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Quick Is my zilla under-tank heater malfunctioning?

Snowbound

New member
Hello Cornsnake forums

I have had my first corn snake for over 2 weeks now. Everything has been fine with my Snow corn snake, I have a over tank heater and a under tank.

Now the undertank heater I originally had on the side of my 25 gallon for the last two weeks, then I read on the internet and in this cornsnake book I have (Corn snakes in captivity by Don Soderberg) that placing the heater on the side is ineffective even though when i initially installed it, the zilla instructions said if the cage lays on the pad and that pad directly on a surface without air room it would malfunction.

Recently I found the use of the little feet you can lift the cage up with so the heater can be stuck to the bottom of the cage so, I as delicately as I could pulled the sticky heater off the side and replaced it to the bottom so it could heat the cage better.

Well now my temperatures have skyrocketed! I came back not to long after to find the hot side being 115 degrees with the heat lamp on. I turned the lamp off and let the cage cool but the UT heater is still really hot to the touch especially on the side that's touching the glass and above the aspen the temp is at 93 degrees or so. My snake still refuses to leave the hot side since I fed her a day before this started, and I'm afraid that extended contact will hurt him.

Is this normal for a undertank heater w/o a thermostat? I'm wondering if I need to purchase another undertank heater as well. also any good recommendations of a good thermostat I can get and at what store?
 
you can get a dimmer switch for lamps at any hardware store.. and order a thermostat. I know there is a good one hydro farm on amazon.
 
Most undertank heaters will get way too hot unless they're regulated by a thermostat.

I'd say that your heater is behaving as I'd expect (they can easily reach 120+) and that you need a thermostat as soon as possible. Also, are you measuring the floor temperature with a digital thermometer? The carboard strip and plastic dial types can be 20+ degrees out either way. If you can double-check the temps with a different thermometer, that would help confirm the situation.

The fact that the mat feels hot to you is a bad sign. The floor of the tank needs ideally to be in the mid-80s, which will feel lukewarm to you. It's surprisingly cool.

Switching the lamp off was a good move - Corns don't need both.

As for staying on the warm side, are there a range of hides on the cool side? Sometimes they choose security over the right heat zone, even when they're overheating. You can put some toilet roll tubes or kitchen roll tubes in, cut in half vertically. Perhaps if there's a bit more ground cover your chap might feel happier to move around.

Let us know how it goes. It can be a bit nerve-wracking when you first set up and start tinkering to get things right. Sounds like you're on the right track though.
 
Temp rising is to be expected when moving the UTH from the side to the bottom. No need to stick it on the bottom - leave a gap between the bottom and the heater, so part of the heat vents out before reaching the glass. Add height to the legs if required.
 
Thanks you guys.

I have three different hides in my snake Izaya's cage, a log in the warm side, the plastic container he came in turned upside down in the mid range and a half cut juice box in the cold range and just one dial thermometer set near his warm hide. He uses the juice box but seems to prefer just burrowing around right now. I'll add the paper towel roll soon to, to see if he likes that.

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This is his cage, He has some cover but I guess I might need to add more. will setting the UTH below the cage on the shelf instead of on the glass be safe? the cage is on a wooden bookshelf, I don't mind damaging the wood since it's already pretty scuffed, but with it able to get so hot will it have the potential to start a fire? I'm using the little feet that came with the UTH but they only raise the cage around 6 cm or so.

I'll look in the store for both, the dimmer and the thermostat, I want to order one from amazon but can my snake wait that long? I added paper towel under the substrate to buffer the heat from the UTH so my snake won't risk burning himself while burrowing near the glass but now the temp stays at a steady 95 degrees. will he be ok waiting 2-4 days for a thermostat for the UTH or should I run and get one as soon as possible now?
 
What's the temp with just the lamp on? You could turn off the UTH and go with the heat lamp until your new thermostat comes in.
 
The dial thermometer needs to go- you need to get a digital one with a probe. Those little dial thermometers tend to be off 20 degrees either way. Since you are less likely to cook your snake with a light, just turn off the UTH for now and stick with the light until you can get a thermostat to regulate the temperature of the UTH. Once you get the thermostat and thermometer, turn the light off. All a light is going to do is dry up your cage and cause bad sheds. Your corn only needs the UTH.
 
the warm side when I had the UTH off for 2 hours was around 80 degrees and lowering slowly.

With just the light on it was still over 85 near 100 degrees. It wasn't anywhere near this hot when I had the UTH on the side of the cage instead of the bottom. I want to switch the UTH back to the side almost, but that would be the 4th time removing it, and I don't want it to get even worse.

I'm going out to buy one of the Zoo med Digital thermometers today, will the Hydrofarm work with a Zoo Med 10-20 heat pad? I was going to go for the zoo med thermostat repti temp 500R since I figured the same brand has to work with the heatpad but do any of you guys have experience with it? I read some mixed reviews so I figured to ask.
 
With just the light on it was still over 85 near 100 degrees. It wasn't anywhere near this hot when I had the UTH on the side of the cage instead of the bottom.
A UTH is designed to heat the surface nearest it and not the air in the tank (the snake isn't up there, so the air temp doesn't matter). Unless the Corn spends a lot of time snuggled up against the wall, the UTH won't work for the snake if you mount it there.

For a Corn, a UTH is best used underneath the tank to heat the floor surface, and will be absoluely fine when regulated with a themostat. When you get it, put the thermostat probe inside the tank, on the floor immediately above the UTH. Use the thermometer to check the heat at that point as well and you'll be sorted.

I don't have personal experience, but Zoo Med is one of the major makes of stat and many people use them for UTHs in their Corn setups.
 
will setting the UTH below the cage on the shelf instead of on the glass be safe? the cage is on a wooden bookshelf, I don't mind damaging the wood since it's already pretty scuffed, but with it able to get so hot will it have the potential to start a fire? I'm using the little feet that came with the UTH but they only raise the cage around 6 cm or so.

You would be fine to set it directly on top of the wood instead of the glass, since it will only be getting to about 85 degrees once you get the thermostat. There won't be much risk for a fire. You would probably be better off sticking it to the bottom of the tank because it will heat the glass more efficiantly. My tanks are all on wooden tables/desks, and I've never had any issues.

Don't let all these heating troubles ruin your experience with corns! I had all the same issues when I was starting out. It's confusing when your a beginner, but you'll soon have your husbandry mastered. Best of luck getting things sorted out! :)
 
Thanks you guys for all your help, you lowered a lot of my worries.

after my last post I tried the UTH again and since it was making popping sounds I just tossed it and got a whole new one. now that I have a new one the heater doesn't burn to touch.

I also got a digital thermometer which showed that the last UTH had the thing way higher then 120 so i'm glad i trashed it. after moving the hide to the side of where the UTH is located I have made his hide a nice 85 degrees.

now that the temperatures are right he seems more happy to roam around the warm side now so thank you all so much ^__^
 
I'm confused as to how your temps are not still over 120 if you don't have a thermostat? What type of UTH are you using? Where is your digital thermometer's probe placed?
 
Well, the ExoTerra Rainforest UTH has a low temp like that, I've heard...

They are the only ones I use for that reason. I have tried other readily available brands and found they get way too hot.
 
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