Strange temp readings

[ratsncorns]

A month or two ago, I purchased one of these (http://www.mgreptiles.com/Ranco.html) from MG Reptiles. I have the probe of this thermostat next to the probe of my digital thermometer under the substrate on top of the UTH. Now, I have two visionariums, each set-up with ultratherm heat mats, and both being controlled by the Ranco.

The problem is, is that the thermostat will read 84, but both of my digital thermometers read 90+ degrees. The thermometers I have are the ones that they sell at Petsmart/Petco.

The question is, should I go by what my expensive thermostat says, or what both of my $10 thermometers say?

[Tula_Montage]

my thermometer sometimes give different readings from my thermostat but not juge differences... i always go with the thermostat :)

[ratsncorns]

Oopsie, just realized I put this in the wrong forum. :shrugs:

[zwyatt]

Even with the price difference between a nice thermostat and an everyday thermometer, I would have a hard time ignoring 90+ temps.

I can't think of anything off-hand to figure out which is accurate. Have you tried taking the thermometer probes out from under the substrate and leaving them sit at room temp to see what they read? If they're significantly different than your house thermostat, you might have your answer.

If I were in your situation, I would lower the thermostat to about 82 and watch and see if you notice much of a difference in thermometer readings. I don't think it's likely you'll have digestive problems at 82 anyways. Also, I would head to another store (Walmart, hardware store, etc) and find another cheap $8-9 digital thermometer of a different brand and see if it gives you abnormally high temp readings.

[ratsncorns]

Great tips Zach, thanks! I will probably go out and get a thermometer from Walmart instead.

[schilsound]

A month or two ago, I purchased one of these (http://www.mgreptiles.com/Ranco.html) from MG Reptiles. I have the probe of this thermostat next to the probe of my digital thermometer under the substrate on top of the UTH. Now, I have two visionariums, each set-up with ultratherm heat mats, and both being controlled by the Ranco.

The problem is, is that the thermostat will read 84, but both of my digital thermometers read 90+ degrees. The thermometers I have are the ones that they sell at Petsmart/Petco.

The question is, should I go by what my expensive thermostat says, or what both of my $10 thermometers say?

What you didn't tell us was where the probes for the petsmart-type thermometers go. Are they in the exact same pocket as the ranco's probe? are they located lower/higher?

I'd like to go ahead and echo Zach here- if ANYTHING read that high I would sit up and pay attention- better to play it safe and heat the UTH @ 75-80 degrees [allowing for a margin of error] rather than take a chance with dangerously high levels, however improbable the overheating.

That being said I would also consider my substrate thickness; is the bedding packed so the snake will have a hard time getting into it as deep as the probe, making it probably more like 85 on top of the substrate? Or is there a high degree probability that the snake will get right down to the glass and take a mean scald if it's not monitored . . .?

Some considerations are that the Ranco didn't get properly calibrated, the probe line got pinched or damaged leading to erronious readings, or possibly that the unit is somehow not funcitoning correctly.

Whatever the case I hope you can get it worked out! Good Luck!

[ratsncorns]

Thanks for all your responses. Last night I decided to check out what the issue was, by readjusting the probes. Found out the problem really quick. I have the probe for the thermostat in my kingsnakes viv, and he cruises around a lot. I knew that so I had taped the base of the probe to the bottom of the viv. When I looked, the tip of it was angled upward and protruding a bit at the surface, where he had removed the aspen. So yeah, I feel dumb. :bang:

And, on top of it all, I forgot that I had moved around the UTH and the probe was at the very end of where the mat was, also giving inaccurate temp readings. So, I moved the probe and taped down the actual probe and not the base of it. Now that I have fixed it, all temperatures are consistent with the thermostat. It is a good thing that I followed your suggestions to lower the temp on the thermostat, otherwise I may have harmed my snakes.

:cheers:

[schilsound]

Thanks for all your responses.

When I looked, the tip of it was angled upward and protruding a bit at the surface, where he had removed the aspen. So yeah, I feel dumb. :bang:

It is a good thing that I followed your suggestions to lower the temp on the thermostat, otherwise I may have harmed my snakes.

:cheers:

Isn't that exactly why we're all here? Glad to be of assistance to you and your slithery friends- even more glad they weren't harmed!

[Slippery Ernie]

A bit late, but you can stick the probe in ice water and see if it reads 0 Celsius.

Also, some thermostats allow you to adjust how they read the temperature up or down by a few degrees.