Not liking setup...temp swings

[walzon1]

So picked up a gorgeous Mojave Leopard this past Repticon and setup a 6qt. For him . After testing with temp gun from hot spot was 90 , 80, 75 gradient to cold side which I wasn't very happy with. Since only 2 inches of tub wasnt covered by heat mat I figured it would be fine.

After adding paper towel and hide and him the temps climbed to 93 I had to drop thermostat to 86 in order to get hot spot down to 90

Now my ambient is around 78 at night down to 72 on the cold side when house temps are down to 70.

Not only that but when I check temps with lid off temps drop so fast it's hard to get a good reading with gun. I put a Digital temp probe on hot side under paper towel and the temp is 91 so the hot spot is good just the rest of the tub isnt the ambient I would like

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[Bogertophis]

I hate to say this, but this is exactly why we suggest everyone set up their enclosure to test out for at least a week BEFORE bringing home a
snake to put in it. A week may not even be enough time, if you have to order things or get creative to achieve the right temperatures.

Also, you said "...only 2 inches of tub wasnt covered by heat mat ..." and that concerns me greatly. If (or "when"!) your thermostat fails, you
will literally have a cooked snake. For safety's sake, please allow at least a third of the floor space of whatever kind of enclosure you're using
to be without any heat. Snakes evolved with the ability & NEED to thermo-regulate. If you need to heat the whole floor to keep the temperatures
up where they need to be for a healthy BP, then you should consider installing the set-up in some type of furniture cabinet for insulation purposes.
Wood & air are both great insulators, and it's a real challenge to keep a stand-alone tub enclosure warm enough for some species (like BPs) if your
home/room temps. fluctuate so much.

[pretends2bnormal]

My go-to for single-snake QT enclosures/tubs is a ceramic lamp dome with a small CHE clipped to something nearby and aimed roughly toward the enclosure (within about 3 feet, but not directly on/attached to the enclosure). I use a dimmer for it, but an on/off thermostat would work fine, just hang the probe inside the tub at the cool end and test what temps if reads that match what you need it to be. If you need to test this with an existing animal, grab a spare plastic tub similar to it and move the one with the snake far enoigh away for safety while testing to make sure you don't overheat the snake. Unless they've eaten, another day or two cool while you test is better than accidentally cooking them with the supplemental heat by rushing it.

All I do is aim to heat that corner of the room to about 77-78 for nighttime temps, if it is a few degrees warmer in the day, even the dimmer should keep it below 82 with how my house is, but higher fluctuations would make the thermostat route safer than the dimmer.

If you add supplemental heat like this, definitely reduce how much of the tub is heated by UTH. (Actually.. probably best to do that regardless.)

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[walzon1]

I hate to say this, but this is exactly why we suggest everyone set up their enclosure to test out for at least a week BEFORE bringing home a
snake to put in it. A week may not even be enough time, if you have to order things or get creative to achieve the right temperatures.

Also, you said "...only 2 inches of tub wasnt covered by heat mat ..." and that concerns me greatly. If (or "when"!) your thermostat fails, you
will literally have a cooked snake. For safety's sake, please allow at least a third of the floor space of whatever kind of enclosure you're using
to be without any heat. Snakes evolved with the ability & NEED to thermo-regulate. If you need to heat the whole floor to keep the temperatures
up where they need to be for a healthy BP, then you should consider installing the set-up in some type of furniture cabinet for insulation purposes.
Wood & air are both great insulators, and it's a real challenge to keep a stand-alone tub enclosure warm enough for some species (like BPs) if your
home/room temps. fluctuate so much.

I did do this a week in advance and temps were fine but not ideal like I said.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[walzon1]

I just don't understand what the point of the temp gun is. It's pretty useless at this point if temps are 86 at the heat mat but then raise to 90+ in the hide, when I open the top of the tub to use temp gun all the heat and humidtly come out and temps plummet before I can get a good reading

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[jmcrook]

I just don't understand what the point of the temp gun is. It's pretty useless at this point if temps are 86 at the heat mat but then raise to 90+ in the hide, when I open the top of the tub to use temp gun all the heat and humidtly come out and temps plummet before I can get a good reading

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

That is precisely the reason a temp gun is necessary. With out an instant read non contact thermometer how else would you know that your temps plummet so quickly when the enclosure is opened?
Without a warm enough room temp a heat pad/heat tape/uth will do little if anything for your ambient temps. The distant CHE suggestion mentioned is the same strategy I use for a plastic tub set up in a cooler than ideal room in order to maintain ambient temps in the tub


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk