heating question

[slipknotsteve]

Currently I have a UTH and I am also using a 100w basking in lamp, but the "hot" side doesn't exede 81 degrees I'm using digital not analogue thermometer. Should I switch too a 150 w bulb? At night I use a 100 watt red nightime incandescent bulb and the temperature drops to 73 degrees with the UTH on.

[ewaldrep]

Can you provide more details about your enclosure, I hope you have a thermostat on the UTH. Some more info will help any advice you get such as the size of your enclosure, type of material, thermometer placement, type of substrate, etc. I know that when I was trying to figure out my UTH I was trying to measure on top of the substrate and it was barely above 80 while it was 96 below the substrate. I was just new and got some great feedback from the vets on the forum, best of luck.

[Dippolar]

I seem to have the same problem with my new ball python's enclosure. I have a probe under the substrate right above my uth and also two thermostats measuring the cold and hot sides. I also have a 100w basking light used in a ceramic heating lamp fixture. The substrate I am currently using is Eco earth loose coconut fiber substrate blend. The tank is 20 gallons long and has a mesh metal top. The light fixture is positioned on the hot side right above the hiding log I have in the enclosure. The temperature on both the thermostat above the uth and the hot side never exceeds 85 degrees but is normally at 80-82 degrees, the cool side reads only 70 degrees, and only sometimes gets up to 73-75. I do not have a red or black bulb yet ( I Plan to buy one today) so I had to leave the light and pad on last night. I was wondering if maybe I should get another fixture and place a red or black bulb towards the cool side to try and get the cool side up to a steady 75 degrees and the hot side to 85 degrees. I would be changing the 100w day bulb to a ceramic heating bulb that produces the same heat with no light emission for night. Does this sound like a good idea? I am very new to this so any help would be not only greatly appreciated but also will benefit the quality of habitat for the snake. Thank you.

[slipknotsteve]

29 gal. Glass Mesh metal top, cypress mulch, and I'm trying to get the ambient air temp up, the thermometer is in the hot and I'm on the cold side about 5 inches off the bottom

[I-KandyReptiles]

29 gal. Glass Mesh metal top, cypress mulch, and I'm trying to get the ambient air temp up, the thermometer is in the hot and I'm on the cold side about 5 inches off the bottom

The thermometer should be directly on the cypress with the probe ontop of the glass, over the UTH.

Is your Uth regulated with a thermostat and does your lamp have a dimmer?

[earthdragons737]

Put your lamp on a thermostat. Zoo med sells a thermostat for around 20 bucks. It's called repti temp 500r, its great for single cages. If your having trouble reaching your desired ambiant temp them upgrade the bulb, as long as its on a thermostat its ok to have more wattage than what is needed (as long as you don't excede the limits for the thermostat (ex 500r is 500 watts)). Run this with a thermometer to get it perfectas the 500r does not have a lable to tell the exact temp. At the same time purchase at your hardware store a lamp dimmer. It's very inexpensive and will prevent you snake from getting burned by the UTH. Plug it into the UTH and put a thermometer directly on the substrate and get the set to the perfect temp. Aso this should fix the ambient temp in the cage on both ends (run the lamp on the hot side w/ the thermometer) and it should take care of the cold side. If not put SOME foil over the cold side to retain heat. This is the best way to solve your problem cheaply and effectivly. Happy herping!

(i know the thermostat sound complicated but it's not bad, just look it up and its a peice of cake...)

[martin82531]

This is the setup I have for my glass enclosure. The bulb is a 150 watt red bulb set on a dimmer. The room temperature (outside the enclosure) is 72-73 degrees this gives me a basking temp of exactly 90 degrees. I also have a UTH on the same side as the bulb (UTH does not affect ambient temps inside). I have found the heat from the bulb gives me temps of 80 degrees on the cool side with 50-55 % RH. I'm using ecoearth as a substrate.

Underneath the white towels is a cardboard box cut to the appropriate length wrapped in tinfoil to help keep humidity and temps at the appropriate levels. This seems to be working perfect for me as the temps are stable and I only have to re-hydrate the soil every 2-3 days. The other two brown towels are just folded up pillow cases.




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[slipknotsteve]

How much was the dimmer? ^ do you have your UTH on a T-stat?

[earthdragons737]

I found a dimmer at lowe's for $2-3. It's just a regular lamp dimmer.

[martin82531]

How much was the dimmer? ^ do you have your UTH on a T-stat?

Yes the UTH is on a thermostat. The dimmer I have is this one.

http://amzn.com/B003H200QC


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