• 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.

Question re Herpstat ND

L

LadySnake

New member
My UTH went out the other day, and I came home to find my viv temperature at 63 degrees. :uhoh: I purchased a new zoo med UTH for a 50-60 gallon tank, and I also purchased the Herpstat ND. Probably more than I needed, but I was never really happy with my ZooMed thermostat - I had to keep it really low (almost off) for an 80-84 degree temp. I will be setting up the new thermostat over the weekend and I guess it has the capability of night-time drop. Is this a good function to use for a cornsnake? What are the recommended temperatures for day and then the night time drop, or should I just try and keep the temperature consistent. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
I don't use the night drop feature with my herpstat. Not sure if others do though. I keep the thermostat set at 83 degrees.
 
I wouldn't use it. I think it's meant more for lizards that need to be in over a hundred during the day and in the 70's at night. You know what _is_ cool about the ND- the high/low temp alarms. You're never going to be happy with an on/off thermostat again.
 
I use the Herpstats only on my arboreals which are far more sensitive to temperature than cornsnakes ever will be. I use the zoo med thermostat with no problem at all. Maybe yours was defective. I use night drop only for arboreals that I am cycling for breeding. Otherwise, I don't drop temperatures at nite at all for any of them.
 
I, too, have a Herpstat, and I don't use the night drop feature for the corns. I only use it for cycling the bps during breeding season.
 
The warm side 85 degrees aids in their digestion. If you let the temp go down you might see so regurges and you don't want that, trust me.
 
Most of mine digest on the cool side, so they do fine even if the temps drop in the 70's at night. My cool side in the winter is much lower than that. I've never had a regurge from that.
 
MegF. said:
Most of mine digest on the cool side, so they do fine even if the temps drop in the 70's at night. My cool side in the winter is much lower than that. I've never had a regurge from that.
Click to expand...
I am glad you have never had a regurge,I was just offering what I have been told by a couple of large breeders and wanted to pass it on.
 
It is what most people will tell you. You should have it available for them, but a temporary drop to the 70's for 8-12 hours really won't do anything to them. The temps here in S. Carolina can vary widely, and they aren't always going to have 85 degrees. They are hardier than most people give them credit for. Most of my snakes spend 90% of their time on the cool side. The only time they spend extended periods on the warm side is when they are in blue. I even had my amel male digest in a water bowl when he was due to shed, and he did fine. I kept trying to move him out, and he didn't want to go....he knows better than I do. My arboreals are being cycled right now with night drop temps into the low 70's and even they digest alright and they are a tropical species.
 
MegF. said:
It is what most people will tell you. You should have it available for them, but a temporary drop to the 70's for 8-12 hours really won't do anything to them. The temps here in S. Carolina can vary widely, and they aren't always going to have 85 degrees. They are hardier than most people give them credit for. Most of my snakes spend 90% of their time on the cool side. The only time they spend extended periods on the warm side is when they are in blue. I even had my amel male digest in a water bowl when he was due to shed, and he did fine. I kept trying to move him out, and he didn't want to go....he knows better than I do. My arboreals are being cycled right now with night drop temps into the low 70's and even they digest alright and they are a tropical species.
Click to expand...
Your right, if you watch the snake they will tell you what they want.
 
I have one snake that spends 100% of her time in her warm hide, Lila, but the others all spend varying amounts of time in different temperatures.

Even if you don't _need_ a Herpstat, I bet you will still love it.
 
I set up the herpstat and I do love it! My snake does seem to prefer temps on the warm side of her tank to be on the "cooler" side of warm (79-82) and does seem to spend most of her time on the cooler side. I always had to keep tweaking my setup as the previous thermostat always seemed to run hotter than I wanted, even when set all the way to down. I've come to realize (after the wealth of knowledge on this site) that my gal probably knows better than me where she wants to be, I just want to be able to provide a warm side with temps that she likes just in case she decides she wants to hang out there. She has been on her warm side (82.5) ever since I set up with the herpstat, so I think she is happy. I know I am. :dancer: Thanks again.
 
I was appreciating mine last night! I have two ten gallons on my dresser. One houses Jasper, a hatchling, and one is sitting empty, clean, furnished, waiting for a hatchling of its own. It used to be Addy's home, but she's moved on to the rack in the living room. Once I decided around Thanksgiving that everything must have a Herpstat and a probed thermometer rather than a ZooMed and a Flukers Max/Min digital that I just placed the whole thing where I wanted it (I don't think those are very accurate) I uncovered a couple UTH problems. One wasn't working at all, one was barely putting out. The UTH out at Choco/Jasmine's place, on Jasmine's viv-to-be, had to be replaced- a ZooMed. Then the Jasper-to-be UTH had to be replaced with a larger UTH- I went with ExoTerra Desert. But then Addy's UTH (ExoTerra Desert, extra small) wasn't working, either, and since I wanted to have the viv ready just in case, I ordered a matching ExoTerra Desert Small for it. And installed it, and it read about 3F colder than Jasper's side. It came in closer to Jasper's reading (Jasper's thermometer and the Herpstat match exactly) as the night went on, but ended up reading 1F cooler, so I turned Jasper up to 84F which brought empty viv up to 83F. So the whole point of this rambling story is- all I had to do is set it, digitally, one degree warmer. Can you imagine trying to dial up a ZooMed one degree?

Oh, and after all that, I'd been noticing that Choco's viv was running about ten degrees cooler than his upstairs neighbor, Jasmine. Not as cold as room temp, but too cold. I was cursing ZooMed and thinking of just going to buy a new UTH at Petsmart rather than eBay when I thought- "Doh! What if the probe came loose?" Yup, the temp probe was floating around in the aspen in the warm hide, not stuck down on the UTH. Problem solved!
 
I was going to say.....I have 3 enclosures being regulated with one zoo med thermostat....it works great. The probe is in a drilled hole, stable, right under the heat mat so it doesn't get too hot.
 
You're lucky they work so well for you Meg. You've used them many more years than I have. And I'm sure you're a lot more relaxed than I am- I'm like a mom with her first baby, still. I mean that in a _good_ way.

I bought one Herpstat when I set up my two custom cages, and loved it. Then I went through this big hassle last fall when I replaced a UTH and couldn't get the temp right for over a week with the ZooMed. Herpstats were on sale for Thanksgiving, and I just switched. I guess they are a luxury, but I like the digital read out, and the high/low temp alarms. I feel like if the thermostat fails, or if the UTH dies, and I am home, the alarm will warn me. I've got a ZooMed running my tortoise burrow emergency heat right now, though!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top