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Another temp question about rheostate

KyGirl

KyGirl

New member
I have a four foot long viv with a medium Zoomed heat mat attached to the bottom of a ceramic tile. The tiles have just short of an inch airspace underneath that runs the entire length of the viv. I am using a Zoomed rheostat temp control turned down as far as it will go. I have an indoor/outdoor thermometer with humidity gauge set up with the outdoor senser directly on the center of the tile with the heat mat attached to it. I have the main unit on top of the viv in the middle. The temp is reading 99 with the room temp reading 77. I know that 99 is way high but i can't get the rheostate any lower. She has been avoiding the warm side with just short forays back and forth. She has been staying in her hide on the farthest side, the cold side. The temp on the cold side is ranging from 72 to 74 degrees according to the stick on thermometer. I tried turning the heat mat off for a couple of days but the temp dropped down to 72 degrees at night on the hot side and 67 on the cold side. Way too cold. I added another couple of inches of aspen bedding over the hot side making about 4 inches of substrate on the hot side. She has 3 hides on the hot side and one corner ledge. One hide is in the corner under the ledge, one has a bottom, and one is open bottomed. She has two hides and a large rock that she gets under on her cold side. She moved to her hot side when I added the extra substrate and layed there for a while and then moved to the corner hide on the warm side and has been there for the last little while. However, I just looked at the temp and it was reading 101 so I just switched off the heat mat. It is really cold here and I don't want her to get too cold plus she is due for a feeding in the next couple of days and I am worried about her not having belly heat. However I don't want her to get burned. Should I turn the heat mat back on even with the high temp? Should I keep switching it off and on to try to keep the temps lower? Or is the high okay with all the substrate ? She does burrow and I am afraid of her getting burned. I should mention that the heat pade leaves about 3 inches of open space on each side and is about 4 inches from the side wall. She is currently in her skull hide just off the area of the heat mat.

I will be buying a better thermostat soon but it will take about a week for me to get it.
 
Great Idea I say as I am slapping myself on the back of the head. LOL I have plenty of ceramic tile. Going right now to dig it out. thank you.
 
The extra tile brought the temp down to 90. Still a little to warm but she has moved over to that side and has been laying on top of the substrate. She seems content. I will put another tile on it in the morning if the temp is still at 90. I can't feel any heat on top of the warm side with all the substrate at all but she seems to like it. She has been so cold when I pick her up, I was getting worried. At least she is exploring again. She is due for a feeding in the next couple of days and I am sure she will enjoy having a better temp for digestion. I am surprised she hasn't had any problems with feeding because of my newbie mistakes. Guess never having had belly heat she just adapted. Her previous owner just had a heat rock and lamp for her. Can't wait to get a better thermostat.
 
Yeah, I know my hand isn't a thermometer. That is why I bought a digital thermometer/humidity gauge. If 90 on the tile isn't bad than I am leaving it at. She is in one of her warm side hides and has stayed there all night so she must like it. She has plenty of hides from one side to the other of her viv so she has lots of choices for temp. I am guessing she has enough sense to know when she is too hot or too cold. I just didn't want her to accidently get burned. I have no idea how easy it is for a corn snake to get burned. I have Don Soderberg's book "Corn Snakes in Captivity" and I am trying to learn everything I can so she is properly cared for. I am planning on getting one more, possibly two snakes next Spring. I keep finding different morphs that I like. However, I really need to limit how many snakes I have. The family is freaking out over one right now. Funny, because we live in a snake breeding ground. Constantly surrounded by Copperheads and ring necks. Not to mention the odd rattlesnake, garter snake or ground snake.
 
90 is about the max temp you want to allow. So long as there's substrate over the tiles(which will reduce temps even more), you should be OK in the short term.

My one experience with the ZooMed Rheostat was the same as yours, even at minimum setting the UTH was still way over safe temps. It appears to me that those particular rheostats aren't "full-range" rheostats and only allow for a limited reduction in power.

Admittedly, my sample size is a whopping 3, but all 3 have been the same story.

I'd recommend you either get a full-range lamp dimmer rheostat or get an actual thermostat (most folks here seem to like the hydrofarm thermostats, I use the herpstats myself...they are more expensive though) for future use.
 
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