• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Is the temp of my viv safe?

TriggerHappy101

TriggerHappy101

New member
Hi. I setup my 30-40 Gallon Cobra T-rex UTH on my 40 gallon breeder critter cage. I have 1.5 inches of substrate. ( I know i should have 2-3 inches but read on.)


I cant seem to get the temps above my substrate in the 80-85 range at 1.5 inches of substrate. I have an infer-red temputure meter that I use and can run over the whole half side with it and the temps vary from 70-82 degrees. Most of the area directly over the UTH is 72-75 degrees. Some spots hit 85. The cold side of my tank is about 65-70. The kicker is that if i check the temp of the bottom of the substrate it is at 105-110 degress. Isnt that to hot for the snake if it decides to burrow?

I have the UTH on a ceramic tile and have it placed under the cage. The cage is suspened about 1/6th of an inch off the wood and has air gaps around it. I did that so the tile and UTH could fit under the cage without it putting pressure on the glass.

Well Thanks for reading! This forum is great. I did a quick search and didnt find anything.

:shrugs:

Thanks!
 
Try to get the surface of the glass around 85'. Where it is now will burn the snake.

Don't worry so much about the substrate surface. If the snake needs more warmth, it will burrow. It will likely burrow anyway. You want the hottest surface the snake can come into contact with to be at a safe temp.
 
Well if the surface of glass is 85 that wouldnt even phase the surface of the substrate....

The weird thing is if i put the UTH in free air and take the temp of it, it only reaches 90 degrees.
 
Yes it will be able to burrow and soon as it finds out that underneath the substrate is nice and warm it WILL burrow as they don't know there gonna fry all they got in mind is "don't like Spain down here" lol

get it sorted mate before the snake comes, I'm still trying to sort mine i think i had a faulty thermometer though

anyways off to work have fun and good luck
 
The UTH probably only reaches 90 in free air because it doesn't have all that substrate sitting on top of it holding the heat in.

As was said above, your snake will likely burrow. I've yet to have a corn that didn't burrow.

I've kept the surface of the glass in my tank right around 84-85 for almost a year and never had any problems. I don't even bother to tank the temp on the top of the substrate, because that's not where my snake is going to get hurt. The glass temp is most important. You can always make the substrate a little thinner under the warm-side hide so that more heat gets through to the surface.
 
Okay - I am going to have to somehow get the temp down from 115 to 85...
How much do one of those rheostat things cost? Can I get one from radioshack or something.
 
mate whats with all this ? lol snakes aint cheap :p

but i dont think its going to cost that much lol. I got mine for £15 i think ($25)
 
You can go with a thermostat if you want to. It depends on where you live, too. Where I live, the air conditioner runs most of the year, so my house temps don't fluctuate that much. Therefore a rheostat is a good choice for me. I got mine at Wal-mart for about $9. I usually check the temps every time I walk by a viv anyway, so it's no problem for me to adjust as necessary.
 
get a thermostat and a digital thermometer,

put the thermostat probe and the thermometer probe next to each other on the bottom of the viv on the hot side of your viv stuck to the bottom of the viv.

My temp is from 83-85 and my corn seams very happy.if he gets hot he go's to the cool side and if he is cold he berrows down to the bottom of the aspen to the bottom of the viv.

I have had him since he was 4months and he was berrowing then.Hope that is of some help.
 
The ReptiTemp 500R is the one I have. Like you, I don't have my snake yet. I pick it up tomorrow. BUT, I set my viv up today and the thermostat has been working wonderfully all day. It keeps the temp on the glass between ~83 and ~85 very consistently. If you're going to get it, I would buy it here:

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=75

That should save you a couple of bucks. I know what it's like being a poor college. It should run you about $28 after shipping. Good luck.
 
At reptilesupply!? :eek1: You can enter your area code to calculate shipping. I entered mine and it said it was 5 something. Are you sure!?
 
I just wanted to add something...

United States Postal Service (1 x 1.85lbs) (Priority (estimated 2 - 3 Days)) $5.40 [select]

That's what appears in my cart when I selct USPS shipping for the thermostat. Try creating an account if you don't have one... maybe it will give you more options. I don't know. I do know that I order a half dozen things from that website a few days ago, and shipping for ALL of it was about $14. I hope they didn't increases shipping that much! Eek!
 
Must of been a bug or something. Last time it only gave me one option and it was 22 bucks. I ordered from them a few weeks ago for my substrate, UTH, and thermometer.


Now the grand total is $28.54 for the thermostat.


I will order this one tonight if anyone else doesnt have any recommendations.

Thanks guys/gals.
 
Yeah its $15 shipping to middle of nowhere Canada hehe.. must have been a bug for you to get 22 =)
 
Err that was $15 for 2... so your's was definitely a bug =)

Up to $24 S&H for 2 thermostats and 8 hides LOL These are about 1/20 the cost of hides at the pet store *sigh*
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top