in a warm environment, not in warm plastic. I found that taping the probe directly to the flexwatt causes artificial high reading and teh thermostat doesnt heat the tub appropirately. the thermostat may read 105* and the tub is at 79*...so, I tried this method and noe the tub and the therm are right on par...

I use velcro on the glass right above the UTH, under the cage liner. Once you stick this velcro on, it does not come off with ease. I wrapped a peice of velcro around the base of the probe then stuck it on. I have a second probe that I can move around to double check temps such as directly on the UTH underneith the tank and the temp inside my warm hide. I am dying to get a helix though:( I gota find the extra money.