Temps too low

[unhip_crayon]

Bought the above dimmer and It doesnt seem to work with my heat pad. When I dial it down, it completely turns off the heat pad. Ive got the exo-terra pad.

The dimmer is fine, I can use it on my lamps with no problems

[ClarkT]

I'd listen to Kaorte and get a thermostat, instead.

Also, my 20 gallon tank wasn't keeping up to 80 deg. ambient at night. Then I put foam on the back and sides. Now it stays 82 instead of dropping down to 77 or so at night. I painted the foam with a water sealer stuff for tub/shower tile surrounds. It's dark green, and gives a cool look, too.

Radiant and conduction heat loss through glass is tremendous. If you can stop that, it will reduce the amount needed. I use 1 UTH and a 25 watt bulb now (instead of 100 watt bulb).

[BuckeyeBalls]

Bought the above dimmer and It doesnt seem to work with my heat pad. When I dial it down, it completely turns off the heat pad. Ive got the exo-terra pad.

The dimmer is fine, I can use it on my lamps with no problems

I would go with a tstat. All you will do is give urself more of a head ache when u finally get the heat pad to stay at 90-93 then ur ambient temp goes up or down now your uth will go up/down and u will be back on he asking why it does that

[thegoalie22]

The cold substrate will only bring you temperatures down a couple of degrees. I have a 40 gallon breeder tank, and I need a 150 watt bulb on it to keep me ambient air temperature at 82 degrees. I would think you would need about the same as I do, as well I use the red heat lights, but you could use a ceramic heat emitter or a black heat light as well. I only suggest those because ball pythons are nocturnal and white light can stress them out if left on all the time. Also, are you using a thermostat or dimmer for your under the tank heat mat?

If you have any other questions just ask.

The heat mat will take awhile to heat up. I have a 40 gallon also, and I have to use 2 100 watt bulbs to keep ambient up. If you need to get a stronger bulb, I dont reccomend anything more than a 100 or 125 watt because a stronger bulb will heat the whole tank well, but the spot directly below it will get VERY hot. I had a 150 watt bulb that from 18 inches away was creating a 115 degree hotspot right under it. I actually had to throw it out.