New rack running... A couple last questions

Ok so I am moving my BP from a cage to a rack. Now before I move her in I have been running tests to get everything right.

Quick review:
Humidity 65% with aspen bedding
41 Qt tubs
6 tubs high
Closed sided melamine
12"x12" THG heat tape used for belly heat controlled by Herpstat 1
Cool sides are 77-81 depending on which tub.

Now my question has to to withy hot side temps. The temps range from 89-95 on the bottom of the tubs under the substrate. Now the 95 is a pretty small spot ( about an inch) around it is 93-94 in that tub. The rest all seem to be in perfect range. This is as close as I can get things to work. Is the small 96 spot something I have to worry about?

That size heat tape is a little large for the hot spot. You want to make sure the hot spot is measured under the substrate and 90-92 is ideal. IMO I would lower the tstat a little and shoot for 90-92.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WmHrbst

That size heat tape is a little large for the hot spot. You want to make sure the hot spot is measured under the substrate and 90-92 is ideal. IMO I would lower the tstat a little and shoot for 90-92.

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Agreed. Lower the thermostat just a hair (maybe a degree) and then it should be fine.

As for the humidity, you might consider drilling a hole or two in the tubs so the humidity isn't quite so high. You only need it that high when the snake is in shed.

Thanks. I have lowered it 2 degrees. I will see how that works. I just don't want the coolest tub below 88 in the hit spot. I know I am not putting snakes in the other tubs yet but I want the kinks out before I put anything in it. Thanks everyone.

I have one bare tub and it is at 80-90. I think once I added the aspen it added insulation. I have fresh aspen in the rack so I am guessing the humidity should drop but time will tell. I have this in my living room and each tub has 10 1/4" holes in it. I don't want to loose too much heat either. Once I get temps right I will work on humidity.

Where are you placing the probe and what are you using to measure the hot spot?

The probe for the tstat is in a groove in the melamine shelf under the heat tape. The wire below the probe is hot glued to ensure it stays put. The heat tape is taped down over top of said groove.

I measure temps with a digital temp gun and also have a distal thermometer with probe and another hygrometer/thermometer. All thermometers are within .5 of each other. I have had two bad thermometers so far and one of those was the first I ever bought. Caused me Freud with my Beardie in the beginning and now I double up on everything. I am just waiting for a second tstat for a failsafe. That is coming soon.

My tstat is set for 96.5 and this rack is in my living room with 72 ambient. I know that may be a little challenge but so far seems like it will work. The bottom tub is a little cool. 77 on cool side.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WmHrbst

That size heat tape is a little large for the hot spot. You want to make sure the hot spot is measured under the substrate and 90-92 is ideal. IMO I would lower the tstat a little and shoot for 90-92.

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This size heat tape was recommended by members on here that also had racks in cooler rooms. Judging from the gradient they were right on the money. I would love to have a snake room and run 6" tape but that isn't in the cards for a number of years ;). I shoulda ruin that about 2" of the tape is at the back of the rack and doesn't lie directly under the Sterelite tub because of the handle and angle of the tub walls.

Thanks for the input though. I had a hard time with heat tape decisions as well as belly heat vs back heat. I have been planning for almost two months. I very indecisive. The forum has been a wealth of info and help from folks like your self.

Thanks again everyone.

All sounds good based on what you said :gj: I would just lower the hot spot a tad and the rest is good to go.

Sounds like a good setup. I'm sure that humidity will drop 10-15% when the substrate dries out a little. I've building the same style rack. Even buying a Herpstat 1 also. The only differences are that I'll be using 15" long pieces of 12" wide THG heat tape. And probably going with paper towels as my substrate since I'll be living in Houston, TX where humidity is higher. As a bonus I'll probably put a thin layer of insulation just inside all 3 walls. I'm doing everything in construction that I can to keep my temps perfect and easy to manage.

If the humidity doesn't drop I will add a couple more holes in the sides. I didn't realize how well the humidity was going to hold. I started off with cypress which went up to 95%! I couldn't get it below 90%.

I hope the aspen dries out.

You could easily continue using cypress if you wanted to. Just take what your going to use and put it in one of your tubs or something similar and set it outside for a day or two before your bedding change. Just mind the weather before you do.

Well now that humidity isn't a challenge to keep up, aspen is a ton cheaper around here so that is really good. I figured I could let it dry out a bit. Then I realized I can get the se amount of aspen for half the price. Temps seem to be getting more balanced now. My ambient dropped a little. 77-78 on the cool end now that the room cooled off (10pm now). I getting pretty close to ideal temps in all tubs.

Weird thing is both my middle tubs are the hottest. I would have net money my top tubs would have been the hottest. I guess heat from above and below adds up.

Quick update. Humidity is now at 53%. All temps within range. Thanks everyone.

Jim this is the issue I have a large variation in the hot spots top to bottom. My first stab at it I had 8ºF top to bottom variation. I used a second probe to control the hot spots for the top and bottom. I don't like seeing 94º I personally would allow this to drop to 91º and let the coolest be 88-89 it is just safer.

Is the warm one at the top or bottom? I had a great difficulty with the floor of the room being quite cool and dropping the bottom two dramatically. I found adding insulation to the bottom helped a fair bit.

Watch the ambient air temps 77 is getting low keep an eye on it especially as the room drops a crude figuring is it holds 5º over room temps so if the room drops to 70s it may become an issue. 5 degrees is about as much as I have ever seen without dealing directly with ambient air temps. Good job. My situation is a high of 69º in the winter. Pain in the butt, racks! So much effort and time, the space savings makes it worth it I guess. If I ever move and get more space it is gone!

Well the bottom one is the coolest. The middle two bins are the warmest. I know 75 is the cut off point for the lows. I may have to get a space heater to keep the room at 72 during winter months. right now my hottest spot in the rack is 93.5. that is a spot about 2cm wide. I may have put a little too much substrate in that bin. That seed to alter my temps a bit. I had temps near perfect until the substrate went in.

How think is a layer should be in the tub? I use aspen now and don't wish to change to a paper substrate at this point.

I usually use coco coir but have sani chips in some at the moment. I keep it fairly thin it starts about 1/8 maybe a touch more even. The snakes shove it around a lot so it ends up on the edges of the hides and the corners.

That kinda makes sense mine the bottom 2 are cooler and the top is also cool I ran the flexwatt up the side on the top and that bumped it so the top three were even. The bottom insulation helped but in my case not enough so I had to run separate zones top three and bottom two. I run front (cool) and rear (hot) as well. Hence the need for the herpstat pro (same as the four only older version)


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