Stupid, fluctuating temperatures..

Is there an easier way to prevent the temperatures in my snake's cage from constantly fluctuating? My boyfriend and I live in a rented condo and I have him in our bedroom but since the days have been getting chilly lately here in the FL, I usually have the heat on, but once the heat is on, the temperature rises so I have to turn everything down in the tank. This is becoming an increasingly annoying ordeal. How can I keep the room at a steady temperature?

what are you currently using as far at the heating devices and thermostats and such

like SiQ' said, we need to know about your setup and what you are using and what is inside so we can help. good info and pics are always good

I use two ZooMed UTH's (which I keep one 80 and the other 90), a heat lamp in the middle using an infrared bulb (to maintain ambient air heat which is around 80), to read the temperature, I use Acu-Rite thermometers and to adjust the heat, I use lamp dimmers. The reason why I use a heat lamp is because I heard somewhere on the site that If you use only UTH's, it only gets the bottom of the tank , while the ambient air in the tank could be cooler when basically your whole tank should be in a comfortable warm state.

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Originally Posted by mpkeelee

and pics are always good

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Oh man, If only I could find where I put my camera's USB cord at, I would be more than happy to show you pictures. It makes everything so easy.. :(

as far as your spiking your talking about what are your average temperatures and humidity because I take it your using a tub.

Do you have any tape on the top of the screen?

Are you shutting anything off at night?

could always take it with your cell phone then just send them to a email then upload to photobucket.

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Originally Posted by SiQ'

as far as your spiking your talking about what are your average temperatures and humidity because I take it your using a tub.

Do you have any tape on the top of the screen?

Are you shutting anything off at night?

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I went to check the temps as they are now and the cool side is 90 while the hot side is 96 (I don't know how that freaking happened), the humidity is 44%, I use the foil treatment to keep humidity maintained, but it fails so usually I dampen a washcloth and that works every time, but I have to keep re-soaking it, which is also annoying. I NEVER shut anything off and I actually use a glass tank.

In my opinion the best way to keep your temps from fluctuating as the temperature of your home fluctuates is to have your UTH's hooked up to thermostats. I used to use the dimmers until I realized I was having the same problem. The dimmers will just keep giving constant power to the UTH regardless of the temperature fluctuation in your home, whereas a thermostat will adjust to maintain whatever temperature you have it set at.

I ordered the hydrofarm thermostats off of amazon. I think they were about $25 and I've had no problem with them yet!

def need to get that tuned down the cool side is way to hot.

What size of a tank are you using?

How big of UTH are u using and where are the placement of them on the bottom of the tank?

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Originally Posted by SiQ'

could always take it with your cell phone then just send them to a email then upload to photobucket.

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I have an activation problem with my phone. I tried talking to customer care, but the problem still persists, so there isn't anything i do with my cell phone but talk or text.. :/

def need to get that tuned down the cool side is way to hot.

What size of a tank are you using?

How big of UTH are u using and where are the placement of them on the bottom of the tank?

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Originally Posted by SiQ'

def need to get that tuned down the cool side is way to hot.

What size of a tank are you using?

How big of UTH are u using and where are the placement of them on the bottom of the tank?

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Oh, I most definitively did.
It's a 20 gallon glass aquarium. I can't really tell you how big, but all I know, from what the packaging told me, that they're intended for 20 gallon tanks. One is on the left and the other on the right both facing horizontally.

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Originally Posted by Brstin2flames

I ordered the hydrofarm thermostats off of amazon. I think they were about $25 and I've had no problem with them yet!

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So all you do is plug in your heat mat to it, set it at the temperature you want and it'll keep it that way?

Omg...

You would need to tweak it alil bit. Do you have two heat mats then or did I read that wrong? You dont really need two just place one in one of the corners.

something similar to this Simple thermostat

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Originally Posted by SiQ'

You would need to tweak it alil bit. Do you have two heat mats then or did I read that wrong? You dont really need two just place one in one of the corners. [/URL]

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Right now, yes I have only 2. Why would I need one? what about the other side? wouldn't the one side without the UTH get cold?

You dont really need two that or get something similar to what I sent you above so you can try to tone down the temp on the other size to 70. You wanna keep the cold side around 70. I would be in a 20 gallon one on the left side in the middle would give you the temps yo uneed

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Originally Posted by SiQ'

You dont really need two that or get something similar to what I sent you above so you can try to tone down the temp on the other size to 70. You wanna keep the cold side around 70. I would be in a 20 gallon one on the left side in the middle would give you the temps yo uneed

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70 is too low. I would say 75 is the absolute lowest you'd want to go in a glass tank. Most people keep their cool sides around 80, which is fine.

My temps in my racks for my bps and geckos are 92-96 hot spot, 78-82 cool spot. I generally give my animals a slightly higher hot spot temp but give them room to regulate.

Still think he would be able to achieve the temperatures with just one heat mat in a 20 gallon.

How come the caresheet says specifically that anywhere around the 70's is dangerous? When temperatures in my tank are (finally) regulated, I keep them a constant 82-83 while the hot side is at least 92-93.

I think I'll start investing in this Hydrofarm thermostat device..

I keep mine in my tubs 76-79 the hot side are 86-90.

Yeah 70's too low for the cool side. Get it over 75 to decrease the chances of respiratory infections.
1 UTH would work just fine with a thermostat set @ 89-93 degrees. The reason your temps are so high's because you have so many heat sources and that combined with naturally produces FL heat can be a bit much. BP do just fine with belly heat. Regulate the hot side and the cool side should be controlled by the temperature of your house. To keep ambient temps up I use a space heater, but I also use a single tub rack and not a glass tank so keeping temps and humidity right are not a problem.

Before I got my BP reading this really helped.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...%20foil%20tape

Since you already have two UTH's, I would say get a Hydrofarm for each. Set your cool side for 80 and the warm side for about 92-93. Next, insulate the tank. You can use anything like cardboard, polystyrene, styrofoam, or foam core board. I personally like the foam core board because you can get it in different colors. It's available at places like Wal-Mart and Target in the school supplies section next to the poster board. Cut three pieces to fit and tape them to each end and the back. Next, remove the lamp. Cut a piece of whatever you use so that it's the same width as the screen and maybe 1-2 inches shorter in legnth. Wrap this piece in aluminum foil and place it on top so that there is a small opening on each end for ventilation. This should help hold in both heat and humidity. Also, if you are using any wood type substrate, make sure you only have somewhere between 1/2"- 1" thick layer. If this doesn't help and you still need the lamp, just adjust the length of the top panel to accomodate the lamp, making sure that there is about 1" between the panel and lamp...

Well, I think I'm going to switch to plastic tubs instead. What would be the best UTH and thermostat without having to pay too much?

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Originally Posted by Immy

Well, I think I'm going to switch to plastic tubs instead. What would be the best UTH and thermostat without having to pay too much?

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I size my UTH's to cover at least 1/3 but not more than about 1/2 of the floor space of the enclosure. Several people use the Hydrofarm thermostat which is inexpensive and pretty reliable, from what I've heard...

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...1529683&sr=1-7

I just read the reviews on that sucker and half of the comments were reptile owners who use it on their snake cages. They all gave it 5 stars. Hhope they aren't trolls, but i doubt it. When I get some cash, I'm buying that thing..

I had the same issue with the zoo med it when it clicks on has a huge range before it shuts off then it gets low and that same thing happens in reverse the other problem is that as a diligent keeper you are constantly fiddling with the simple thing and causing greater seesawing. I have a cheap idea that may work and a better one that will cost some.

The best solution in my opinion (and I run dual heat too) is a better thermostat like a herpstat 2 but that amps up the cost.

The second solution is easier is to remove the heat source from the tank and attach it to something like 1/4 inch PVCX material or HDPE both are plastics and will buffer the radical swings off it will hold heat and keep temps better during the off swing and heats slowly during the on powered up swing. It may not work will but I have used this exact set up as temporary holding during an emergency rescue I have been involved with (160 animals arrived and needed to be put up for 30 days... with 12 hours notice)

I have never used a hydrofarm but after my experiences with the zoo med I am distrustful of all on/off type controllers.

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Originally Posted by Immy

I just read the reviews on that sucker and half of the comments were reptile owners who use it on their snake cages. They all gave it 5 stars. Hhope they aren't trolls, but i doubt it. When I get some cash, I'm buying that thing..

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I use the Hydrofarm thermostat and I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars. One or two times I've waken up with the temps a tad bit too high. So I'll adjust the setting and everything's alright. I just wouldn't suggest going on vacation for a week or two w/o supervision. Besides that I would suggest the Hydrofarm for a single tub.

not to intrude but what should be the max heat temp in a tub my rack system? mine flux. and i have a herpstat but it will flux. between 89-96 and thats with 4" flexwatt and whats weird is its only like every other tub? i use the same substrate in all of them like one will be 88 one will be 94 and one will be 90 and some times one or 2 will be 96 and i dont know why my house is always at a constant temp around 74 but the room they are in is useualy 76-78

My rack used to do the same, there is a lot of line loss with cheap wire I re wired all mine with heater cord and that helped some the other thing is if you have a string of flexwatt off a line try running the first to the plug at the bottom and the last at the top the top is always going to be the warmest and bottom the coldest. I actually don't use the top and bottom most drawers. I find the rack to be much more work than the enclosures I have, when I finish some of the reno work I am doing (if I finish it seems like it has been forever now...) I will add some more enclosures and transfer the last 3 snakes to them.

Since iv had my herpstats, i never have to adjust temps! I truly think they are a great investment!

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Originally Posted by paintballerpunk722

not to intrude but what should be the max heat temp in a tub my rack system? mine flux. and i have a herpstat but it will flux. between 89-96 and thats with 4" flexwatt and whats weird is its only like every other tub? i use the same substrate in all of them like one will be 88 one will be 94 and one will be 90 and some times one or 2 will be 96 and i dont know why my house is always at a constant temp around 74 but the room they are in is useualy 76-78

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That is not the fault of the herpstat but rather the flexwatt. Flexwatt has around a 5% fluctuation depending on where you measure temps.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/flexwatt-faq.html

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Originally Posted by paintballerpunk722

not to intrude but what should be the max heat temp in a tub my rack system? mine flux. and i have a herpstat but it will flux. between 89-96 and thats with 4" flexwatt and whats weird is its only like every other tub? i use the same substrate in all of them like one will be 88 one will be 94 and one will be 90 and some times one or 2 will be 96 and i dont know why my house is always at a constant temp around 74 but the room they are in is useualy 76-78

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Is your flexwatt one continues strip or does each tub have their own individual piece of flexwatt? I always found I have better accuracy if the tubs are all ran off one piece of flexwatt, my temps are all the same all the time on one piece.