Thermometer placement

[Maceface21]

My son got a 4.5m old Ball Python a couple of weeks ago. It is our first. With trial and error we finally got a good cage set up. We live in an extremely dry area so he is on Eco-earth and Forest floor mixture to keep the humidity around 60%. My question is does the thermometer probe go on top of the substrate or below it against the glass? We have a UTH unit and Infrared at night as our temps just dropped.
Thanks

[tttaylorrr]

welcome to the forum!


the thermometer should go beneath the substrate as you need to be measuring the absolute hottest spot in the enclosure, which would be below the substrate over the UTH.



i have to ask: is your UTH regulated by a thermoSTAT? ALL heat sources MUST be regulated, including the IR bulb.

[Maceface21]

Thank you for your reply and the picture is great. Yes our UTH is controlled by a thermostat. Getting this cage regulated can be such a pain. Lol.
He doesn't like to burrow so that's why I was curious if the probe would go under the substrate or on top. We have about an inch of substrate in there.
We have his warm hide right where the UTH is. And another on the cooler side.

[tttaylorrr]

Thank you for your reply and the picture is great. Yes our UTH is controlled by a thermostat. Getting this cage regulated can be such a pain. Lol.
He doesn't like to burrow so that's why I was curious if the probe would go under the substrate or on top. We have about an inch of substrate in there.
We have his warm hide right where the UTH is. And another on the cooler side.

your IR bulb needs to be regulated as well. if the room has a stable temperature throughout the day, you can use a rheostat to control the bulb, otherwise a thermostat is the best choice.

keep the substrate 1/4" thick over the UTH.

[Virago]

Thank you for your reply and the picture is great. Yes our UTH is controlled by a thermostat. Getting this cage regulated can be such a pain. Lol.
He doesn't like to burrow so that's why I was curious if the probe would go under the substrate or on top. We have about an inch of substrate in there.
We have his warm hide right where the UTH is. And another on the cooler side.

mine burrows all the time, loves going under her water dish from time to time for some reason . she will also push the substrate aside an sit directly on the uth which is why its important to record your temps under the substrate. if its 90 on top of the substrate it may be too hot underneath.

[Sgt7212]

welcome to the forum!


the thermometer should go beneath the substrate as you need to be measuring the absolute hottest spot in the enclosure, which would be below the substrate over the UTH.



i have to ask: is your UTH regulated by a thermoSTAT? ALL heat sources MUST be regulated, including the IR bulb.

This may be an incredibly stupid question, but UTH have obviously been around for a while. Anyone know a reason why no manufacturers have made one with a built in thermostat? Seems like it would be a no brainer.



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[tttaylorrr]

This may be an incredibly stupid question, but UTH have obviously been around for a while. Anyone know a reason why no manufacturers have made one with a built in thermostat? Seems like it would be a no brainer.



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most likely to keep costs down. even if there was a UTH with a built-in thermostat, i'd more than likely opt for a high-end thermostat regardless; the companies that make UTHs probably know this, too.

[c0r3yr0s3]

This may be an incredibly stupid question, but UTH have obviously been around for a while. Anyone know a reason why no manufacturers have made one with a built in thermostat? Seems like it would be a no brainer.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's been driving me insane for the longest time. When I got my first uth, I assumed it would have some kind of built in control. After noticing it didn't, I then assumed it wouldn't heat up enough to do any harm and boy was I wrong. Luckily it only cost me a 55 gallon aquarium and not the life of my snakes