snake raising hot side temp

[stevepoppers]

My setup is a tub on Flexwatt set in the low 90s with newspaper bedding and plastic bowl hides. My female sits under her hot side hide over the thermometer probe and insulates it so that the temperature nears 100 degrees! The tub next to her on the same flexwatt and same setup without a snake on top of the probe so much (she did just eat) is about 92 or something...y'know, normal. Is she going to hurt herself or is this just what they do?

[kitedemon]

My first reaction is the thermometer off. Try switching it for a different one and waiting and checking again. Thermometers can vary quite a lot and good ones are really pricey. It sounds like this maybe what is going on.
alex

[stevepoppers]

Well, when she's not on it, it matches the other one. I've taken them out and watched them both reach the same room temp within about a half a degree of each other (like two weeks ago for other reasons). When she first goes over there, the reading drops, then rises as she warms up after a few hours. I'm using the All-Great Accurite from Walmart.

[dr del]

First thoughts?

You haven't secured the temp probe correctly on the flexwatt so that when the snake sits on it it pushes it down onto it making a better thermal connection.


dr del

[cboocks]

Both temp probes are secured to the bottom of the tub with a tiny bit of scotch tape. It really seems as though she's insulating it and making the heat shoot up.

[dr del]

Ok,

Trust me on this.

Take the tape out and replace it with a spot from a glue gun - nothing to do with your initial problem but you really do want to do it sooner rather than later.

Do you have a temp gun? It might be a good idea to be able to shoot the surface temps when the snake is laying there and possibly the body temp opf the snake itself.

I don't think you have a mojhor problem but, if it was me, I'd drop the thermostat a degree or so just to cover my bases.


dr del

[stevepoppers]

Which probe? The thermometer probe is inside the tub under the newspaper. It's actually taped down with scotch tape. It's not very sticky so I'm not worried about it getting on her. The other tub is the same.

The temps:


Where she lies:


The probe:


The thermostat probe & flexwatt:


I guess she could be pushing the plastic that the probe is on down onto the flexwatt, but I don't think it would just slowly rise like it is. The Flexwatt actually seems to fluctuate quite a bit. Stupid cheap thermostat.

[cboocks]

Steve's posting some pics. We'll replace the tape as soon as we find my glue gun. (I just moved in and have NO IDEA where it is) We put the tape down the other day cus we thought she might be pushing the probe down and wanted to make sure we had accurate readings.