A few questions :)

[sarbear]

I've just been through my first shedding experience, I believe it was pretty successful. He shed all in one piece except for the very tip of his tail, maybe 1/8 worth of skin left on. We removed it with a damp cloth. Is this enough to worry about?

Also, I am waiting for my herpstat to be delivered from spyderrobotics, hopefully it should be here soon. Right now I have 2 UTH's running with ReptiTemp 500Rs. The cool side stays between 80 and 82 on top of the substrate, 84 on the glass. The hot side is not very stable and keeps getting too hot when the UTH turns on. I've turned it down but not most of the time, the temp on the warm side is 84-87 on the substrate. Is it ok to keep the temps this low on the warm side until the herpstat gets here?

And he hasn't eaten since before the shed so I'm planning on feeding him tonight, are his temps warm enough for that or should I wait until the herpstat is here and the warm side is at the right temp?

Thanks for any help

[Jason Bowden]

No worries about the shed.

I also think you can feed your snake. Maybe just bump your hot side up slightly. The snake will go where it needs to be.

[sarbear]

Oops, that's supposed to say now* most of the time, not not. I can't find how to edit. Is there a way?

[Kaorte]

you can only edit 10 or 15 minutes after you post, then it locks the post.

So the reptitemp for your hot side just kicks on and stays on? Where did you put the probe for it?

[sarbear]

It doesn't stay on, but when it comes on it heats up to between 98 and 105 before it shuts off again. That was why I turned it down. The probe is between the UTH and the glass, under the tank. The temp on the glass with my temp gun would also get to 98-100. That's why I turned it down, hoping that the UTH shuts back off before it get's that warm, but then it doesn't get to 90 on the substrate or the glass that way.

[Kaorte]

It doesn't stay on, but when it comes on it heats up to between 98 and 105 before it shuts off again. That was why I turned it down. The probe is between the UTH and the glass, under the tank. The temp on the glass with my temp gun would also get to 98-100. That's why I turned it down, hoping that the UTH shuts back off before it get's that warm, but then it doesn't get to 90 on the substrate or the glass that way.

Are you also checking with a probed thermometer? Sometimes if you shoot the temp gun on the glass it reflects and gives you a bad reading. You need to shoot it at a non reflective surface.

That is bizarre though. Maybe the heat pad is faulty? Can you switch the hot side and the cool side? Does the other UTH overheat?

[sarbear]

The UTH under the cool side is smaller than the one on the warm side which is why it doesn't heat up as much. I had the smaller one on the warm side at the beginning, but it doesn't heat up enough to get the warm temps right. I don't think the UTH is faulty, I just think the ReptiTemp is crummy lol. It only has a colored dial, no numbers, so I can't see what temp it's set at. I'm really excited to get the herpstat and I'm really hoping it'll solve all of my issues.

I did have a probe on the top of the glass under the substrate for a while but I moved it under the glass when I had to put the probe for the ReptiTemp there, so I wouldn't have both in the same place. I was comparing the temp probe reading to the gun for a while and they always matched. I read the instruction manual to make sure that it gives accurate readings on glass. Hopefully it's the truth heh.

[Kaorte]

I have a reptitemp running on a piece of flexwatt and it has been holding temps steady for almost 2 years. Maybe you just have a bad unit or something. Whatever the problem, the herpstat should fix it.

[stevepoppers]

The hot side pad is controlled by it's own thermostat, right? And whatever it's set to, the pad gets to 100 degrees before the thermostat shuts it off?

Are you sure you're not just making too drastic adjustments with the dial? I can move it by a hair's width to adjust, but my girlfriend is heavy handed and swings it by 5 degrees every time she touches it.

[sarbear]

Yes, the hot side is controlled by it's own thermostat. I'm moving it just a hair and when it's turned down enough to not get to 100, it doesn't get to 90 on top of the glass. It's really frustrating. I assume it's because it's an on/off thermostat and a bigger pad than the cool side. I hear it swings 3 or 4 degrees in either direction before it turns on or off and if this is true, it explains my problem. I don't know why other people are using it successfully, maybe it's the pad size or maybe some people aren't seeing it at the max temp? The cold side also swings but it just doesn't get as high because it's a smaller pad and set lower.

Anyway, my herpstat should be here today. I hope it solves the problem