Thermostat probe location

I'm preparing to switch to a new set up as soon as everything arrives and I was curious about the placement of my temp probe. Currently my probe is inside the tank under the substrate. So its uth-glass-temp probe-substrate. I have the thermostat set at 101 which leaves the top of the substrate at 87-91 according to my IR thermometer. Is there any reason that I need to move my probe to out side the tank or will it be ok under the substrate in the new tank?

IMO a thermostat probe should never be inside the enclosure, there's just too much risk of the snake moving the probe making the tank get super hot.

The hottest spot in the enclosure should be about 95 degrees, anything higher you risk burning the snake.
Less substrate if you have to, but the bottom of that tank directly on the glass should not hit over 95 degrees.

The recommended and safest method is this.

SUBSTRATE
GLASS
TSTAT PROBE
UTH

You probably should thin out your substrate a little so you can tune down your tstat to a safer temp.

I place mine on top of the flexwatt and I only tape it down to hold it in place without covering the probe completely . If you place the probe inside the enclosure you run a high risk of the probe getting moved out of place which can be a dangerous situation with overheating.

Right now the probe is held in place and can't be moved by Loki. The substrate is already thin and my temps are fine. I'm laying down cage carpet as her next substrate in the new tank so she wouldn't be able to move the probe in that tank either. I'm kinda concerned that the probe will hold the uth off the glass enough that it isn't heating efficiently, that's why I have had the probe inside. Is that not an issue for anybody else? If it helps,this is the thermostat I'm using

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rpandresen

Right now the probe is held in place and can't be moved by Loki. The substrate is already thin and my temps are fine. I'm laying down cage carpet as her next substrate in the new tank so she wouldn't be able to move the probe in that tank either. I'm kinda concerned that the probe will hold the uth off the glass enough that it isn't heating efficiently, that's why I have had the probe inside. Is that not an issue for anybody else? If it helps,this is the thermostat I'm using

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

---

I have one of those on my quarantine tank at the moment.
The heat pad should be taped to the floor of the under side of the tank and the probe taped against that.
The thermometer probe goes inside the tank under the substrate to read the hottest temperature there.
Cage carpet can be a bacterial nightmare, personally I wouldn't have it in a ball python enclosure.
Aspen, paper towels, newspaper, cypress and others work much better than cage carpet.
There is no safe way imo to hold down a probe inside an enclosure, some use hot glue, personally I won't risk it.

Even if the heat pad isn't up tight against the glass the heat will get through, even if you have to turn it up a degree or two more to achieve 90-92 degrees on the hot spot.

If putting the probe between the uth and cage bottom didn't work we wouldn't do it.

Don't think that your snake is not able to get under the carpet, it can.

Hopefully it goes without saying to never use tape inside the tank. So you are left with what to secure the probe? Most people use hot melt glue but that stuff gets really brittle over time in my experience. It will eventually get knocked off. Dont risk it keep the thermostat probe on the outside. Now I do use glue to secure thermometer probes and they last a few weeks or until my snake decides to remove them but there is no risk if they get knocked off.

I made the mistake of having the thermostat probe in the tank before and it did get moved and the UTH was 130 degrees. Snake was no where near it but a close enough call that I wont ever try that again.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2

And because I'm brutally honest, I have to admit that for the first time in 2 year, my probe became loose from the cage bottom. Clearly this is a sign from the pet care gods that probe should go between the uth and the cage. Point taken universe, thanks for making it abundantly clear

So working with my temps...Have table, heating pad, probe taped to outside bottom of tank with electrical tape, tank, aspen bedding. Sound ok?

OK wait...now I confused myself. I have a thermostat probe (reptitemp 500) and thermometer probe for the cool side and the thermometer base in the cold side (accurate brand indoor/outdoor). Someone help! What should go where? Inside/outside thermometer and thermostat probes???

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mhoover

OK wait...now I confused myself. I have a thermostat probe (reptitemp 500) and thermometer probe for the cool side and the thermometer base in the cold side (accurate brand indoor/outdoor). Someone help! What should go where? Inside/outside thermometer and thermostat probes???

---

It depends on your setup. Usually the thermometer probe is placed on the warm side and the unit is put on the cool side. The tstat probe is best placed outside the cage between the uth and the cage bottom. That way it can not be moved.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rpandresen

Right now the probe is held in place and can't be moved by Loki. The substrate is already thin and my temps are fine. I'm laying down cage carpet as her next substrate in the new tank so she wouldn't be able to move the probe in that tank either. I'm kinda concerned that the probe will hold the uth off the glass enough that it isn't heating efficiently, that's why I have had the probe inside. Is that not an issue for anybody else? If it helps,this is the thermostat I'm using

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

---

The probe being dislodged is not your only concern, the snake could pee on it or spill water, either one could cause your sensor to sense a lower temp and cause a spike in temp from your UTH. For my glass enclosure I use heavy duty duck tape to make sure the probe is adhered to the UTH.

With your gear the probe should be sandwiched. It is not relevant where it is it MUST NOT MOVE. I always recommend a failsafe to prevent any issues if it ever becomes dislodged. A child or dog ect. can move probes as well.

A probe can be safely used inside but there are a handful of criteria that needs to be in place first. The first being that the sandwich method fails to control temps with stability. I have very erratic interior temps and in some of mine I use interior placement when I used the described sandwich I got 10 degree shifts when we had days like to day 83ºF inside temps during the day and 65ºF temps over night the probe is not effected by the air sandwiched so the gain cannot be predicted.

The steps for safe interior placement,
PROPORTIONAL control, a t-stat with NO hysteresis
The probe (regardless) must not move the probe and wires must be firmly fixed and may not move at all. I use high strength hot melt and/or structural silicone.
There MUST me a failsafe on the uth to prevent it from reaching critical temps.
Low wattage heat sources need to be used as well that do not get hotter than 100ºF maxed out.
I would strongly recommend a herpstat with a mechanical relay that will shut down power to the heater if the probe suddenly goes cool.

If the probe becomes pulled the t-stat shuts down, if that fails the failsafe shuts down, if that fails the heat source stays below a burn temp anyway.

It can be safe but requires a great deal of extra work and money.

I would not suggest batteries inside an enclosure they often leak under warm moist conditions I would place the probe under the warm hide and the unit outside and a second unit for the cool side.

I use a Radiant Heat Panel and keep my probe in the cage. Now I'm all paranoid, but I don't think there is another way to do it. What probe setups are RHP using? Hot glue gun?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BoxOfRain

I use a Radiant Heat Panel and keep my probe in the cage. Now I'm all paranoid, but I don't think there is another way to do it. What probe setups are RHP using? Hot glue gun?

---

The probe for my RHP's are also on the inside of my enclosure, the only probe I wouldn't put on the inside is one from a UTH.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

Not to hijack, but I moved my probe to be sandwiched between the outside glass and uth, but when I checked temps with another probe (known to be accurate) there was about 4-6 degrees difference in the temps from the sandwiched probe and the probe on the inside touching the glass. Does that mean I should bump up the tstat cut off temp? It's set at 90. Right now it's reading 88.8 on the sandwiched probe and 84 on the glass touching interior probe.

Yes this is called gain. It is partially why this method does not produce as stable temps.

One reason why RHPs are such a bag of nails probe placement. If you are uneasy with a UTH probe a RHP which gets hotter should be a greater concern. In my test enclosure maxed out mine delivers a 138ºF hot spot and a 88º ambient. The new style UTH deliver 97ºF hot spot with 77º ambient. I would suggest a fail safe is required with a UTH as they have such a high max temp. (Unless it is in an arboreal set up where there is always a low temp retreat.)