Need Temperature Help (surface temps too low)

[Connah]

Hello all,

I am a first-time owner and I have a young female Ball. She's just about a month old and seems pretty happy but I am having trouble with the temperatures in her viv. Here's the setup:
20-long glass (insulated with black foam board on sides and back), fine aspen substrate, two UTHs (one on each end, both hooked up to thermostats, one set for hot and one for cold). The thermostat probes are taped to the underside of the heat pads. I know it's best to have them between the pad and the glass but I still have small pads because she's young and in a smaller enclosure and putting the probe in between didn't really work with the small pads, they didn't get around the probe to make enough contact with the glass.

The problem I have is that the temperatures are too low, and I'm having a hard time getting her hot spot warm enough, even with the thermostat set really high. I measure the temps with a heat gun, and when I measure the glass directly (on the inside of the enclosure above the heat pad), it reads more than high enough, but when I measure the surface of the substrate above the pad, it's always too cold. It seems that not enough heat is getting through the substrate to the surface. I tried removing some substrate so it was thinner and it only helped a tiny bit. I don't want to go too thin and expose her to the glass.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I be measuring my desired temperature on the glass directly? I also have a digital thermometer with a probe but its readings are similar to the heat gun thermometer. If I do need to increase my temperatures, how can I do so?

Thanks so much to anyone who can advise.

[BPGator]

Your desired temp should be the glass temp. Your BP will move the substrate to get to the glass if it wants the warmer temp. You don't want the high temp on the substrate surface, because that would mean very high glass temps which your BP may come in contact with. If you have a hide over it, that will help hold in some of the heat and it will be a little warmer inside the hide. Reduce your thermostat temp so your glass reading on the inside is stable at around 90°.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Connah]

Your desired temp should be the glass temp. Your BP will move the substrate to get to the glass if it wants the warmer temp. You don't want the high temp on the substrate surface, because that would mean very high glass temps which your BP may come in contact with. If you have a hide over it, that will help hold in some of the heat and it will be a little warmer inside the hide. Reduce your thermostat temp so your glass reading on the inside is stable at around 90°.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you so much! That will make it a lot easier to be consistent with my temps.