Bringing up the heat for the hot side.

I just set up my terrarium and I am having trouble getting my hot side to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. In the day the highest is 83 and at night it drops to 80. I am using the all living things ceramic heat emitter (100 watts) with the zoo med wire cage clamp lamp. Is there any way I can raise the temperature?

Note: This is the temperature under the substrate in the hide. This is measured by the zoo med digital thermometer. The out side of the hid above the substrate is 82 at night and 85 in the morning. Measured by another digital thermometer. But the outside measured by the heat gun is 85 at night and 88 in the morning. But inside the hide measured by the heat gun it is 82 at night and 83-85 in the morning.



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under tank heater with thermostat will do the trick, and bump up the temps.:gj:

Here is a picture of the tank. And readings. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f098065ae4.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...fec75bbe13.jpg
Outside reading with digital thermometer at night.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9ef8bbd4c9.jpg
Under substrate at night

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ca78b40959.jpg
Outside the hide at night

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...50d12f7a39.jpg
Inside the hide at night.



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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

under tank heater with thermostat will do the trick, and bump up the temps.:gj:

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I have the terrarium on a dresser and I have to put the under the tank heater on the side of the tank. Will at that still work?


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by EvilKitty

I have the terrarium on a dresser and I have to put the under the tank heater on the side of the tank. Will at that still work?


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It would be better to put it under the tank, then put the thermostat probe right above the heater. You can put a layer of insulation on the dresser if you are worried about it getting too hot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EvilKitty

I have the terrarium on a dresser and I have to put the under the tank heater on the side of the tank. Will at that still work?


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Some UTHs come with little sticky things to raise your tank off the dresser to get some airflow under the tank and prevent your dresser from being damaged. I'm not exactly sure, but I think the UTH would be more affective if on the bottom

EDIT: or do what Godzilla78 said

I agree with Godzilla78, belly heat and a thermostat will give you the temps you are looking for as well as aid in digestion and better give you some control of temps among other benefits. The Che bulb you are using will suffice temporarily, but will rob you of some humidity and not allow heat to really reach where your snake really needs it.

If you are using overhead heating you should NOT be taking temperatures under the substrate. You need to measure the surface of your substrate.
If you are using UTH you need to take your temperatures on the hottest surface your animal can touch. This would be UNDER the substrate.
Either will work.

FYI there are those of us that do use nothing but ambient whole room heating. ;)

What I mean by "layer of insulation", even a piece of cardboard will work, doesn't have to be fancy. Just anything to keep the UTH from directly contacting the dresser and causing a "heat stain" I guess you would call it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EvilKitty

I have the terrarium on a dresser and I have to put the under the tank heater on the side of the tank. Will at that still work?


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You are not going to get belly heat by sticking the heat source on the side of the tank, sorry but nope.

Styrofoam is your friend. You can even get foam board from a craft store or a home improvement store like home depot. Put that under the tank after installing the UTH.

This is crucial and something you have to do with an UTH. You HAVE to have a thermostat with probe to control the UTH. Don't assume your snake won't get burned running it without a UTH. I know I burnt my first ball many many years ago and learned the hard expensive way how bad not having a thermostat is.

This works great and is not expensive. It has sort of become the go to for thermostats on a budget. - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NZZG3S

Now how to set this up.

Ok first thing is the sandwich instructions: The thermostat probe will go between the UTH and the glass bottom of the tank so from the bottom up after done it will be Table > styrofoam or foamboard > UTH > probe (place in middle of UTH pad) > glass of tank

The reason you will do this is to get the hottest temp of the UTH to control it. The styofoam or foamboard serves three purposes: protect the table, focus heat up to the tank, and help keep the UTH in place with the probe stuck there. The UTH should have double stick tape but I recommend either using aliminum air conditioner duct tape or traditional duct tape to secure the edges down. It is often recommend to use a piece of aluminum tape to secure the probe via the cord (never tape the probe itself).


So once you have that done you can now use the thermostat to control the UTH and get it to provide adequate heat inside hte enclosure.

To get adequate heat you should use a thermometer with probe and place the probe on the inside of the tank on the bottom of the substrate. This is done as snakes will smoosh and burrow substrate in a hot hide to get down to heat. You can use the thermometer to gauge the belly heat and if you have it a IT temp gun to gauge the temp of the substrate in the hot hide. This will help you set the UTH thermostat to get the hot hide substrate temp close to 88-90 degrees F or around there.


That's the best and safest way to get belly heat to your snake using an UTH.

Ok how about I put another heat pad on the other side of the terrarium.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by EvilKitty

Ok how about I put another heat pad on the other side of the terrarium.


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I can not put it under because the warning says if you have a dressed put it on the side of the tank.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by EvilKitty

I can not put it under because the warning says if you have a dressed put it on the side of the tank.


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You can always use furniture padding/risers to lift your entire cage so there is space between it and your dresser. Half inch to 1 inch high should be more than enough to fit your UTH and thermostat probe.

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Originally Posted by MissterDog

You can always use furniture padding/risers to lift your entire cage so there is space between it and your dresser. Half inch to 1 inch high should be more than enough to fit your UTH and thermostat probe.

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Thank you I will be sure to look into that.


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The UTH is placed underneath. They put that warning on their product to protect themselves from lawsuits from damaged furniture and fires when people place an UNregulated UTH directly on the furniture. If you elevate it a bit using furniture pads, little wooden blocks, old Jenga pieces, soda bottle caps, etc... and properly set up your UTH through a thermostat you will have no issues.

The UTH is to provide a hot spot to aid indigestion and is not to control ambient temps. You want to get the actual surface temp readings where your UTH is, which means the actual glass where the absolute hottest part the snake can contact will be.

Your other temp readings should be ambient and surface temps. So basically just the temps at the top of the substrate and the air temps in the enclosure. These temps are controlled by your CHE.

In order to raise ambient temps you can cover the sides and most of the top of the enclosure with Plexiglas, cardboard wrapped in foil, foam board insulation, even blankets. Just be sure to keep some distance between the CHE and anything that can be flammable. The wire cage you are using for the CHE also allows a LOT of heat to escape and disappear into the air before ever reaching the enclosure. You can wrap that cage partially in foil allowing more heat to be directed into the enclosure, or get a dome which will allow the CHE to sit closer to the enclosure and is closed off to direct the heat downward into the enclosure.

Thank you all my temperatures are now perfect. You guys helped a lot


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