Fed up, getting a thermostat...

[sw204me]

So I thought a dimmer was gonna do the trick for me but I went to sleep with the warm side being 96 degrees and the cool side being about 81.3 degrees. so i figured all was well. Right before I called it a night Max climbed out of his water dish, previous post was me saying he likes to sit in there at night (getting him checked for mites tonight when I have him sex'd), and actually went into the hide on the cool side. This is the first time I have ever seen him use the cool side hide. So I took a shower and when I came back he moved over to the warm side hide, this made me really happe cause hes comfortable with his cage enough to move around.

Well, apprently in the middle of the night the heat got shut off. so my room got really freakin cold. Cool side temps droped to 77 degrees and warm side temps dropped to 88.9 degrees, but he was still sitting in his hide on the cool side. I turned the heat lamp on, was only using the UTH, to get the warm side back up to where it supposed to be, but im fed up with trying to get these temps to work so im just getting a thermostat, a dimmer just cant cut it.

My question is, how does a thermostat work? So I plug both my CHE and my UTH into the thermostat? With the CHE off my humidity is actually stable and is exsistant! I turn the CHE on and BAM! humidity goes bye bye. If i plug both into a thermostat and set it to 95 degrees will it turn both on and off at different times to maintain the 95 degrees? or will it keep one on and turn one on and off as its needed? If i have both the CHE and the UTH on at the same time with no dimmer temps spike really high, to about 104 degrees. with just the UTH on I was able to get temps to stay at 95 degrees as long as the temp in my room didnt change, which it did, so that got all fubar. Do BP's really need a CHE or as long as the bedding on the warm side is 95ish degrees they are fine, or do they have to have a light to "bake" under? I really dont want to use my CHE any more cause with it, i cant hold humidity at all, without it humidity is a piece of cake. Ill be picking up a thermostat so that his warm side is stable regardless of what my room temps are. Just not sure how they work when they have both a CHE and a UTH plugged into it. Sorry again for the post, sure you all are sick of my post, but I keep trying your alls suggestions, some dont agree with others, and some suggestions work, some dont. Hopefully this will be my last post about how to get this freakin puzzle solved.

Again, as always, thanks in advance, cause you all freakin rock and without this site I would be completely lost and my snake would have a miserable home. This site has helpped me greatly to making the perfect home for him. (if when I have him sex'd tonight and i find out its a girl, im gonna feel really weird, lol)

[mousch]

I plug my UTH into my thermostat. It has two lights on it: POWER and HEAT. The HEAT light comes on when it's making the UTH warm up and it makes a click osund when it's doing this. There's a dial and you set it to 95. Honestly, I don't think you'd need both because mine stays warn just fine with only a UTH plugged into it.
And then you don't need to worry about sacrificing your humidity! They may be expensive, but they're worth every penny.

BPs don't need a CHE to bake under. Belly heat is what they're all about.

[sw204me]

Thanks for your post, answered all my questions and then some. Thanks man.

[mousch]

No problem, the wait between a post and a reply with all the answers feels like an eternity to me too when I need help

[sw204me]

Well I had typed out a huge reply to your post, then I think you edited yours, and your edit nailed my new post on the head. cause i wasnt sure if i would be ok to completely remove the CHE or not. There any bulbs out there thought that give off like but not alot of heat?

[mousch]

Why do you want light in your enclosure, first of all? In case you think he needs UVA/UVB - he doesn't. Snakes are fine without it. Now if you want one so that you can watch at night you want a Red lightbulb. This spectrum of light won't bother them as much, so you'll be able to watch nighttime snakey antics without stressing your snake out.

[jglass38]

You don't ever want to put your thermostat probe on top of the substrate regardless of how thick it is. When it gets dislodged (and it will) the temps will shoot up and possibly kill your snake. Thermostat probes go OUTSIDE the enclosure.

[mousch]

Really? I swear I remember being told to put tstat probles on the inside, but Jaime is definitely smarter than me about this stuff

[rabernet]

So I plug both my CHE and my UTH into the thermostat?

If you're going to use both, you'll need two thermostats, one to control each one.

[rabernet]

Really? I swear I remember being told to put tstat probles on the inside, but Jaime is definitely smarter than me about this stuff

You put your digital thermometer probe inside on top of the substrate to measure what those temps are.