Ideal thermostat setting?

[whitneymoon]

I apologize if this question has already been asked, but I couldn't find any answers by searching the forums...


What temperature do you set your UTH's thermostat?

AND what type of substrate do you use at this temp?

[Simple Man]

Hot side should be 90 degrees with ambient temp around 80 degrees. You need to use a digital thermometer to make sure the UTH temperature is right. They can be wrong since the heat transfer. They usually need to be a few degrees warmer than you want your hot side to be. Substrate is usually paper, newsprint, or papertowels.

Regards,

B

[whitneymoon]

So, the ideal temp to set my thermostat for the UTH is around 94 to achieve appropriate temps throughout the cage? I use newspaper as substrate in a 30 gallon tank with a medium ZooMed UTH.

[Simple Man]

That should be pretty close. I would always double check with a digital thermometer but you're in the ballpark. It will usually be higher than the UTH itself. UTH can run hot so that's why I would recommend checking another way. The Acurite digital thermometer/hygrometer at Walmart is usually $12. Great investment unless you already have something.

Regards,

B

[BuckeyeBalls]

No1 can tell u the setting but urself. It all depends how thick the surface of whatever ur UTH is under. I have mines set at 95 to get 90-92 hotspot.

[whitneymoon]

Yeah, I will definitely have to make adjustments based on my thermometer readings. Just curious to see if my thermostat setting was comparable to others. Even if it creates the right temps, I wanted to be sure that high of a thermostat setting wouldn't burn my snake!

[kitedemon]

It really is dependant on things like room temps, substrate enclosure type and on and on. I usually set mine so it delivers 90ºF I really don't like to have the heating element set hotter than 94 no matter where it is. I also (with out snakes of course) do a 'run away test' I'll plug the unit in directly and leave it for a few hours to find the absolute max temp. I try to keep mine no hotter than 100ºF in the worse case snakes can tolerate that temp for a brief period of time. Hopefully that never happens ...

[BuckeyeBalls]

Speaking of temps... Temp gun... Greatest thing ever.

If you have one snake it is still useful. But you wont have just one. Snakes do not come in pairs of one. May just be one now.. You wait and see