how to set up UTH in acrylic tank.

[kooter]

Hello I'm new to the forums. I have been lurking for awhile looking up care information for my ball python. His name is Jerry. He was given to me by a friend. I do not know how old he is nor if he is a male for sure. I read about sexing ball pythons and tried it but couldn't tell much if I was doing it right. I think he may be a female due to being close to 4 foot long. Aside from that here's my actual question. Jerry is in a large acrylic tank with 2 chambers that have tubes connecting them. Total size is 110 gallons. It measures 48"×13". I am currently using a red heat lamp for a heat source. But I think it gets too hot it's a 250w light . I normally turn it on for a hour or so and turn it off when he goes to the other side of tank or under his hide. I bought a zoo med UTH but I don't want to stick it to the bottom of my tank due to it being acrylic. I tried putting a piece of glass down but it didn't seem to be transferring enough hear through the glass,tank and bedding to be useful. Any ideas on this. Thoughts or concerns. Thanks and sorry for this not being paragraphed. I'm trying it on my phone and don't know how to do it

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Regarless of the enclosure used you MUST have your UTH plugged into a thermostat.

There are many great threads on this forum from caresheets to how properly setup your enclosure and I would encourage you to start there and read them.

[kooter]

Ok I will take a look. Thanks

[frostysBP]

Can you post pictures of by this tank...im very curious to see it..and what deb said

Sent from my A521L using Tapatalk

[kooter]

[jclaiborne]

I don't see a problem with sticking a UTH directly to the Acrylic...Acrylic has a melting point of 320F. If you are regulating with a TSTAT and provide an air gap under the tank the hottest it will get is the low 90s.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I tried putting a piece of glass down but it didn't seem to be transferring enough hear through the glass,tank and bedding to be useful.

You don't measure UTH on top of the substrate.

[kooter]

Thanks for the diagram PitOnTheProwel. I will have to order a thermostat when I get the extra money. I guesd that's a big part of where I went wrong.

as far as not measuring the temp on top of the substrate. I just figured if I can't feel the heat on top of the substrate neither could my snake. Maybe I'm wrong in my thinking. Will the UTH still warm the inside temp of the tank ?

[PitOnTheProwl]

The heat mat will create a hot spot but does almost nothing for ambient temps.
89ish degrees doesnt really feel warm to us either. A non contact thermometer will be a good investment too.