Heat mat issue

[purpleroan]

Hey everyone! So, I installed a heat mat as uth a couple days ago, and put the thermometer probably under it outside as instructed. However, the gap it has caused seems to have depleted the stickiness, along with the fact that I moved it a bit to wedge the probe under. In the cage, it's a nice consistent 92 where the mat still sticks to the plastic. In the other areas, it's only reaching about 83. Is there any way to solve this short of buying a new mat? I was thinking maybe using aluminum duct tape in between the mat and the plastic to make it stick, would this cause any issues? Thanks!

[SDA]

Take the probe and put it on the surface of the mat not between the glass. Use metal tape to secure down the edges of the mat. Tape the probe (not on the tip but on the cord) to the mat and place styrofoam between the mat and the table or item the tank is on. This keeps the probe secure and in contact with the mat and insulates the bottom of the tank if you put styrofoam across the entire bottom of the tank. You don't have to have the probe between the mat and the glass with those stick on heat mats because it can do exactly what you are having issues with. On the surface in the middle of the mat is just fine.

I do this for my rosy boa cage and use styrofoam under all my enclosures. You can get styrofoam sheets are hardware stores like lowes or home depot.

[purpleroan]

Thanks so much for the quick reply! I'll definitely give that a shot. You sound very knowledgeable, so I hope you don't mind if I ask another question? I just got a CHE connected to a stat today after using a space heater for a day and I was wondering where to put that probe. In my other post I was warned against putting stat probes in the tub itself, but I am using the CHE to keep up the ambient temp so I'm wondering what might be the best way of doing that. Thanks again!

[SDA]

Assuming you have a screen top cage, you can secure the probe inside the cage to the screen dangling down a bit directly under the CHE's path and it should be fine. What you do not want to do is keep the probe on the substrate where the snake can coil up around it or relieve themselves on it. Dangling it like that might get your snake to play with a bit but they won't lounge on it.

I did this back when I had an exo terra and it kept the CHE under control. Just made sure the wire did not hamper the screen from locking and zip tied the probe wire to the screen and dangled the probe tip about 3 inches below the screen.

Of course if you have to remove the top of the cage to get to the snake as in you do not have like an exo terra cage that also opens in the front doing this might be an issue. So if that is the case, you can dangle the probe on the side of the cage and secure it down outside the cage with sturdy tape like duct tape (you don't want tape inside the cage) or inside the cage if you can find a way to zip tie it. What you want to do in this case is make sure the probe doesn't move around much at all when you remove the cage top. This might not be the most ideal means to control the heat (ideally you want the probe directly under the CHE) but it will get you some level of control

The main thing you need to be aware of is not compromising the locking of hte cage so the snake can't get out and making sure the snake can't lay on the probe or pee on it. Anything else should work fine. Best case is directly under the path of the CHE but not touching the CHE of course.

[purpleroan]

Great, thanks! I think I figured it out. However, I am using a plastic tub; I saw on another thread that it will go through the plastic lid, and won't melt as long as it's about a foot away. Mine is currently working, but is slightly less than a foot; it seems fine and it is attached to a thermostat set at 80. Thoughts as to whether or not this is an ok setup?

[purpleroan]

Ok, so it's a couple days later, I have moved and insulated the probe, and taped down the edges of the mat. However, you can still see through the clear tub bottom that about 40% of the mat isn't sticking, and reading at about 84. Am I best off just purchasing a new one? She can probably curl up tight enough to fit mostly on the warmest area, but I'd feel bad if that was her only option. Also, I use newspaper as a substrate, and it doesn't sit flat on the bottom and measures low 80s with a temp gun. I know it probably does when she's on it, but is it possible the the paper is taking away some of the heat from the 90-93 degree tub bottom (where it sticks of course)? If so I will adjust the thermostat accordingly.

[Melluns07]

Exactly what SDA said, get some aluminum tape (STUFF IS AMAZING) tape the probe to the surface of the UTH. I also keep another digital thermometer probe under the substrate against the inside of the glass. This will tell you what the actual surface temp is in case your snake burrows and gets on the glass. In other words the top of the substrate may only be 86 degrees, but depending on amount of substrate the glass beneath it might be much hotter, usually the glass will be the same temp as the UTH. All in all, I have 3 probes on my setup. 1 taped to the bottom of the UTH, 1 put under the substrate on the glass on the inside, and another in the middle of the cage for my digital thermometer/hydrometer to monitor ambient air temps and humidity.

[Zincubus]

Just to clarify to anyone and everyone .... when people talk about using sticky tape it must NEVER be used INSIDE any reptile enclosure ...

Also get yourself one of these digital temp guns - great for checking random temps in all parts of the vivs / rubs ... they are only ten dollars off eBay / Amazon.




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