Temp question????

I just bought a new temp gun and to my surprise the cool side is 79 but his temp in the house is 103, the humidity is 60% , the heat around his house is 86 , heat mats max temp is 91 (uth) I'd like to know what you think? I'm no vet but I don't see any abnormalities like burns or such and he's never missed a meal and looks healthy. Now I know someone going to say thermostats and I agree but the mat was checked out to max at 91 , so is this heat temp caused by his hide enclosure?

Forgive me for asking but can you be a smidgen clearer. The cool side is reading 79 but in the cool hide, it's reading 103? The heat mat (uth) is set to max at 91 so what is reading at 86 degrees? And yes, a thermostat is highly recommended just to keep track of everything.

If the inside of the hot hide is reading 103, then it's likely the heat build up inside from the uth pumping out 91 degrees of heat. You'll definetely have to adjust that. I hope I got your readings correctly.

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In his warm hide it reads 101.3 but the temp gun reading can be flexible to 2 degrees either way so I'm picking the worse case scenario at 103 but I bought the uth mat with his enclosure and to be safe I took it to a exotic pet dealer had had him check it out and he said it maxed out at 91 degrees. He said it would be fine but when I checked it today with the new temp gun that is what it said. On the other side of his enclosure temp is 79 and the humidity is perfect. I get a couple days off soon and I'll have this resolved . Thanks for any input

Oh, sorry for the confusion in the earlier question.

If he spends much of any time at all inside his warm hide, I can assure you it's closer to 101.3 degrees, than 103. Either way, that's pretty warm.

Not sure what you mean when you say your mat was checked out to max out at 91 degrees. Can we get a better explanation of how you do that?

Sure , I took it to the pet store and they plugged it in for awhile and when the temp wouldn't rise anymore past 91 they unplugged it and said it would be fine. The temp gun they used to check it was the one I was supposed to get today but were out of stock and my wife thought I might want to try this other brand. I'm about to go down and check the temp again here shortly. I'm also in the process of building another enclosure for him (with thermostats) but I need to fix this problem pronto. He also used to push the substrate out of his house and laid on bare glass but I put down shop towels so he wouldn't be on the glass. Maybe I should put more aspen shavings in his hide to thicken the density between him and the floor ?

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Originally Posted by GregsMoko

I took it to the pet store and they plugged it in for awhile and when the temp wouldn't rise anymore past 91 they unplugged it and said it would be fine.

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Well, at least the test was scientific...:rolleyes:

I dont care how long you leave a UTH plugged in, it needs to be on a thermostat! Unless you want to wake up to a fried snake and or burning house. A friend of mine that was new to snakes did the same thing and he melted part of a tub and caught part of his rack on fire. Snake unharmed and needless to say my friend learned the hard way instead of listening to me.... Imagine that.

I agree with Slim. Even if it's 101, that's a bit on the hot side for a BP but sounds like you know that already. Having a UTH that "maxes at 91" is easily the culprit to why the inside is 101+. The simplest solution to adjusting the heat output of your UTH is to connect it to a light dimmer and adjust accordingly. That's what I have on my UTH and out works for me. As for the cool side and the humidity, they look good to me.

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Ok , I'll have to grab a thermostat asap! That being said I went down and put more aspen shavings in his hide and waited and checked and the temp was on 91, I'll continue to check the temp and moko until dimmer/ thermostat is installed, tomorrow hopefully.

everyone needs to learn some more physics.

if it maxes out at 91 on a tabletop, it will max out much higher if there is some insulation added. like a tub on top of it.

and if you would insulate t even better, like putting it between two layers of styrofoam or even aerogel, you would get it to melt and/or burn.

its really basic. you have a constant energy output in the form of heat, so the maximum temperature you reach will be entirely dependent on how fast the heat dissipates away.

adding more aspen shavings is going in the wrong direction. this stuff insulates, so underneath the aspen you will reach even higher temperatures, making the situation even more dangerous. the snake might dig towards the heat and get burned (this actually happens). a better strategy would be to make it easier for the heat to dissipate: add an air gap underneath the tub, and place the water bowl directly on the hot spot. but i suggest a more drastic solution: just switch it off until you get a dimmer or thermostat, and make sure the room does not get too cold. that really avoids the risk of a burned snake and property damage. it will be fine for a few days

the correct solution is a thermostat, or at least a dimmer. with a dimmer its still not actively regulated and will change depending on thermal insulation and ambient temperature. but at least with a dimmer you can cut down the output. a thermostat actively regulates the temperature, it is the optimal solution.