Temps?

Hey all-

I did a search looking for temps. I have a question about them. I have a UTH and a digital probe thermoter. Now, under the substrate (on the warm side, where the UTH is) it is 85°F.

Now is that ok for under the substrate. On top the air temp is about 79°F then again it's only 11am here.

The cool side of the tank is 79° as well.

Should I turn the heat pad to the medium setting to try and bring the air temp higher? I just don't want the burn my snake if he/she will be burrowing.

Oh BTW I'm getting a baby corn tonight. I will post pictures.

Here's a picture of the setup:

Your temps sound fine. More than likely your corn will burrow in the substrate and be against the bottom glass, so you don't want the UTH much hotter. However, I would monitor the temps over a 24-hr period (at a minimum) in order to see any fluctuations of the temps over the course of a day to see if any further adjustments are needed.

My cool side temp is room temp, about 74 degrees. My "warm side" temp is 83 ON the substrate, and 86-87 right at the heat pad ("on the glass"), if my snake were inclined to burrow.

On day #1, she was partially buried, just above the heat pad, and I figure she was AT 85 degrees. Currently, she is sitting on the substrate above the heat pad, coiled around the thermometer probe, so probably at 83-84 degrees.

So I have a little variation to. The goal seems to be to shoot for 85, but I don't think a degree or two difference will burn the snake.

danvega said:

However, I would monitor the temps over a 24-hr period (at a minimum) in order to see any fluctuations of the temps over the course of a day to see if any further adjustments are needed.

Click to expand...

Yep. Especially, if you are using a rheostat type of control. I don't know what you are using, but if it is a rheostat, then as the room temp increases you'll have to turn it down...as the room temp drops at night you'll have to turn it up a bit to compensate. A thermostat should do the work itself, but you should still keep an eye on it.

Also, you can always use a slightly thinner layer of aspen on the warm side, which allows more heat to get through to the top of the substrate.

Cool thanks very much all of you!

I was just worried about the air temp on top of the hot side of the substrate since it was only at 79f.

I am using a rheostat. I've had the tank set up for 24 hours and have been monitoring it. I will be adjusting the layer of aspen as well as increasing/decreasing the rheostat as needed.

Thanks again!


Whoops.... 1 more thing

Where do i need to place the probe thru out the day? Just in the air or in the substrate?

zwyatt said:

Yep. Especially, if you are using a rheostat type of control. I don't know what you are using, but if it is a rheostat, then as the room temp increases you'll have to turn it down...as the room temp drops at night you'll have to turn it up a bit to compensate. A thermostat should do the work itself, but you should still keep an eye on it.

Also, you can always use a slightly thinner layer of aspen on the warm side, which allows more heat to get through to the top of the substrate.

Click to expand...

I would use an indoor/outdoor thermometer and leave the probe under the substrate 24/7. Then, just switch between indoor and outdoor to get the air and under-substrate temps.

I've been monitoring temps for a couple of days in my new setup, and I noticed that the cool side/room temp was fluctuating down to 68.5F and up to about 73F. This morning, I wised up and set our household programmable thermostat on HOLD. I still wonder which is worse - for the warm side (at glass under hide)to drop below 80F (as it was yesterday evening) or to rise above 90F?

I'm using a lamp dimmer switch until I can order a thermostat - can't even find one locally! I hate to do too much adjusting with the dimmer switch, 'cause it's so easy to overshoot. I'm hoping that the room temps will be more stable without the setpoint fluctuations.

BTW - My baby just arrived this morning :cheers: . I'm trying to be good - just cracked open the lid on his deli cup and set it down in the viv.

Green Bean (if that is real name :grin01: )
Great job getting your set up ready and asking your questions before you get your new corn snake! You are my kind of noob! :cheers:

Chris