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Heating Issues..

Pet Corn Snake

Pet Corn Snake

New member
Hey everyone :)

Its rather cold where I live and I'm having some heating issues.. All of my mats are on decent thermostats, Molly "my royal python" her tanks heating is great, but because I share a thermostat between Damien and Sabrinas heat mats, its always lower in both tanks then the thermostat says.. There thermostat is set to 88, however its only at 80, I have filled there tanks with lots of shredded paper for extra warmth, but I'm wondering.. If I put the thermostat up more, it might make the mats go up more however theres a chance they could shoot up too high.. Rather annoying weather :(

I use stick-on thermometer but they have always been accurate to the thermostat.. I am going digital in a few week though :)
 
Hey George.

I know what you mean mate, I've had similar problems in the past. However, if you're only using stick-on thermometers the temps could be way out. Where are the thermometers placed? Heat mats don't tend to raise the ambient temperature by very much, so unless your thermometers are literally right next to the heat mat you'll be getting an inaccurate reading.

You could always turn on the radiator in your room and keep it pretty constant. Or you could pick up a mini-heater from Comet or Currys for about £15.

I hope that helps

David
 
First off throw away the sticky thermometer.

It doesn't matter what the temperature on the thermostat says. That is not where the snake lives. Don't even look at that number.

Buy a thermometer with a probe. Put the probe in the substraight right above the heat mat just like it was a snake. It will feel the temperature the same way the snake would which is the only thing we care about. When the probe says it's comfortable, that is where you want the thermostat to stay no matter what it says.
 
I'm surprised you're using stick-on thermometers, Maplins do a good digital one with probe for under £20. Having 2 heatmats running on the same thermostat shouldn't cause lower temperatures at all.
 
diamondlil said:
I'm surprised you're using stick-on thermometers, Maplins do a good digital one with probe for under £20. Having 2 heatmats running on the same thermostat shouldn't cause lower temperatures at all.
Click to expand...

No, in my experience it's actually raised the temperature of heat mat that's not near the probe by a huge amount. I assume the heat mat is attempting to heat the area which is by the probe, which in my case was about three feet away... that would explain the temperature of 110F... :grin01:

I promply bought another thermostat.
 
George, NEVER trust the thermostat dial. Ignore the numbers on it it immediatley.

When using themostats, you need to calibrate them to the correct temperatures, and doing this depends on where the probe is situated. I use pulse pro stats on my racks... for example, the boa stat is set to 84 on the dial, but inside the boxs the temperature is 92-93 never more and never less.

I have the probes taped to the "main" pad pn the ouside of their tubs and covered with a cube of poly box.

You are very lucky if you get a stat that is set to 84 and reads 84 in the box... It just depends where the probe is fixed. I prefer having them on the ouside of the tub so there are less fluctuations.
 
Yep, that's how I'm set up too, with the probes taped on the heat cables, outside the boxes so the probe can't be moved and so there aren't wires going into the tubs. I checked and rechecked the temps inside the boxes to calibrate the thermostats to get the temperatures inside how I wanted them, totally ignoring the numbers on the thermostat dials.
But I think George has heatmats inside wooden vivs, which would make not measuring the mat temperature accurately even more of an issue IMO. The dial thermometers would most likely just measure the ambient temp, not the mat temp.
 
Hello everyone, thank you for your suggestions and advise, I will try my best to get digital thermometer as soon as possible, Molly has her probe tied to the heat mat cable so it stays in the same place, her thermostat says 92, the thermometer reads 92 too! I'll keep an eye on the temps, and hopefully soon buy a decent thermometer.
 
try some extra

I agree, I always use a probe at either end, down where the snake lives. Have you considered using a bit of extra above takn heat? I use a undertank, but supplement the heat with an emmitter during the winter, to keep that magic 85 degrees during the day.
 
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