Too much substrate

Can too much substrate throw off temps? I have about an inch of substrate. I have my UTH under a 20g glass tank. The thermostat probe is sandwiched between the glass and UTH mat. I have the thermostat cranked almost to 100° because the glass surface is just reaching 86. But if I check temperature over the substrate and not directly on the glass, it's only reading 82. So my snake is laying on a layer of substrate that's only 82°. What happens if he burrows himself and touches with his belly the 86° glass? Will that cause damage?

I don't know why this thermostat is not bumping my temp to desired 90°. I put it to 100 so the heat can travel thru the glass, but it's not. This temp thing is stressing, lol.

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You already answered your own question..."too much substrate". ;)

When substrate is deep, it is functioning as insulation, keeping the heat out. Substrates aren't all the same...those lighter w/ more air gaps allow more heat
to rise, while denser ones resist it. (for example, large nuggets of orchid bark has lots of spaces between, where heat can rise.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

You already answered your own question..."too much substrate". ;)

When substrate is deep, it is functioning as insulation, keeping the heat out. Substrates aren't all the same...those lighter w/ more air gaps allow more heat
to rise, while denser ones resist it. (for example, large nuggets of orchid bark has lots of spaces between, where heat can rise.)

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🤔 so it is possible that I have too much substrate. What about the fact that the thermostat is cranked all the way up and the glass temp is only reaching at most 86? Can it be a faulty thermostat? It's a Zilla thermostat.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Red357

🤔 so it is possible that I have too much substrate. What about the fact that the thermostat is cranked all the way up and the glass temp is only reaching at most 86? Can it be a faulty thermostat? It's a Zilla thermostat.

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Never hurts to find a second way to double-check the temps. -and yes, what matters is what the temperature is inside the cage, on the floor with the substrate pushed
back, where your snake could make contact if it chose to. 86* there should be fine. You just want to make sure it's not over 90*, & 88* is probably safer.

Don't know what you're using for substrate but if it's dense, then yeah, you probably need less of it, at least over the UTH, so the t-stat doesn't need to be cranked up.