Urgent re AcuVite Temp/Humidity Meter ?s

[Linda]

Hi,
It was recommended to me that I use the above unit in my tank to get exact temperatures on both the cold and hot side of my ball's tank and also keep track of the humidity.

I just attached the meter with velcro to the bottom of the back side of the tank on the cool side. I have the probe attached to the glass under the hot side hide with the sticky tape it comes with.

I am concerned as the meter is showing the temp on the glass under the substrate to be 115.50 degrees YIKES!!!!!

I know this is way too hot for her.

I've been advised by several listmembers to keep the hot side between
90 - 93 degrees F.

I also use a red heat lamp on the screen on top with clear contact paper over the screen.
I have attached a timer to the heat lamp but I don't think the probe is going to even pick up what the heat up above the hidey is with the heat mat putting out that much heat.

Do I have to put a dimmer on the heat mat also?
If her mat has been 115.50 all these months and she still got an upper RI, then I was certainly NOT keeping her tank too cold.

I don't know what to do at this point.
Use two dimmers,one for heat lamp and one for under tank heat mat?
Can a heat mat use a normal lamp dimmer?
Use just the heat mat and no heat lamp?
But what about when she is on top of the hide or lying out of the hide but not on the cold side. How will I know what the air temp is on the hot side.

HELP ME SOMEONE PLEASE I'm afraid she is going to fry. I have to go get her out of the hide.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Sounds like a quality thermostat would be a great place for you to start. It takes all of the guess work out and keeps the proper temps for you!

-adam

[Linda]

Hi Adam,


Becky uses these and quite a few others do too.

I have spent close to $100 on two of these units and two dimmers.

They say they work fine for them.

What does a thermostat do that these don't?

[SatanicIntention]

A thermostat is much different than a thermometer. A thermostat is the same kind that is in your house regulating how warm or cool it is. I apologize if you got confused. I'm sorry you've spent so much on these items.

Just wondering, are you measuring the temps on the bottom of the glass under the substrate or on top of the substrate where the snake is? My heat pads are usually a little bit over 100 degrees to get the substrate temp to 95. I have 4 sheets of newspaper and 1.5-2 inches of cypress mulch. The newspaper is just in case she decides to move the substrate out of the way and lay on the bottom(she never has though). What are you using for substrate, newspaper/paper towels/etc? If you are measuring on the glass, then it is definately going to be hotter than on top of the substrate. When I used newspaper/paper towels, I would tape(masking tape) the layers to the bottom, and then tape each subsequent layer to the previous one, so they wouldn't slide around. If she can't get underneath the substrate, and the temps on top of the bedding are in the ranges where they are supposed to be, then I would say you're ok. What types of dimmers are you using? Lamp dimmers from WalMart or the ones from the pet store? Lamp dimmers are easy to wire and run about $3 from WalMart, but someone mentioned that a nicer one could be bought from Home Depot/Lowe's for $10, and there was no wiring involved. Neato stuff(I still have to go check that out).

You mentioned you bought two units for each cage, correct? With my two units, I velcroed one to the upper wall of the cool side and ran the probe under the cool side hide, on top of the substrate. The other unit was velcroed to the upper wall of the warm side and the probe was ran under the warm side hide on top of the substrate. This way it measures the ambient temps, substrate temps and relative humidity for each side. Yay Anal Retentiveness! I don't put them on the bottom of the tub because then I wouldn't be getting an accurate measurement of what the snake is actually experiencing, since the bottom is always going to be hotter than on top of the bedding.

I'm long-winded and I could keep on writing, but hopefully this helped out a bit. Since the snake is recovering from a RI(from humidity not heat), I would get the temps to 94-95 and keep them there on a permanent basis, so we don't get a recurrence. I think you will be fine with the equipment you have, just make sure she doesn't come in contact with the bottom glass. We don't need to treat a burn along with the cold

[Linda]

Becky,


Hi,
I bought the same kind you are using in your photos. But so far I have only one up. I wanted to wait until I heard from you.

I have the probe right on the glass.
Do you tape it to the top of the newspapers?

So the second one shows you the ambient temperature in the air on the hot
side. So you are basically getting two temps for each side...inside the hide
and in the air on that side.

Is this correct? And you also get humidity readings on both sides which hopefully will be close to each other.

Becky, would you mind sending me your private email? Just in case I need to reach you in a hurry.

[SatanicIntention]

Hola Linda,

No, I didn't tape it to the newspaper, I just put it under the hide on top of the newspaper and the weight of the hide held it in place. I wouldn't tape it anywhere since the snake could possibly get the tape on her and that would just be another mess to deal with. If Amani moves the probe in her galavanting around the tub, I just put it back where it was. It has stayed in place very well since the mulch is rough and creates more friction, so it doesn't slide around. I would just place it on top of the newspaper under her hide.

Since you have one unit, lay the unit flat on the cool side floor so the display is pointing up, and run the probe over to the warm side hide as mentioned above. This will measure surface temps for both the cool and warm side and relative humidity for the cool side. A second unit isn't needed, but for us anal retentive people, it makes our OCD a little better

So you are basically getting two temps for each side...inside the hide
and in the air on that side

Exactly! Plus the humidity for each side. On the warmer side, it will be higher, since warm air carries more moisture.

I'll send you a PM right quick, but you will probably reach me here much faster since I'm on here all... the... time... Anyway, Hope this has helped a bit, and keep asking those questions if you're unsure of something. I have to get going since I have a nekkid little girl rat staring at me... Wanting me to get her out and play...

[frankykeno]

Linda, with our new bp Baby we are also using the AccuRite, tho only one of them as she's not in a full size Rubbermaid yet being just a baby.

This is how we have it set up. Actual unit is on the cool side on top of the layers of paper towels, then the cord runs up and out of the tub around the back and back into the tub with the probe end just tucked into her warm hide. The probe doesn't seem to bother her nor she it (I seriously doubt Baby is even aware the probe is there). It is not stuck down to anything. The hide is terracotta and heavy enough to keep the probe in place just laying there on top of the paper towels we are using for a substrate.

This way the unit reads as follows:

first reading is the cool side temp
next reading down is the warm side temp under her warm hide
last reading is the humidity

I know on my AccuRite I had to push a few buttons to get what I wanted as it "defaulted" to time, temp, humidity rather than two temps and humidity.

We have had to fiddle with putting a few more holes in our tub, finding the right setting for the heat pad, etc. to get the temps and humidity steady in the range we want them.

So what I'm reading, in essense, is the cool side temperature on top of the substrate, the warm side temperature under the warm hide on top of the substrate and the humidity for the tub. I figure if there is any difference on top of the warm side hide it would have to be fairly minor. The difference between the two temps seems to be generally 12 - 16 degrees.

Hope this helps. Being new owners we are sorting this out too.


~~Joanna~~

P.S. Just a quick thought....if you took off the little paper thingy and stuck the probe onto the glass when you remove it there will still be a sticky area so I'd put a bit of paper on that or Camille might get stuck to the sticky back side of the probe. We didn't remove the paper from that sticky area so I'm not sure how much tackiness is there to become a problem.

[Isshinharu]

Lamp dimmers are easy to wire and run about $3 from WalMart, but someone mentioned that a nicer one could be bought from Home Depot/Lowe's for $10, and there was no wiring involved. Neato stuff(I still have to go check that out).

Yeah, that was me I believe.
Here's a link to the lutron website http://www.lutron.com/lampdimmers/de...=17000&t=17200
...and if you go to Home Depot's website and do a search for "lutron" you'll find it there. For some reason you can't browse for it in their products catalog though... it only show up in a search. I'd copy and paste a link directly to it, but I just tried and it didn't work when I tested the link. Oh well.

Here's the one I have (the Credenza model... the Attache` model requires splicing I believe)...


It says on Home Depot's website that they sell both models (Credenza and Attache`) but I only saw the Credenza in the store. Oh, and for some reason I was thinking it was $10... the website says that it is $16.50... it very well may be cheaper bought "in store" (I'm pretty sure I didn't pay $16.50 for one); I'll look for my receipt tonight when I get home. Some places jack their prices up or down for online purchases depending on what sells and what doesn't. Hope that helps.

[SatanicIntention]

Thank you! Those things are so nifty I might just have to go pick me up 1 or three...

On my two units, I didn't take the paper off of the probe to make it sticky. Just left it there. When I used only one unit, I always had the unit itself on the cool side and the probe on the warm side(maybe it's just me, but I always thought the probe was a little more accurate, so I wanted the most accurate sensor on the side that mattered a little more). There goes my OCD again Hey Adam, where are you? You know about the anal retentiveness also :-D

[frankykeno]

Yep that's what we are doing too Becky as per your instructions and it's working great so far. We just left the little protective paper on the probe itself.

The only thing we found that our humidity seemed a tad on the high side but then realized that the unit had gotten moved so it was dead beside the water bowl. We've since moved the unit away from the water bowl and secured it properly and are reading 57% humidity which I believe is in the correct area for a non-shedding snake.

Linda we are finding that if we redo anything in Baby's environment (including lifting off the big lid) it does take the Accu-Rite a bit of time to read the new temps/humidity properly as the tank levels re-adjust.

~~Joanna~~