Tub Questions

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

As for the little girl, I got her as a hatchling in February, so she's around 6-7 months old & ~350g currently. She is a very picky eater, so her growth was slow at first.

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Holy guacamole, our Patriot is about the same age and all of 140g (well, that's AFTER the poop, LOL!) From the sounds of it, he wasn't fed enough this entire little life and is gradually catching up here with us.

Your snakes are BEAUTIFUL! Mona looks like she's 10 feet long! :O :gj:

(I didn't know snakes require so little air. I need to familiarize myself with their physiology. Thanks!)

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Originally Posted by Patricia

Holy guacamole, our Patriot is about the same age and all of 140g (well, that's AFTER the poop, LOL!) From the sounds of it, he wasn't fed enough this entire little life and is gradually catching up here with us.

Your snakes are BEAUTIFUL! Mona looks like she's 10 feet long! :O :gj:

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Muchas gracias! :) She (Mona) is huge, isn't she? I might be a little off on Delilah's age, because she was over 100g when we got her. As for Toby, he was around 150g in May, and has more than doubled since then! He's a total pig, so I expect he will reach breeding size by winter. Here he is, in case you haven't seen before:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/DSCF6022.jpg

OK lady, what super-snake-food are you feeding them? Toby looks 10 feet long too, with nothing to judge his size by, LOL!

Have you been able to get all 3 of them draped on you for a picture? That would be pretty neat, if doable. :)

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Originally Posted by Patricia

Holy guacamole, our Patriot is about the same age and all of 140g (well, that's AFTER the poop, LOL!) From the sounds of it, he wasn't fed enough this entire little life and is gradually catching up here with us.

Your snakes are BEAUTIFUL! Mona looks like she's 10 feet long! :O :gj:

(I didn't know snakes require so little air. I need to familiarize myself with their physiology. Thanks!)

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I know how you feel. I just got a 1 year and 2 month old Male axanthic last week. His weight was 296g when I put him in my scale for the first time. Im trying to fatten him up!

As far as the oxygen thing goes. I didnt know either untill recently :P. Like you already know, we learn alot of things here in these wonderful boards. :D

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Originally Posted by Danounet

I see, I wonder how big a male would get compared to her size :).

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Males are generally much smaller - usually more like 1500g full-grown, but I think a few people here have boys over 2000g. Since Mona is still relatively young and just had a clutch, she could get even bigger in the future.

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I dont know why, but for some reason I find female pets have more personality than males. Ive had female dogs all my life, and just one male dog. And in the case of balls, the females get bigger, which is a plus for me :D

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I've always favored the girls too, but it depends on the species. Female cats tend to be more independent and intelligent, whereas the males are usually very affectionate... so it just depends on what type of personality you like! Snakes are a different story, especially if you plan to breed, since it takes a while to get the females large enough. Not sure about personality, since my boy is actually the friendliest so far. :)

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Originally Posted by Patricia

OK lady, what super-snake-food are you feeding them? Toby looks 10 feet long too, with nothing to judge his size by, LOL!

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LOL... he will literally eat anything, but currently gets rat weanlings. People always think he's huge from the pictures, for some reason. :confused: Here's a picture of him on myself, and I am a fairly average-sized 5'6" woman:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...0090712_11.jpg

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Have you been able to get all 3 of them draped on you for a picture? That would be pretty neat, if doable. :)

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Oh, I would LOVE to get a picture with all three! Maybe I'll ask my roommate to take one later... :gj:

Lol because he looks huge in that pic, I guess it is a real good close up picture :gj:

In the begining I didnt want a blushed pastel. I wanted a lemon with no blushing and high yellow and pitch black.

Now my pastel is growing. His bright yellow got a little dull, but looks good still. and he has a lot of blushing now. Almost no pitch black back. But I actualy like it that way now. His blushing is growing into me :D.

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Originally Posted by Danounet

Lol because he looks huge in that pic, I guess it is a real good close up picture :gj:

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I usually keep the macro setting on for snake pictures, even when I'm not too close up... their scales just look much better that way. :)

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In the begining I didnt want a blushed pastel. I wanted a lemon with no blushing and high yellow and pitch black.

Now my pastel is growing. His bright yellow got a little dull, but looks good still. and he has a lot of blushing now. Almost no pitch black back. But I actualy like it that way now. His blushing is growing into me :D.

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I love a high-blushed pastel! I adore Toby's coloring, and can't wait to get him a pastel girlfriend... I might even breed him back to an offspring, since that would make KILLER super pastels.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

I usually keep the macro setting on for snake pictures, even when I'm not too close up... their scales just look much better that way. :)



I love a high-blushed pastel! I adore Toby's coloring, and can't wait to get him a pastel girlfriend... I might even breed him back to an offspring, since that would make KILLER super pastels.

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I have no Idea what a macro setting is. Maybe a camera thing. I have a camera but I dont know much about it. Other than pressing the button to take a pic and taking videos and transfering them to my PC :P

I am thinking the same thing for my pastel. :)

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Originally Posted by mrshawt

I've never seen artist's tape before, what's it like?

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Its basically low tack tape. You can put it on paper and then take it off and replace it without ripping the paper.

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Originally Posted by Danounet

I have no Idea what a macro setting is. Maybe a camera thing.

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Macro is a great thing! Want a picture of your entire snake? Just stand back and click. Want a picture of just an eye filling the frame? Set it to macro and the camera only a few inches away, then click. Voila! Macro is for super-duper close ups! (It's usually a flower icon on many cameras, i.e. getting a close up of a flower.)

Of course, you don't want a flash going off inches away from any eye. Just used that as a distance 'n' detail example. I must've already taken over 200 photos of Patriot.

http://bestsmileys.com/camera/4.gif

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Originally Posted by Danounet

I have no Idea what a macro setting is. Maybe a camera thing. I have a camera but I dont know much about it. Other than pressing the button to take a pic and taking videos and transfering them to my PC :P

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LOL... macro is a camera setting, which I just discovered is on my point-and-shoot (I thought they were only on SLR cameras). Basically it's a setting for close-up shots, and makes every detail look sharper. Here is an example:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...s/DSCF5676.jpg

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I am thinking the same thing for my pastel. :)

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Here's to SUPER super pastels in both of our futures... :please:

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Originally Posted by Patricia

I must've already taken over 200 photos of Patriot.

http://bestsmileys.com/camera/4.gif

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Oh geez... I can't even count how many I've taken of my snakes! :oops::D

A little update on the tubs: I couldn't get Mona's tub warm enough, even with the bigger UTH! The spot where I was keeping her is too darned cold, so I just moved her to another part of the room... now it's closer to the right temps, but still lower than it should be (around 80/84 last I checked). Looks like I'll have to find a better spot, probably upstairs rather than downstairs in my freezing bedroom. But the humidity is REALLY high, which is a good thing for now - since I noticed her shed is finally starting to peel. I'll leave that alone until the shed is done, and then will add more holes to lower it. Thanks everyone for the help! :)

P.S. I also moved Delilah into her tub, and she seems okay so far.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

A little update on the tubs: I couldn't get Mona's tub warm enough, even with the bigger UTH! The spot where I was keeping her is too darned cold, so I just moved her to another part of the room... now it's closer to the right temps, but still lower than it should be (around 80/84 last I checked). Looks like I'll have to find a better spot, probably upstairs rather than downstairs in my freezing bedroom. But the humidity is REALLY high, which is a good thing for now - since I noticed her shed is finally starting to peel. I'll leave that alone until the shed is done, and then will add more holes to lower it. Thanks everyone for the help! :)

P.S. I also moved Delilah into her tub, and she seems okay so far.

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Maybe get a smaller UTH for the cold side?

My camera has an "auto" mode and thats what I leave it on when taking pictures. I do see the "flower" setting lol! I'm gonna go try it :)

P.S: If only my dad saw me playing with the "flower" setting...

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

I couldn't get Mona's tub warm enough, even with the bigger UTH! The spot where I was keeping her is too darned cold, so I just moved her to another part of the room.

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Even with the ReptiTemp controlling the UTH, I've noticed a fluctuation in that high temp by several degrees solely due to whether or not the window is open! (It's often windy here, so it's a cold, ocean breeze that comes through that window.)

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My camera has an "auto" mode and thats what I leave it on when taking pictures. I do see the "flower" setting lol! I'm gonna go try it

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When that Auto mode doesn't give you that green box or green light when you press the button halfway down to focus, that usually means the camera is too close. Push that Macro button and then the camera can focus. :)

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Originally Posted by Danounet

Maybe get a smaller UTH for the cold side?

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I might have to... even with moving the tub to a warmer spot, it's about 8 degrees too cold. I'll try one more place in the house (upstairs), and if that doesn't work I will add another UTH. Oy vey. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

I might have to... even with moving the tub to a warmer spot, it's about 8 degrees too cold. I'll try one more place in the house (upstairs), and if that doesn't work I will add another UTH. Oy vey. :rolleyes:

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Sometimes it's hard for a UTH to get to its proper temp if the house is cold to begin with. Usually, they have no problem maintaining the temp once it's reached. Do you have a space heater you could try using temporarily?

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Originally Posted by mrshawt

Sometimes it's hard for a UTH to get to its proper temp if the house is cold to begin with. Usually, they have no problem maintaining the temp once it's reached. Do you have a space heater you could try using temporarily?

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Yes, I believe so... I'll look for it later, and see if that helps. We don't have much temperature control here, since it's rarely needed in San Francisco! :oops:

Do you have a thermostat already? if you do, since you have tubs now, maybe consider buying 11 inch flexwatt heat tape. It is pretty cheap.

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Originally Posted by Danounet

Do you have a thermostat already? if you do, since you have tubs now, maybe consider buying 11 inch flexwatt heat tape. It is pretty cheap.

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I don't have a thermostat yet - I've just been using dimmers to control the heat. Can you use flexwatt if the tubs aren't stacked or in a rack? Would I just cut to size for each tub?

I dont have a rack yet. I just set up the heat tape to "cover" the width of 3 28qt tubs side by side. The tape is set up on top of a 48 x 24 melanie board.

If you have any room furniture without anything on top, like the first picture of monas tub, that would work too.

I added a second UTH on the cool side, and it got the temps up to 78/85 - getting there! :) I don't think she liked the double warmth, though, since she was sleeping on TOP of her hide when I checked earlier... she never does that, and I believe she was saying "Mommy, this is a little hot for me." So I took off the second UTH a little while ago, and will see if the temps maintain without it. Thanks everyone!

Maybe I missed somethin somewhere but what are you measuring your temps with? That sounds really low and it shouldn't be..

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Maybe I missed somethin somewhere but what are you measuring your temps with? That sounds really low and it shouldn't be..

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I have an Acu-rite with probe and humidity - as recommended! ;) The problem is my house temperature, which is usually below 70 even with the heater on.

Here's the one I use: http://www.weatherconnection.com/pro...9964&s=froogle

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

I have an Acu-rite with probe and humidity - as recommended! ;) The problem is my house temperature, which is usually below 70 even with the heater on.

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and your hotside is still only 85? I have no problem getting a hotside of 92 with a uth, even if the room is cold. Its the ambient that is a bit tricky.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

and your hotside is still only 85? I have no problem getting a hotside of 92 with a uth, even if the room is cold. Its the ambient that is a bit tricky.

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Maybe I just need to reposition the probe? :confused:

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Maybe I just need to reposition the probe? :confused:

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Maybe. Is it right on the plastic?

P.S. There's a picture of my setup on page 4 of the thread... but I've since removed the tape you see.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Maybe. Is it right on the plastic?

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It was at first, but I lost the sticky when I moved it... so it's probably sticking up a bit now, and in the corner (next to the hide).

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

P.S. There's a picture of my setup on page 4 of the thread...

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:P I have my page numbering set differently. To me we are only on page 3. I will go look for it tho.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

It was at first, but I lost the sticky when I moved it... so it's probably sticking up a bit now, and in the corner (next to the hide).

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It should be under the newspaper in the MIDDLE of the UTH. Hot glue works for adhering it to the surface.

I cant tell where the probe is, but it should be on the surface of the warm side, under the hide. Is that where it is now?

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

It should be under the newspaper in the MIDDLE of the UTH. Hot glue works for adhering it to the surface.

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Originally Posted by Danounet

I cant tell where the probe is, but it should be on the surface of the warm side, under the hide. Is that where it is now?

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I just looked, and it's still in the corner - not IN or under the hide. So I'll try moving it, and see if that makes a difference in the reading.

It will. When one of my bps moves the probe out of the hide, It goes from 90-93 to 86-88.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

:P I have my page numbering set differently. To me we are only on page 3. I will go look for it tho.

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LOL... I didn't even know that was possible. :D

Here it is (minus the tape, which I've removed):

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...MonaTub003.jpg

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...MonaTub001.jpg

Oh, and I've also added another 1/2 row of holes... but the humidity is still reading "HI" so I'll have to add more. Could the SUPER foggy weather this week be affecting that? I don't want to add more holes, and then have it drop too low when the weather dries.

Changing my settings to more posts per page was great! It's in your user control panel.

Anyway, it looks like you're using only newspaper, without bedding on top. If the AcuRite prob is resting on that newspaper, it should be giving an accurate reading, whether it's inside the hide or not. I learned the hard way that it's when you have an inch of substrate on top that you'll get very different readings on top of, in the middle of, and below that substrate.

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Oh, and I've also added another 1/2 row of holes... but the humidity is still reading "HI" so I'll have to add more. Could the SUPER foggy weather this week be affecting that? I don't want to add too many holes, and then have it drop too low when the weather is drier.

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Yes, I've been having the same problems since it's been raining so much on the East Coast. It's been going down today though, thankfully. Try adding some holes in the lid. If you add too many, you can get a new lid easily. Plus, it seems like more humidity is lost through the top for some reason.

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Originally Posted by Patricia

Changing my settings to more posts per page was great! It's in your user control panel.

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Ah-ha... I'll have to try that! :gj:

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Anyway, it looks like you're using only newspaper, without bedding on top. If the AcuRite prob is resting on that newspaper, it should be giving an accurate reading, whether it's inside the hide or not. I learned the hard way that it's when you have an inch of substrate on top that you'll get very different readings on top of, in the middle of, and below that substrate.

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I'll do some experimenting tonight, and test how the position affects it. Will let you know what happens!

I just went to check on her, and she was cruising around the tub... I noticed a bunch of pee, so I lifted the hide & found a GIANT poop and urates too! Guess she's feeling comfortable and ready to eat, LOL. :D

I also moved the probe right on the UTH, and it's now reading over 100 degrees. :O But the ambient temperature is still a little under 80, so could that be possible? To clarify, you said to stick it under the newspaper - directly on the plastic?

Yes, the ambient temp can sometimes be a lot different.

And yes to the probe placement. If you only have a couple sheets of newspaper, the heat difference will be minimal between the bottom and top of the substrate layer.

Okay, now I'm getting really frustrated! :mad: No matter how low I turn the dimmer, if I put the heater UNDER the tub, it reads well over 100 degrees. I must be doing something wrong with the probe, because I've never had that problem with UTHs before. So in desperation I put the UTH on top of the tub, and cranked up the dimmer all the way... now I'm getting readings of around 74/80 respectively, which is too low. ARGH!!! I'm about to give up and go back to the glass tanks, unless somebody can help me out. Any thoughts??

Edit: I'll try to get a picture of the probe up-close, but I don't want to bother Mona right now - she just ate a big meal. ;)

Put the UTH under the tub, and put the tub up on short blocks or legs. You can buy little stick-on rubber feet for furniture at the store--one on the bottom of each corner will elevate your tub slightly, and allow you to get the temperature stable.

However, if you can't get temperatures lower than 100 with your rheostat turned all the way down, your rheostat may be faulty, and you should consider returning it for a replacement before it causes a serious problem.

Btw, when I was at Wal-mart last week, I bought one of these by accident (thinking it was the probe kind): http://www.weatherconnection.com/pro...0364&s=froogle

Should I try that in the tub, just to see if there's a problem with my current thermometer? If so, what would be the best placement for it?

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Put the UTH under the tub, and put the tub up on short blocks or legs. You can buy little stick-on rubber feet for furniture at the store--one on the bottom of each corner will elevate your tub slightly, and allow you to get the temperature stable.

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Thanks for the suggestion! I have those little rubber feet on it already (the ones that come with the UTH), but it doesn't provide much height.

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However, if you can't get temperatures lower than 100 with your rheostat turned all the way down, your rheostat may be faulty, and you should consider returning it for a replacement before it causes a serious problem.

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I'll probably just buy a thermostat, since those seem to be a better tool. What's that one called again? The repti-500 or something?

Here it is: http://www.ablackhorse.com/productca...product=103825

Hi,

As daft as this sounds test the dimmer on a lightbulb.

You have no idea how often we see people who are turning it up instead of down by mistake and getting confused.


dr del

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

As daft as this sounds test the dimmer on a lightbulb.

You have no idea how often we see people who are turning it up instead of down by mistake and getting confused.


dr del

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Yeah, the LED on the dimmer is backwards from what you would think. Dimmer LED = hotter pad, brighter LED = cooler pad

We've all done it. :P

Apparently there is something wrong with my dimmer, because I tested it last night on Toby's tank (which has a heat lamp). As soon as I plugged it into Mona's dimmer, the light got REALLY bright, even on the lowest setting. I was able to adjust it from there, but it didn't go low enough - and immediately raised his hot side from 90 to 97. Yikes. :oops: So I tried to buy a new one today, but unfortunately they didn't have anything at the store... guess I'll just order one online, and keep her UTH on top until it arrives. Thanks everyone!