Acurite Thermometer Help..

Well I just picked up a acurite thermometer indoor/outdoor at walmart and it only came with one sensor.. I assume it was for the 'outdoor' temp so I stuck it on the warm side underneath the bedding.

How do I take the temperature of the cool side then? Just place the whole unit on the inside in the cool side bedding? And humidity..?

It didn't come with any instructions.. Something so simple has me confused.. :rolleye2:

The probe is generally used for the hot side and the actual unit itself is used for the cool side.... :salute:

Gotcha, so I am on the right track. The whole unit is ok to set on the cold side? Does it matter where? Just sitting ontop the bedding or buried abit?

The unit sits right on the bedding. Have you thought about a temp gun?

Yeah I just wanted to get something to make sure the humdity and warm/cold were in check.. so far its alittle off by like 2 degrees..

Warm - 88.2

Cold 80.2

Humidity 53%

What are you using to heat the (im assuming its a tank) tank? Lets see if i can help. What are you using to the control the heat?

Humidity is perfect, cool side is perfect, lets see if it sticks. Try to boost the warm side a bit.

I've got a 20 gallon glass cage. The top screen was covered with 3 layers of tin foil followed by 2 layers of duct tape, leaving a small 4''x4'' gap for ventilation on cool side. I am using a Exo Terra HEATWAVE pad thing thats it.

Aspen bedding with Bed a beast mixed in.

No heat lamp??? Awesome thats why your humidity is on point. Sounds good man. As far as the couple degrees on the warm side, give this a shot= At ace hardware get a couple feet of reflectix(its like a dollar a foot) and duct tape three sides of the tank off with it. It will give him more of a secure feeling and hold the heat in the enclosure at the same time...

Ok, my cold side dropped to 77.2 when I placed it just ontop the bedding.

Yeah I don't have a heatlamp. I was thinking of getting one but decided to just try the heat wave thing first.

I will swing by ace hardware tomorrow. Its alright to leave a few degrees off for a day or so?

Guess I am going to have to get a lamp and thermostat. Dropped to 77.

Yeah thats no problem, but low temps for longer periods of time can cause problems.

Maybe a smaller pad on the cool side... If it gets to be to much trouble i would move him into a tub setup.

If I can get a smaller pad, how can I control how high it will go? Thermostat?

Tstats for sure. Because without one your temps will drop and increase all the time. So you want some sort of control. To tell you the truth your gonna spend good amount of money for a good tstat buts its worth it for sure to make sure your animal is happy and healthy. www.reptilebasics.com rich is awesome, anyone on this forum will tell you the same.

I work at a local pet store, im going to swing in and see what they have for Tstats.

If I get ahold of one, can I use it to control the warm side as well and bump it up a few degrees?

yes... But the tstats sold in most pet stores are pretty much garbage and unreliable. So i would go ahead and spend my money at reptile basics...

Well I picked up a small 50watt night bulb and it seems to be holding temperature now, and its boosted my warm side up a few degrees so I think I am in the clear atleast for now.

I was talking to a coworker and she said the Tstats won't make my heat pad get any hotter.. I thought you could make it get warmer with a Tstat but I guess not?

Anyways, I appreciate the QUICK reponses it really helps!

Temperatures :

Cool side = 83-84

Hot Side = 89-90-91

Humidity 57%

This is with the bulb and everything in place. It's really stable now. Should be good?

A t-stat won't make a heat pad get hotter it just regulates it so it doesn't get to hot or cold. If you have a heat pad do you have it on a t-stat or are you just running it wide open?


If your cool side is at 82-83 and warm side is at least 90 then your ok. But do you have your heat pad and light just running wide open w/o a t-stat or something to control it's output ie temps then you have the chance of it becoming to warm in your cage. That can be a dangerous situation.

Yeah I just have them plugged into the wall. I've had the heat wave setup for a two days now and its been the same temperature.

I've got two air conditioner units that are near the cage which is why I have the lamp plus the UTH.

Also another question, can I leave the acurite thermometer inside the cage at all times? Or do I have to take it out so the snake doesn't bother it...

Btw, the heat wave pad thing is a medium rainforest one - so it doesn't get that warm.

Yeah leave the accurite in there. How are the temps now.

Cold side - 84-85

Warm Side - 91

Humidity - 55%

It has been REALLY stable so far.

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Originally Posted by juddb

Yeah leave the accurite in there. How are the temps now.

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Thats really good. The cool side could use to drop a few degrees... But thats cool. Hey man good luck and really look into the tstat even if you got a johnson control or a ranco not that expensive. But if you really wanted to be satisfied with your temps go helix... :salute:

Yeah but the cold side has a lamp, and that temp is EXACTLY where the lamp is aimed. Alittle to the side of the spot reads 80-82 which is perfect!

Thanks again for your fast replies yesterday. Helped abunch!

I will indeed keep my eyes open on a tstat, going to need one soon anyways.

i seem to be having the same issues with keeping my cool side temps up at night..what wattage bulb are you using to keep the cool side at a steady 82? and is the lamp over the warm side or cool side?

I've got a 50watt spot nightlamp. Its placed on the cool side. My cool side was reading like 75-77, even with the foil and duct tape over most of the lid. I've got a UTH on the warm side that was off by maybe 1 degree, and the lamp even helped that.

So far no issues with humidity after a day with the lamp.

i was thinking of doing the same thing but wasnt sure what side to put it on warm or cool side so i tried the cool side for a while and my humidity was disappearing by the minute...

Do you have your lid foiled and taped up? What about bedding? Newspaper won't do well with the humidity in my opinion.

I've got repti-bark + aspen + bed a beast all sorta mixed together.. I work at a pet store and built the cage there before I brought it home. Just used what bags we use for the other reptiles in the store.

I've also got some terraium moss that I use to hold humidity. Makes the tank look really neat as well.

yeah i have the foiled and duct taped lid but my substrate is newspaper i was thinking of making a switch to aspen being as though everyone i see uses it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SGB_74

yeah i have the foiled and duct taped lid but my substrate is newspaper i was thinking of making a switch to aspen being as though everyone i see uses it.

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Yep, that'll definetly help the humidity.

I'd use newspaper if I had multiple snakes to care for. Aspen or anything else looks great in my opinion and isn't that hard to clean up, then again I have unlimited supply of bedding :D .