Ok so more updates.
I left the UTH running through the night, after 12 hours I woke up this morning and checked the temps.
VERY STRANGE!! -- Hot side and Cold side were both at 73 degrees. Hot side humidity was 37 degrees, cold side humidity at 50 degrees.
This just boggles my mind. I dont know how this could be happening.
How could the hot side and cold side be the same temperature?
I left the UTH running for 12 hours straight! Shouldn't it have warmed the hot side? (I do not have a heating mat under the cold side) I had the dimmer set to a little less than 3/4. I dialed it up a bit this morning and turned her lamps back on to get the temps up (I typically turn off the hot side lamp at night).
As I write this, the hot side is sitting at 84 degrees with 34 humidity -- cold side at 79 degrees with 40 humidity. So we're ALMOST there, but not quite.
She has been exploring her new hides a bit this morning by ducking her head inside and looking around.
She's actually resting in the substrate over the UTH right now as opposed to ONLY climbing and basking all the time.
So both of these are good signs, I just want to get these dag-gone temperatures at the right levels!
After going through this, I can say without a doubt that I would not recommend an open-topped tank for fellow beginners.
It seems extremely touchy to dial-in effectively.
I believe my next order of business today is going to be insulating the 4 sides I previously covered with tinfoil (the back, both sides, and 3/4 of the top). I plan to do this with cardboard and cloth while leaving the tinfoil in place, so that the insulation is layers as follows - tinfoil against the outside glass, cardboard against the tinfoil, cloth against the cardboard.
I'll post some pics later this morning.
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