making the transition from old setup to new.....

[FrankieCarbone]

Ok i have a few questions. Just came back from the reptile expo here in NYC, and i bought the works. My male pastel has been growing rapidly, (was 179g when i got him 2-3 months ago and now is 316g) and i have bought the ultimate and probaly last setup he will need for years. I opted for the 29g aquarium. Was gonna go 20 long but i wanted the added height for decorations purposes and got the 29g. Bought 2 new identical hides, ultratherm UTH, have a herpstat propotional on the way that will be hooked up to it, a new water dish, aspen bedding, branches, plants, etc etc, all the works. What i want to know is, do i need to do the usual 2 week waiting period after introducing him into the new setup before trying to feed? He has been a strong feeder since i got him and has yet to refuse a meal.

Im going to be putting the setup together in the next few days and i wont introduce him into it until 2 days after his next feeding, which is on tuesday, so on thursday he will be going in.

Another question is, i know this has been discussed before, but should i hot glue the thermostat probe inside the enclosure, on in between the UTH and tank? which is more effective?

[Amp625]

I think in your case you should not take him out for at least a week but still feed him. He might be in some stress from a new and different home but if hes a strong feeder I think it would be fine to feed him.
With my probes i just tape them to the bottom of the UTH on the outside of the cage with tin foil tape, then i put another digital thermometer inside the cage on the hotspot and mess with the temps

[Trogdorpheus]

I wouldn't hotglue anything that's supposed to be directly above your hot-spot. That's just asking for trouble, cuz the hot glue will be very weak at that elevated temperature.

[FrankieCarbone]

i have been doing some more research and found out different things. First some agree that you should hot glue the probe on the inside because you get more accurate temp readings than if you have the probe on the outside, then there are some that say its better to have it on the outside, because there is a chance that your BP can coil around the probe, and if its core body temp is 86 degrees for example, then the thermostat is gonne shoot up to a higher temp when really its already high its just mistakenly reading your bps temps since its right on top of the probe.

Now another thing, i bought both a zoo med and ultra therm head pad. Im deciding under which i should use. Its come to my attention that ultra therm headpads only go as high as 95 degrees, which basically tells me that i dont even NEED a thermostat on that, because arent the UTH supposed to be a around 93? so a dimmer would suffice. Which pisses me of cause i already spent the 116 dollars on a herpstat. So i'am very confused. Should i use the zoo med (which can get very hot) with my thermostat, or just use the ultra therm with the dimmer.

[Amp625]

yeah, definatly dont put it on the inside, because i put mine on the outside there is not as accurate. However, thats why i put another digital thermometer on the inside. For example, if i set the T-stat to a perfect 91 then it would probably be around 88 in the hotspot. Which i would see from the digital thermometer. So i jack the T-stat up to 94 and it hits 91. Also it probaly dpsnt matter what heat pad if they both hit the required hot spot temp. And herpstats are allways very nice and will be much easier then a cheap dimmer.

[FrankieCarbone]

anybody on here with ultratherm head pads, that live in colder climate states ever had a problem reaching the desired temps in the winter time?

[YOSEF]

I have an Ultra-therm heat pad. The truth is that they DO GET OVER 95. The Ultra-therm faq sheet from Reptile basics.com tells you that the temps can fluctuate depending on your room temps. I have mine on a thermostat with the probe taped to the pad on the OUTSIDE of the tub. It works great.

HTH

Shalom,
Yosef

[kitedemon]

It is quite a debate I have been doing both. I have some inside and some outside. Tubs I'd go outside as the tub wall is so light the differential is quite small. On heavy containers (PVCx enclosures or glass) I'd go inside. Hot glue works great it melts at 300-400ºF so 90 is not even close to melting temps it certainly doesn't melt in your hand. Heavy enclosures mean much higher deferential temps and as the ambient temps lift during the day so does the hot spot and the t-stat due to the weight will not shut it down. I have never had a snake laying on the probe change the interior temp more than 1 degree same goes for pee I have yet had a snake poo on the probe.

I believe in back up systems 100% I have one one every probe a second emergency shut down. In the past month I have seen at least one post about a probe pulled loose from a rack and the snakes burnt and deaths occurring. With a back up if the snake does anything to the probe the back up will kick in.

Interior probes need to be secure (well so do exterior ones too) it is much more accurate with heavy walled enclosures that act as an insulator. It is less likely to pull an interior probe than an exterior one as it is passing through a small hole and is secured as apposed to just secured.

Remember do not use aluminium tape to tape probes down it conducts well and can increase the inaccuracy. Dion of herpstat recommends interior placement.

[FrankieCarbone]

i was just about to take the hot glue inside the tub route, until i read a post by one of the members here, cant find the exact post because i went thru so many today doing research i dont know where to start, but he/she has a picture of a fester looking guy with no mouth in his avatar picture. Anyway this member spoke about how he had a setup with the probe setup on the inside, got glued, and had his bp coil on top of the probe, and the bp had a internal body temp of 86 giving the probe THAT reading hence telling the thermostat to raise the temps and eventually his snake almost died because of it and he has since never used a probe inside. That was enough to scare me into taking the outside, in between the UTH/Tank route....