Massive temperature variance???

[ChaosAffect]

Ok, just got my rack all set up, heat tape installed, snakes in it. I've got a Hydrofarm tstat wired into it right now (Herpstat 1 is on the way) and I'm having some difficulties with the temp readings. I used aluminum tape to tape the probe from the tstat directly on the heat tape and it's reading 97.7 degrees, but when I hit the heat tape with my temp gun I'm only getting 85. Same on the inside. It's a Ryobi temp gun from Home Depot, the $30 one. All in all not a huge deal, I could just crank up the tstat, but I'm afraid to do that without knowing if my temp gun is WAYYY off.

Help, please.

[3skulls]

How long has it been plugged in?
What's the ambient room temps?
The tape over the probe could be causing a false reading.

[ChaosAffect]

How long has it been plugged in?
What's the ambient room temps?
The tape over the probe could be causing a false reading.

Only been plugged in for about 10 minutes. Ambient is 85. I went ahead and stuck the outdoor probe from one of my Acurite therms on it and it's telling me 90, which ain't bad. Now I'm getting around 90 with the temp gun. Guess I just needed to let it warm up.

[TheSnakeGuy]

They all take a little time to get going. I just got my Herpstat 1 and while it's not plugged in yet, I read that it has a 100 point ramp up feature so I imagine it will take a while to get warmed up safely.

[Aes_Sidhe]

And you Need remember that depends on Substrate depth of substrate ambient temps in room... temps in your tub will vary.. In Extreme conditions sometimes in winter in NYC my Ambiets was running as low as 63-65 and i need to Crank up mu Tstat to 110 to get hot spot up to 82-84 degrees and my low end was osciilating between 75-77....

Just let it run for while and then play with t-stat to set your optimum temps...