BP Heating Issue

[BrandonPythons]

Okay I just bought a second BP as my first one was doing great but the issue I am getting is I only have 1 probe which is measuring the heat on one of the heatmats. The heatmat that has the probe is at the correct temperature as it should but the one without the probe is not at the correct temperature and its higher because when the probe detects its at the correct temperature it will switch both off and if its not it will switch them both on which causes the one without the probe to be hotter and I'm not sure what to do other than buying a new thermostat...? Got any ideas?

[RXLReptiles]

Each enclosure you have should have it's own thermostat. You definitely need get a second thermostat for your second enclosure.

I'd recommend hopping on Amazon and seeing if you can get one over-nighted to you, or if you have a local store that sells one that could be an option. Lastly if you can't get one quickly, you could run to a home improvement store and get an inline dimmer switch that the heater will plug into and turn it down to the proper temp with that, checked with a thermometer. But I only recommend that as a temporary last ditch fix until you can get another thermostat.

That's why I ended up switching to racks as I can house several BP's with one thermostat to control the whole rack. And if you build one yourself they are a ton cheaper and easier to maintain than tanks.

[BrandonPythons]

How does a rack work, like how does one thermostat control the whole thing? Are you using heat tape?

[RXLReptiles]

Yes, I use THG heat tape in my rack. It costs like $2-3 a foot from pangeareptile.com and I serpentine it back and forth through the shelves so that it is under each tub when finished.

Heres a pic of one of my smaller racks that I built and it's currently housing 5 snakes ranging from 600 to 2200 grams. All tubs are heated by 6" heat tape in the back of the shelves of the rack.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[BrandonPythons]

Yes, I use THG heat tape in my rack. It costs like $2-3 a foot from pangeareptile.com and I serpentine it back and forth through the shelves so that it is under each tub when finished.

Heres a pic of one of my smaller racks that I built and it's currently housing 5 snakes ranging from 600 to 2200 grams. All tubs are heated by 6" heat tape in the back of the shelves of the rack.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Thanks for all the help, would you say a 6" heat tape/mat would heat up the warm side of the tub because I feel like 6" isn't that big and wouldn't warm it up that high. I currently have a long heat mat (could fit 3 tubs on it) by 6" but I'm wondering if it would actually heat the whole hot side up

[RXLReptiles]

With the tubs I use, the heat tape covers between 1/4 and 1/3 of the tub (which is the recommended min/max amount of hot spot) and it does a great job of warming up the hot spot to 89-90 degrees, and some of the residual heat does slightly transfer to a warmer ambient on the warm side.

The cool side of the tubs are more dependent on room temp, but I'm able to change the amount of airflow in the house via the vents. So most of my house is a comfortable 70-72 while my office/reptile room is closer to 78-80 year round.

It's definitely not a perfect solution, but it can also be accomplished with a cool side strip of heat tape, but it again would need a second thermostat or a thermostat with 2 probes and 2 outputs. Which they do make, but are way more expensive than 2 of the Jumpstart Amazon thermostats.

If you decide that more than 2-3 snakes is the plan for you, a rack with either a warmer room or 2 t-stats is definitely the way I'd go. It simplifies keeping snakes a lot, but be warned, if you build a rack with a decent amount of tubs in it, you'll end up trying to find ways to fill them. Lol.

And as for multiple probe/multiple output t-stats, I'd recommend the Herpstat line of thermostats by Spyder Robotics. They have t-stats with 1,2,4, and 6 probes and outputs. Plus they have the benefit of not being an on/off t-stat so they keep a more consistent temp overall.