My tank is driving me *expletive* crazy!

i had same problem bought a helix and havent turned the lamp on since then. good luk

True for the lamp dimmer thing. Most of my lamps have built in dimmers and when I have them on for a boost to ambient temps they are usually at 1/2 power. Of course, I keep my lamps at least 8" above the top of the tank so they don't affect humidity too much.

St. Louis is quite a ways from the west coast Butters!

I'll thin out the substrate here in the next day or so. I was placing the probe on top of the substrate simply because it was reading so much cooler when placed below. I wanted to know how warm it's getting in the hottest part of the tank, because she seems uninterested in burrowing.

I know the ZooMed pads are capable of getting insanely warm, although mine might be defective? I had originally placed the probe directly on the pad, as is directed in several of the stickies. But after about 48 hours I decided it shouldn't be a primary heat source because it wasn't creating a warm end, just warm substrate (which the snake showed no interest in spending time on). Basically, UTH was reading about 97, substrate above UTH was reading about 92, and an inch or so up from the substrate (ambient air) was reading at cool end temps, about 83-86. And since she didn't seem to want to lie directly on top of the substrate over the UTH, she more or less didn't have a gradient, which was why I got the light. As soon as I got the light, suddenly the lil' gal was interested in being on the hot side too.

As far as attaching the pad to the tank, the directions on the packaging said to place it directly against the tank, either on the side or on the bottom (which is where it is stuck now).

By saying that the foil would cook her, I didn't mean via reflection. It's just that the foil holds in so much heat. It doesn't hold in enough that I can use just the UTH (otherwise I'd be set), but with the light it was holding in way too much, thus the comment about cooking the snake with foil.

See the problem? With just a UTH, not enough heat generated for a gradient, with a UTH and a light, too much heat generated to create a gradient... I'm just trying to find the happy medium :(

Hmm... you might have a defective UTH. Is it reaching 97 on the bottom of the enclosure or on the pad itself? If on the pad, plugged right into the wall, then it may be a 'cooler' pad.

However, the temps you quoted are actually just right: "UTH was reading about 97, substrate above UTH was reading about 92, and an inch or so up from the substrate (ambient air) was reading at cool end temps, about 83-86"
What are your cool side temps on the substrate? Those numbers are what the temps should be for the warm side...

Interesting...

The pad itself is reaching 97, although I'm wondering if it's my own fault for it. I built a stand for my tank that leaves the bottom completely open, thus the UTH isn't wedged between anything and the tank. Cool end temps on the substrate read between 82-86 degrees depending on the temperature of my house.

I wanted to get the herpstat, but since my budget has now exceded being a budget and ended up more like a spending spree, the husband has put his foot down. Until now he's be letting me try and fail, since snakey is my baby. But we discussed it and he's getting me a Ranco, because he can get it through his work and wire it himself.

While I realize people here LURV the herpstat, do y'all think the Ranco will do alright? The nice thing about having the husband wire the Ranco is that it'll be done this afternoon and I don't need to wait to have it shipped. He says he can get it down to a 2 degree spread in either direction, and far be it for me to tell an engineer "no."

In the humidity department, I've found that keeping a damp towel over half of the screen cage top raises humidity in the tank quite nicely and doesn't seem to affect my cage temps more than a degree or two, so at least I've made some progress in that department...

Ranco's are fine. I have one and it works just great. :)

The open stand explains it. I suggest putting a piece of plywood or particleboard on the stand under the tank to 'lock in' heat. I think you'll find your temps will rise after that. :)
Also, I meant to ask you if you are depending on that one UTH to heat the whole tank? Just a thought that crossed my mind...

As for humidity, see if you can't foil treat the screen instead. Towels hold bacteria and need to be bleached every few days. :)

Oooh thanks. Good to know on the towel front. I'm relying on a UTH and a lamp, as the UTH wasn't generating much heat.

Final report, got the Ranco installed this afternoon, and boy is that a load off my mind! I can cover the top with foil (which should keep in the humidity nicely now), and even though the Ranco is turning the lamp on/off every 10 minutes or so, the temps seem to be holding right between 91 and 95 on the hot end. While it would have been nice to have the herpstat, there's no way it would have been here by the weekend. This weekend it's supposed to be up around 100 degrees here, and so I would have been in and out of the bedroom all day sprouting gray hairs and not sleeping.

And don't worry, it's a heat only lamp. So it's not bright light/no light-ing her. I'd hate to screw with her day/night cycles.

Anyhow, thanks so much to everyone for all your helpful suggestions. You've helped me get my tank stable, and it is most appreciated!

If you only need to bump your humidity a bit you can try two water dishes. Put a regular one over on the cool side, place another one on the warm side right over the heated area. Make sure that one is very flat so it has a large surface area. You'll get more evaporation from that one and it should be able to help bump up your ambient humidity somewhat. Something like the overflow pan from under a plastic or terracotta planter should work well for that application. You can find those almost anywhere for a couple of dollars.