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Help with heating?

RubyRu

RubyRu

New member
Hi everyone

I'm having trouble getting my vivarium temperature up! At the moment it's only 22.5 degrees C.

I am using a large ExoTerra dessert heat mat attached to the underside of my ExoTerra glass vivarium, and with a Microclimate ministat too.

What am I doing wrong or what am I missing?

Thanks! X
 
Assuming no animal in the viv, have you tested the mat without the thermostat? How hot does it get? What kind of substrate and how thick is it over the mat? Is there a hide over the mat and are you measuring temp in the hide. Where is your thermostat probe and thermometer probe? What temp are you setting your thermostat at?

In my one viv with paper towel substrate under a cork hide, I have to set my thermostat at 100F to hold 90 (proper for that snake) on the glass under the hide. My thermostat is probe duck taped to the mat on the outside of the viv. I set my thermostats wherever they need to be to hold the temp I need at the thermometer probe. Also without the paper towels and the hide to hold the heat in, I could not hold 90 degrees. Without the hide the thermometer temp immediately drops from 90 to 87.
 
I'm using aspen bedding, it's about 2 inches thick (I just went by what the packet said to do) so maybe that's too thick! I can thin that out and hopefully that'll help.
I was also told to have both thermometer and thermostat probes in the middle of the viv, not right by the heater so that's what I've done.


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f13d14e44cad1b1fade04a4e5a329faa.jpg


This is my viv


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Most of us measure the temp on the glass under the substrate under the warm hide. If your thermometer is in the middle of viv, the temp you are measuring is the middle of the viv, not the warm hide/spot.

Your thermostat probe can be on the outside of the middle of the mat, firmly taped in place, between the mat and the glass in the middle of the mat on the outside, or on the glass in the middle of the mat on the inside. Because I have no way to run cables inside and I don't want to bend my mat, I duck tape mine to the outside of my mat.

P.S. Never use any kind of tape inside of the viv or where your snake may come into contact with it. You can safely use hot glue to affix things inside of the viv.
 
t6pZm27l.jpg


This is a picture of my young corn snake sleeping/digesting in her warm hide. The thermometer probe is under her in the middle of the hide held to the glass by a suction cup. The temp reads 84 to 85F. This hide is over the middle of the thermostat controlled UTH and provides her warm spot. This also creates a temperature gradient for her to choose from in the rest of the viv.
 
Thanks. I thinned out the substrate a little and moved the thermometer probe to underneath the warm hide above the heat mat and it shot up to 32 deg C! (About 90F) So I guess that's what I'm looking for right?


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Yes, except for a corn snake make that more like 84-85F. 90 is too high for a corn. Best wishes.
 
Hi RubyRu ...
Also, just so you're aware ... a corn snake will burrow in aspen over the UTH to find the most comfortable temp. You can keep it thick if you want, the snake will find the best comfort zone.
 
you want your probes @ the mat. Otherwise you may have 85 degrees in the middle of the tank and 120 where the mat actually is. You want the mat itself to produce the 85 degree heat right above it. The rest of the tank does not matter unless it's super cold where you are and if that's the case you can use 2 mats like I do.
 
That particular UTH gets very hot- so be careful. As others have said, you need to measure the temp in the center of the UTH, in the viv, under the substrate. The stat probe should be in the same location- this is very important!! The depth of the aspen doesn't matter.
 
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