First time owner with some questions!

[TrpnBils]

did you already attach your UTH? If not, don't yet. You can attach it to a ceramic tile or put aluminum foil on the sticky side and just set it under your tank (be careful if you don't use a ceramic tile though as it could burn the tabletop otherwise). That way, you can use the same UTH when you upgrade the tank when he gets older. Unsticking a UTH on a glass aquarium can be done, but a lot of people think it's risky too because of how much you have to bend and pull it.

 

[Corny Noob]

I never understood how an UTH could burn the wood if it's being regulated. 85* isn't that hot :shrugs:

Looking good so far, but my suggestion is you get something to slightly lift the tank off the bottom to allow for air circulation and get yourself some good digital thermometers with probes. Those sticky ones are highly inaccurate.

 

[Nastassja]

did you already attach your UTH? If not, don't yet. You can attach it to a ceramic tile or put aluminum foil on the sticky side and just set it under your tank (be careful if you don't use a ceramic tile though as it could burn the tabletop otherwise). That way, you can use the same UTH when you upgrade the tank when he gets older. Unsticking a UTH on a glass aquarium can be done, but a lot of people think it's risky too because of how much you have to bend and pull it.

Ahhhh..... that sounds like a very good idea. unfortunately I did already stick it to the bottom, but I'm sure that I can probably get it unstuck. I wanted to experiment a little bit with how the UTH worked with the tank.. I also considered stacking a ton more paper towel over the warm side.

Looking good so far, but my suggestion is you get something to slightly lift the tank off the bottom to allow for air circulation and get yourself some good digital thermometers with probes. Those sticky ones are highly inaccurate.

The UTH that I got came with tiny little rubber feets that are stuck to the bottom of the tank.. I guess they are kind of hard to see. I'm thinking about hot gluing them though, because they fall off really easy.

As for the thermometer with the probe, I'm beginning to think that may have been a better idea than this one.. Last night I unstuck it from the side of the glass and dropped it next to the hello kitty bandaid box where the side is warm. On the side of the glass it was registering 78 degrees, but once I put it down on the paper towels, it was registering a solid 100.. yikes. I think that the thermometer is reading fairly accurately... I just need to figure out a way to keep the heater from overheating, and yet still provide a decent heat supply...

 

[uberalice]

Is that little bronze thing a thermometer? I thought it was a hygrometer, it looks like the ReptiMed hygrometer that I use. You will probably want to pick one of those up, too; analog are around $8 and digital are around $30 at my local pet store. It will measure your humidity in the tank, which is useful for shed periods.
By putting the rheostat on the heat pad, you can turn it up or down and control how intense the heat is. Just tinker around for a few hours and you should be able to get a good hot side temp. I usually keep my rheostat at medium low and it's worked out well.

 

[Nastassja]

Just as an update:

I took TripnBils' advice-- I removed the heat pad from the bottom of the tank (which wasn't very hard actually, a gentle tug and the pad was removed.. I must not have stuck it on very tightly), covered the sticky side with aluminum foil, and let it rest underneath the tank. I left the little thermometer resting at the bottom of the tank on the warm side all evening, and so far as I can see, the thermometer is registering a solid 85 degrees. That seems to be about just right... right?

I'm going to now leave the thermometer on the cool side all night, so that I can get a register of the temperature on the cool end.

Some sad news though, my friend wasn't able to ship out Frostbites as planned today the UPS he goes to is being remodeled, and he wasn't able to get them shipped without traversing Atlanta to find a different UPS store. Hopefully he'll have him sent tomorrow so that I can have him by Friday, but I guess odds are he'll only have time to send him out on monday. Oh the agony of the wait! :crying:

 

[Nastassja]

Is that little bronze thing a thermometer? I thought it was a hygrometer, it looks like the ReptiMed hygrometer that I use. You will probably want to pick one of those up, too; analog are around $8 and digital are around $30 at my local pet store. It will measure your humidity in the tank, which is useful for shed periods.
By putting the rheostat on the heat pad, you can turn it up or down and control how intense the heat is. Just tinker around for a few hours and you should be able to get a good hot side temp. I usually keep my rheostat at medium low and it's worked out well.

I was prepared to go out and buy the supplies for the make-it-yourself rheostat if the laying under the tank thing didn't work. So far that seems to have worked really well, so I'm not going to fret too much.

On a side note, I really want to thank everyone for all the wonderful advice and information you've all supplied me. I feel much more confident about the care of my new little life. I know now that I will be a much better mommy to little Frostie than I would have if I'd never gotten such great advice!!