First BP and need some help

[JakeFromSnakeFarm]

Ok, so i got my little guy Jake about two months ago now and hes been doing pretty well. Eats great and sheds great. The past week or so i've been noticing that he doesn't get in his hides anymore (a small log and a small cave) so i have been trying to closely monitor his temps. When i got him i bought the zilla tropical kit. Came with the UTH 10 gal tank, and some other stuff. I bought a zilla digital tem and Hygrometer to put in there because i dont trust this round dial ones. I also bought an IR temp gun. On the hot end of his tank under a red 50 watt light the substrate (aspen) temp measures 88-90 at the hottest spot, air temp on that end in mid 80's. Surface temp on cold side is 79-80 with air temp about 80-83. I don't like having the wires from the zilla digital monitor in the tank so i bought an accurite tonight and put it in the tank on the cold side with the probe under the substrate above the UTH. The problem is that the probe is reading 140!!!!! But the surface temp with the gun is 90 at the hottest spot and the air temp (from the dial, and the zilla probe hanging in) show 84. I just want to make sure im doing things right for him and ive been reading as much as possible. I need to know if i need to change anything or if these numbers sound right.

[EL-Ziggy]

Is your UTH regulated with a thermostat? It's a crucial piece of equipment when it comes to maintaining proper temperatures. Here's a couple of options.

http://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Cer...arm+thermostat


http://www.reptilebasics.com/ve-200

[JakeFromSnakeFarm]

I do not have a thermostat but i would be happy to go get one asap if i need to. I just didnt know if it would make a difference as long as the substrate remains a certain temperature. I'm still trying to figure out which temperatures are key, ambient air temperature or the surface temperature of the substrate?

[Yodawagon]

You need a thermostat. 140 is way too hot. Sounds like your substrate might be too deep.

[treaux]

Get a thermostat. I recommend the Herpstat by Spyder Robotics (http://www.spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html). I like the Herpstat 2 because it has two channels and can control my UTH and tank heating (CHE or RHP) separately.

You want the hotspot to be around 90 at the hottest point, which means it needs to be regulated. Having 140 at the bottom of your tank means if your snake tries to burrow down there, he will get burned! This needs to be fixed right away. The cheapest method is to buy a cheap thermostat on Amazon (as someone already linked) or get a lamp dimmer from your local hardware store and plug the UTH into the dimmer. Bring the dimmer down to the appropriate temp using your heat gun directly on the glass where the UTH is mounted.

[DVirginiana]

140 is WAY too hot. Unplug that UTH now and don't plug it back in until you have the thermostat hooked up to it. Since you have a bulb as well, he shouldn't get dangerously cold until you can get a thermostat. The lamp should be regulated too, but they're more likely to get burned on a UTH so that's the more immediate concern. Those temps are in the range that you're just lucky he hasn't burned himself yet, so fixing that ASAP will save you a vet bill.

[LittleTreeGuy]

I'm with the others... you NEED a thermostat. Here are some things to conisider... in my opinion...

1. Your Heat gun. Are you shooting it through a glass/plastic/screen? While that shouldn't change anything, it surely can alter the temps. I feel the accurite thermometers are pretty reliable, so I'd go by that. Now, having said that, if you can post a picture of your setup, it will help everyone to see and give you recommendations. Now, How much substrate, and what type of substrate are you using? As said above, if your surface has to be 140 to get your substrate surface to 90, you've got too much in there. You don't need much. A lot of people, myself included just use paper towels, or maybe some paper. The thick substrate/bedding looks nice, but isn't needed or desired in most cases.

2. You can order a thermostat from Amazon for $40 or so and have it in two days. You can pick one up at a petstore, or you can order one. The herpstat line seem to be the best. Yes, they are pricey, but worth it. If you have to wait a few days, you can put your UTH on a dimmer switch (found at Lowes/Home Depot). That you can use to dial back to how much power gets to your UTH, and somewhat control the temp. Another option, and while I don't recommend this, i've seen it work for a short time... if you have a really good timer, you can set your uth on a timer. This takes a lot of fooling around and monitoring, as the temps don't always drop or increase at the same rate, so is still dangerous to the snake.

Just get that hot spot under control, and you should be good to go. Also, it is a good idea if you can get both hides to be the same.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Yeah most people don't realize how hot those UTHs get.
Hopefully you were (or your snake I should say) lucky and your snake was smart enough to realize it was way too hot BEFORE any damage was done.
Keep an eye on it for a while because there could be some burn to come from using an unregulated heat source.
Unplug the pad until you get a thermostat to regulate it.

[JakeFromSnakeFarm]

Thanks so much guys. I'll go to my pet store today and look for thermostats if they have them or order one. I'll also try to upload a picture later this evening. I'd say the substrate is about 3/4 of an inch across the whole bottom of the tank. I knew there was something wrong when he keeps sleeping on top of his hides instead of curling up inside.

[Prognathodon]

1. Your Heat gun. Are you shooting it through a glass/plastic/screen? While that shouldn't change anything, it surely can alter the temps.

Trying to use an IR thermometer through plastic or glass will only get you the temperature of the surface of the plastic/glass closest to the thermometer. Through a mesh is pretty iffy - you don't know what you're reading. You must open the enclosure doors/lid if you want accurate readings of interior temperatures.



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