Where do you place your thermostat probe?

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.

Quote:

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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 :)

Quote:

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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.

Quote:

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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 :)