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Consistent Heat.

H

herbertm

New member
Hello friends,

I'm a newbie but have been watching this site for some time. I am the owner of a corn[two weeks] that seems to be heathly. However, without starting a "heat lamps" vs "UTH" debate[I'm using both] I cannot seem to get my temps to where I need them.
I am using a temp. monitor w/probe below my substrate. [Diced coconut husks] My temps. at the substrate level are about 75c. My ambient air temps. are 81-82c, I know that air temps. don't count for a tin of beans. My UTH is an Exo Terra medium dessert heat wave. Does anyone know how I can raise my temps. by 7-8c and have them stay.
Thank's in advance, M.
 
herbertm said:
Hello friends,

I'm a newbie but have been watching this site for some time. I am the owner of a corn[two weeks] that seems to be heathly. However, without starting a "heat lamps" vs "UTH" debate[I'm using both] I cannot seem to get my temps to where I need them.
I am using a temp. monitor w/probe below my substrate. [Diced coconut husks] My temps. at the substrate level are about 75c. My ambient air temps. are 81-82c, I know that air temps. don't count for a tin of beans. My UTH is an Exo Terra medium dessert heat wave. Does anyone know how I can raise my temps. by 7-8c and have them stay.
Thank's in advance, M.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum!
Actually, air temps can greatly affect the overall temperature. The warmer the air temps, the more I have to lower my rheostat to keep my temps down. In fact during summer months, I turn off all heat and rely on air temps alone.

I'm confused as to how the substrate with a UTH and lamp can be almost 8 degrees cooler then the air temp. Somethings not right if your warm side isn't going above 75. I'm not familiar with the Exo Terra, but most UTH unregulated can reach 100+. Are you sure your thermometer is working correctly? Make sure you have your probe under the substrate, against the glass, under the animals hide.
 
I wonder if it's the Exo Terra UTH. I have the same exact one as you and I noticed it doesn't get as warm as the Zoo Med UTH I was using before. I have a Herpstat thermostat and with the addition of my aspen substrate, the UTH rarely goes over 85 when not controlled (i.e., when just checking the temp. w/ the probe and not having the UTH hooked up to the thermostat). However, the Zoo Med UTH could hit high 90s, sometimes breaking 100 unregulated and with aspen covering the bottom.
 
Grrr, can't edit.

Maybe have a thinner layer of substrate? Might be trouble if your snake is a constant burrower, but may help just to check out the temp. Also, I'd try another thermometer to check if the one you're using now is accurate.
 
Thank's for your response. My probe is on the glass below the substrate, but on the warm side.[or rather what is suppose to be] The cool end ambient air temp is about 73. would a different brand UTH be the ticket?
 
herbertm said:
Thank's for your response. My probe is on the glass below the substrate, but on the warm side.[or rather what is suppose to be] The cool end ambient air temp is about 73. would a different brand UTH be the ticket?
Click to expand...
Forget the cool side for a minute. What is the temp being registered by the probe on the warm side?
 
Well I would think the Exo Terra UTH could reach the appropriate temps. I just wanted to point out how it doesn't seem to get as warm as the Zoo Med one so if you'd like to go the route of getting a different brand, just make sure you can have it controlled. If it's not too late, maybe exchange the UTH for another one as it could be faulty. Like dwyn mentioned, it could be your thermometer. It's hard to imagine that a UTH couldn't reach the appropriate temps under normal room conditions so it may be a faulty UTH or the thermometer.
 
Exo Terra mats get hot-I've got one, and unregulated it gets easily over 110 F within 15-20 minutes of use. Maybe you got a slightly differant one, but my Exo Terra get way higher than 75...
 
Ditto. The Exo-Terra on my king's tank once got up to 130. Unless you got a bum heater, it should be working fine.

I also don't understand how your temps directly over your UTH can be cooler than the air temp. Did you check the plug? Maybe it got knocked out of the outlet somehow. I've had that happen more than once.

Also, is your digital thermometer unit set to read the "outside" temp? This is the one the probe measures, and what you need to be looking at.

With a UTH and a heat lamp, you would be more likely to worry about how to cool it down, rather than heat it more.
 
Reminds me of a similar problem I once had [mine was non-reptile-related] ... is your UTH plugged into a switched outlet? Or an outlet with a popped breaker/fuse?

You probably have either a defective UTH or a dead outlet. Plug anything [lamp/radio/whatever] into the outlet in question and see if it works.

Oh, and BTW, I'm really hoping you meant to list your degrees in Fahrenheit [not Celsius ] ...
your cool end, at 72 degrees C = 161.6 F
... that's about medium-well for beef [I think, my handy chart is in the other room].
 
[no editing, so new post]
Also: You may want to try another method of reading the temp, a cheapie probe thermometer can run as low as $5us ... but even your home oral thermometer would give you a rough idea of whether this is a temp-sensing or a temp-making problem
 
Well thank you friends, it seems that I'm an idiot. The probe had moved from the original spot and was actually in the corner. I have since relocated the probe to over the UTH and recovered the probe. Now I am getting temp of 83f. Thanks to Dave_jaclyn for the 411 on the Celsius/Fahrenheit.

So I say again, thank you all.
 
I had the same problem with my probes.
My solution was to put the probe tips under some river rocks [rather than trying to bury them in the substrate]. Warm end temp indicates a bit high due to insulation from the rock, so I run 85-95 F warm end and 68-73 [room temp] on the cool end. I also have outside temps and air temp [there was a sale on probe thermometers] ... I've got a bit of OCD as far as checking temp goes, as I lack a thermostat [I regulate by substrate depth or lifting the tank to increase ambient losses ... or I could add extra heating via a repti-cable] since we are waiting a bit on doing some serious upgrades to Darwin's home, bigger tank, more props, thermostat, lots of improvements slated.
 
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