Thermostat Probe Placement in a Rack System

For those that use a rack system and a thermostat, I was wondering where you place your thermostat probe? And if you get consistent temps throughout the rack?

The probe of my Helix unit stays at the set temp, but when I wake up in the morning my other thermometers read significantly higher temps. Last night one of them said 84 and this morning it read 86.4. Am I missing something or shouldn’t these readings stay fairly consistent? :shrugs:

I am hoping to start to convert my hatchlings over to aspen before long, and am wondering if the heating will be just as affective as with newspaper substrate? It seems as though the heat would have a tougher time getting through the plastic and aspen.

Any suggestions/criticisms on my setup or any other ideas you might have would be greatly appreciated.



Here’s a pic of my rack system. There are 4 strips of 4-inch flexwatt mounted on pegboard and 12qt sterilites:

Shameless bump

No opinions on this? I know it probably seems like common sense. It's just that there doesn't seem to be enough of a gap between my sterilites and the shelves to get the probe inside the tub.
Also, should it matter where it is placed within the rack (i.e. left side, top or bottom etc.)?

Any input would be helpful. Thanks

hey zway i was wondering what kind of thermo stats those are and how much where they???

Bahhhhh, I guess I'm on my own.

Brian, the only thermostat in the pic is on the far right side of the pic. It looks like a little gray box, because you're seeing it from the side. It is a Helix proportional (~$120 or so). The rest are just your garden variety indoor/outdoor thermometers.

I have an 11 shelf - 33 shoebox rack and have had some temp issues as well - but different than yours, I think. One thing that I did find out is that my thermometers all read differently - even though they are identical, I would get upto a 2.5 degree diference, even if they were set up in the same location.

Is the temp difference just on 1 thermometer, or all of them?
Any heat vents near the rack that might bump the temps in the evening?
Does the temp flucuate between the set amount (84) and the higher temp (86) or does it stay at the higher temp in that area?
I have noticed that my center bins stay a bit warmer than the outside ones, mainly because they are insulated and loose less heat than the ones on the sides I guess. My row on the bottom stays a bit cooler as well.

After all my work on my system, I've ended up with temps that range from 81-84 on the warm side and the snakes are doing well, so I've decided not to worry about it.
I don't know if that helps or not, but good luck with it!

Thanks Deb!

The temps between thermometers are usually within about 1 degree or so of each other. However, about a week ago one of them started showing a degree lower all the time even though I didn't change it's position or anything. :shrugs:

The bigger issue is that they read around 84 when I went to bed and around 86 when I woke up. I realize this isn't a big difference but I don't understand why it occured. They Helix runs all the time at the preset temp of 85. The room probably does get a few degrees cooler overnight, but the thermostat should be keeping the temps the same. The Helix probe still shows 85, just the rest of the thermometers show a jump of a couple of degrees.

I guess after awhile if I don't have any problems with digestion I won't be as worried. Thanks for the help!

Normally placing the probe towards the "higher middle" is the best place.. Also if you have the tub space available you can make a "control tub" do this tub up just like the ones that contain animals but leave it just for control...

This is why I like the forum...

Try as I might, I probably would have never thought of a control tub, which I do have space for. And fortunately when tubs are empty there is a gap where the lids would fasten on the ends. I have to use a piece of cardboard to fix that for hatchlings, but with an empty tub I can get the probe inside.

I will have to give this a try. Thanks!

I agree with the upper-middle placement. Your temps will vary slightly, but not enough to make a difference.