Are UTH always this frustrating?

[thedeathhippie]

I have a BP in a 20 gallon glass enclosure with a comparable ZooMed UTH on the hot side. My Accurite thermometer is reading 135 over the mat. I bought a dimmer switch and that is the lowest I can get it. is there anything I can put in between the mat and the tank to try and lower that temp? If I pull it off and try and reattach it will I break the UTH? I have it unhooked at the moment and am using a heat light until I can figure out something that won't burn my baby

[Tzeentch]

It's not recommended to pull it off and re-use it. But I did that with mine.
Peel it off slowly, and when you reapply, I used Heat-resistant foil tape to make sure it stays on. It's $20 a roll at Home Depot though.

I use a thermastate for my main tank but I am currently using a light dimmer on a 10 gallon tank that I have. My accurrite does not read anything near 130 degrees. I have it set to half way and its about 90 degrees.

If you can, buy a thermastate

[thedeathhippie]

So I just got back from Wally World with a new Accutemp and the temp reads 92 so I unhooked the other one and put it in the fridge. It says the inside of my fridge is 80 so... bad probe not hot matt.

[IndySnake]

It's not recommended to pull it off and re-use it. But I did that with mine.
Peel it off slowly, and when you reapply, I used Heat-resistant foil tape to make sure it stays on. It's $20 a roll at Home Depot though.

I use a thermastate for my main tank but I am currently using a light dimmer on a 10 gallon tank that I have. My accurrite does not read anything near 130 degrees. I have it set to half way and its about 90 degrees.

If you can, buy a thermastate

$20??? Dang, that's expensive! I got mine for $4.99

[steveboos]

My roll was $15 for foil tape, but yes those zoomed pads get damaged and dangerous when you remove them and bend the heat elements.

I always recommend getting a Thermostat of some sort, but dimmers and Rheostats can work in emergency situations or when money isn't readily available. Glad it was just the thermometer that was broken, poor snake would be burning up if that's how hot it really was!!

[thedeathhippie]

I moved her to another enclosure immediately when I saw that reading. I am glad it was just the thermometer too. Getting a stat on payday to go with the boaphile cage hopefully on its way (in like 4 weeks). Plastic is so much easier to control humidity that my glass one.