tape?

[CopperNightShade]

I need to have a piece of repi-carpet sitting over the UTH in my 10gal in order to dissipate the temperature to the perfect (85.2F F)... Without it, my little hatchling, who is fond of squirming under the substrate, can burn himself by sitting directly on the glass.

Is it safe to use a bit of tape to hold the repi-carpet in place so he doesn't wiggle his way under it too? The borders of the carpet are about 1'' wider than the UTH, so the tape isn't in direct contact with the hot part of the glass.

[reptidude1]

yeah as long as it wont come off and stick to the tank

[dr del]

Hi,

Disregard the above posters advice - it needs some severe clarification if it isn't to lead to potentially serious problems.

The only type of tape you should even consider using inside a snake tank is low tack painters tape. The reason being all tape will at some point very likely begin to come unstuck - especially when used over a heatpad.

At that point it will potentially stick to your snake and that can lead to the skin being ripped as the snake strugles to free itself.

The only tape that might be less likely to come unstuck because of heat would be the aluminium ducting tape - and that is so sticky only a lunatic would put it anywhere near an animal without realising there could be a problem.

Reptile carpet would be a tricky thing to stick down with tape anyway and if the animal did get underneath then when it tried to get back out it would be directly in contact with the glue on the tape.

I made a post at one point listing about 17 seperate threads where people assumed it would be ok and their snakes got hurt as a result.

What you need to do is actually control your heat source with either a thermostat or ( at least ) a dimmer switch.

I would recommend spending the little extra cash and getting the thermostat.

Alternatives would be using either hot glue or aquarium grade silicon sealant as both would be non-toxic and safe once they had cured and fully set.

But the absolute best solution is still throwing the reptile carpet away and using a thermostat to control the UTH.


dr del

[dr del]

Hi,

Here is the post with all the links before I get the usual "I've been doing it for years with no problem" replies.

If you were about to make one - you got lucky now go fix it before the luck runs out.

A little duct tape never hurt anyone!!!! Never had any issues using duct tape.

I beg to differ;

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dr del

dr del

[CopperNightShade]

Dr Del:

Thanks for the advice! I did, in fact, use low tack painter's tape (the blue stuff) to secure the carpet in place. I see now that I should consider this a temporary fix until I get my hands on a thermostat. Can you recommend a good brand?

[dr del]

Hi,

I see a lot of recommendations for the ranco or johnson on/off type thermostats - they are around $70 - $80 I think.

A less expensive one would be the repti-temp 500 for about $25- $30.

Top of the line would be either the helix or herpstat proportional thermostats - I think those run about $120- $140 but I am not really sure.

You can see some of them on this site;

http://www.reptilebasics.com/Thermostats-p-1-c-250.html


dr del

[Blue Apple Herps]

85.2 degrees won't burn your snake. How are you measuring the temps though? An unregulated UTH will get well above 100º. So it may be even hotter. If I was you I'd just unplug the UTH for now. Your corn will be fine at room temp until you can properly control the heat.

You could get something like a ZooMed 500R t-stat, pretty low budget, but would work. Something nicer would be a Johnson or Ranco. And if money isn't an issue, then you can't go wrong with a Herpstat.

But a t-stat is probably the most important investment IMO when it comes to keeping reptiles. Failure of it and deregulation of a heating element can kill your animal.

[CopperNightShade]

He did just eat, so I am trying to keep the heat on long enough for him to digest. After that, I will probably unplug the heat til I can get everything situated.
(measuring the temps with a single probe temp gauge)

[reptidude1]

crap i forgot to add in the painters tape part. THANK GOD dr del corrected me. Sorry, i remembered telling someone to use only painters tape b4 and completely forgot to add it to the post

[Blue Apple Herps]

(measuring the temps with a single probe temp gauge)

OK, that's good. I know sometimes people use those stick on thermometers to measure. Those only measure ambient air temps, which was why I was concerned that you were only reading 85.2º.