New BP! Questions, pictures.

[swansonbb]

If you're going to use a temp gun, I'd monitor the substrate, the glass & the UTH itself (lift up the tank). That will make sure he doesn't get burned.

[Kaorte]

If you have a probe then stick it right on the glass under the substrate where the UTH is. This will let you know the hottest point your snake can reach.

[steez]

Went and got two of those Accurites. The right one has a probe stuck right on top of the glass where the UTH is. The glass is really hot, as you can see. I also added a dimmer on the UTH and have it OFF right now so the temp down there goes down. Once it gets to the 95ish range I'll turn on the UTH to like 1/4 strength and see where the temp goes. Inside temperature and humidity a bit low too because the light was off for a while while i was installing this stuff. Humidity is back up to 50 now and temps getting a bit higher. I also added black paper all around the back/sides of the tank so he's more comfortable.

[steez]

So I'm using the dimmer with the UTH. I have the probe down attached to the glass under the Aspen and I removed the reptile carpet from under the Aspen (fits over where the UTH is). I have the dimmer at like 20% and when I turned the UTH on the probe is already at 105 again, which is too hot. The surface temp of the Aspen is 92 though.

**UPDATE**

I don't think the dimmer is really reducing the UTH heat enough, I turned it down as far as I can on the dimmer without actually shutting it off and I'll see how it is. If it doesn't go down I'm just going to have to use the reptile carpet on top of the glass where the UTH is. It prevents them from touching the actual glass part that is very hot to the touch and wouldn't burn them. As long as the surface temperature is okay and the glass that is too hot is covered by the carpet, it should be okay?

[Poseidon]

I paid $53 for this Zilla Thermostat from Petco today. I plugged my UTH into it and it has YET to actually turn on the heat source. I have it set to 92 and I guess the probe is still telling it to stay off. I'm really considering taking this thing back and just buying a dimmer for my UTH. I could start it at half power, wait an hour and check surface temp and adjust as needed. What do you think?

I have a lamp dimmer with Zoomed UTH. The size of the UTH is for the 10-20 gallon. I started at the very lowest slide setting and went upwards. When I reached halfway, it read about 100 degrees. It took gentle hands to hit that spot between 100 and 86 degrees on the dimmer.

Question: what type of dimmer are you using? You might not have one with the correct watt range.

[RetiredJedi]

Can't go wrong with one of THESE.

[steez]

I have a lamp dimmer with Zoomed UTH. The size of the UTH is for the 10-20 gallon. I started at the very lowest slide setting and went upwards. When I reached halfway, it read about 100 degrees. It took gentle hands to hit that spot between 100 and 86 degrees on the dimmer.

Question: what type of dimmer are you using? You might not have one with the correct watt range.

I got one at home depot that was 300w. Same as the recommendation earlier in my thread.

I may have spoken too soon though, today I've hit that 'sweet spot' with it and my probe on the glass is telling me 96 and has been steady all morning! My IR thermometer is saying the surface is 91. Right now the air temp inside ranges from 86 on hot side and 81 on cold side. My humidity is steady at 50. The substrate goes from 92 above the UTH to about 80 in the coldest spot (under the hide on the cold side). So I'm thinking I got it just about perfect for him!

Can't go wrong with one of THESE.

Very cool, thanks for the recommendation!