Question about UTHs inside a wooden enclosure

[bnorb]

I have a ball python and a few days ago I noticed when I touch him inside his enclosure he feels weird. Like when you stroke a balloon that's charged with static. I've had him for about a month now, Im not sure if it was like that before, but I would I just didn't notice. He feels normal when he's out. If I check the substrate with a test light, it lits up faintly.
I have a wooden enclosure, so my two UTHs are inside.
I have the following layering(top to bottom):
- coconut fiber substrate
- paper
- glass panel
- a small air gap
- UTH
- bottom of the enclosure
There's no potential difference between the subtrate and me if the UTHs are disconnected, only when at least one of them is active, so I figure there's my problem. I regulate both of them with a thermostat and one is toned down with a rheostat to create a temperature gradient. I have one more lightsource on a timer switch but that doesn't seem to interfere with anything.
Teh sockets are grounded, but the UTHs don't have grounding, so I figure it could be the electromagnetic field induced by them. If I touch the substrate with my other hand, the test light won't light up. Also if I connect a wire to the grounding pin in the socket, it doesn't light up either.

Has any of you experienced something like this before? Is it something to worry about, should I fix it with the grounding wire I mentioned? It doesn't seem to bother him too much, but I'm kinda worried.

[6strings]

Hmmm, source of EMI, glass, paper, fiber.. sounds like you made a capacitor lol.

You can probably run a ground wire from the cage floor (screwed down - use a crimp spade lug) to the ground from an outlet - the same one used by your cage heater thermostat. Those 3-to-2 prong adapters have that ground lug broken out for you.

What kind of heat pads? The carbon-conductor type (Flexwatt, THG, Ultratherm, etc) seem less problematic than nichrome wire heat pads (ZooMed, etc) for EMI if I remember correctly. I would use an Ultratherm. They are sealed quite well.

[CALM Pythons]

Wow... This is a new one!!! I would use a Flux Compositor, but then again I know NOTHING about this except it sounds like a real problem. Hope you find someone here that understands. BUMP


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[Zincubus]

I have a ball python and a few days ago I noticed when I touch him inside his enclosure he feels weird. Like when you stroke a balloon that's charged with static. I've had him for about a month now, Im not sure if it was like that before, but I would I just didn't notice. He feels normal when he's out. If I check the substrate with a test light, it lits up faintly.
I have a wooden enclosure, so my two UTHs are inside.
I have the following layering(top to bottom):
- coconut fiber substrate
- paper
- glass panel
- a small air gap
- UTH
- bottom of the enclosure
There's no potential difference between the subtrate and me if the UTHs are disconnected, only when at least one of them is active, so I figure there's my problem. I regulate both of them with a thermostat and one is toned down with a rheostat to create a temperature gradient. I have one more lightsource on a timer switch but that doesn't seem to interfere with anything.
Teh sockets are grounded, but the UTHs don't have grounding, so I figure it could be the electromagnetic field induced by them. If I touch the substrate with my other hand, the test light won't light up. Also if I connect a wire to the grounding pin in the socket, it doesn't light up either.

Has any of you experienced something like this before? Is it something to worry about, should I fix it with the grounding wire I mentioned? It doesn't seem to bother him too much, but I'm kinda worried.

Hi ...

I've experienced this very same thing over the years and nothing has ever happened , a kinda tickling / vibration when you touch the snake ...and they don't mind either ..

I actually found the reason using Google a while back but I can't for the life of me remember what it was ....


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[Zincubus]

Just found this little snippet ..

Copy and pasted , sorry ..



" What could be happening though is as the heating element is inductive what you may be able to feel is an induced EMF (Electro Magnetic Force) in the snake, but this would purely depend on how conductive the snake is ..

This is not an exact science without doing some tests, however...... generally humans start to feel the tingle sensation from electricity at around 0.25mA that is 0.00025A.

A 7W load is not going to induce much of an EMF as the actual current at 230V would be around 30mA or 0.03A. Now I am no expert on the impedance of snakes, but it could be that the snake is acting as a secondary winding on a transformer and when you touch the snake you become the load and the current passes through you and then back to source through the earth mass.
This is starting to sound more and more technical now! "

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[bnorb]

Thank you for the answers guys! The setup does act like a capacitor. When I check it with a test light, and turn it off, the light dims with a transient.

Anyway, it doesn't seem to bother Noodle that much, but I'll see if I can ground it without putting the wire iside the enclosure (above the glass or paper I mean). When I take him out, I touch the substrate with my other hand, so most of the current doesn't hsve to pass through him.

I have an Ultratherm uth and a noname one. Both csuse this same thing individually too.

[Zincubus]

I have no idea what you just wrote but .... thanks !!


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