• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Under Tank Heater and Hides

A

Ayidah

New member
I have an under tank heater with no thermostat as I have a pretty thick layer of coconut fibers substrate that allows my snake to decide how close to it she wants to be. However, I wonder if it is ok to have it under her only closed hide (she can also hide in some fake leaves on the other side of the tank). Should I move it? Add another "tube" hide on the cooler side or going along the back of the vivarium?


If I need to get a thermostat, how do they work? Can I plug it to my current Exo Terra mat or would I need to buy a brand new mat with a thermostat? I also have a UVA lamp that is on (on the same side) from 7am until 10:30am until some natural light starts actually getting in my room. Is it too much heating? It only gets the temperature up about 2 degrees higher to 26C (79 F).
 
Thermostats (at least, mine) turn the heat mat on and off to keep the temperature near the one you set. I have a Hydrofarm one that can work with any mat, but I'm not sure about other ones.
 
But how does it know the temperature? Does it plug in together with the mat like my timer for the UVA light or does it need another plug?
 
There is a probe to put in the tank. The mat plugs into the thermostat which plug into the wall.
 
Thermostats work pretty simply. You plug the thermostat unit into the wall. You run the temperature probe (that comes with/is attached to the thermostat, not a separate thermometer) to where you want to control the temperature (assuming a glass aquarium style enclosure, most commonly is on the inside of the tank, ON the glass right above where the UTH is positioned), then you plug the heating device into the thermostat unit. Set the temperature you want, and it will ON/OFF the UTH to maintain close to that temperature (usually within +/- one to three degrees). Will sometimes take some fiddling around to get temperatures right, due to discrepancies in temp probes, etc.
 
Thank you! And you all believe it is ok to have the biggest hide above the UTH if there is enough thickness of substrate over it? She also has a tiny felt "blanket" with my smell on it that she sometimes that is in the middle of her hide. She sometimes goes on top of it, and sometimes under of, or partly under. BTW, I found it true that it helps with the handling as she calms down as soon as I let her smell me with her tongue probably because she makes the connection with her blanket.
 
As long as the snake has other options, you can have the hide(s) wherever... if the warm hide builds up too much heat the snake will go somewhere else to cool off. Granted you don't want the hides temp to be too high but that really shouldn't be a problem, especially if you're controlling the temperature under the stubstrate on the glass.

Also, pretty smart with the "blanket". Just remember to keep it clean. I don't doubt that it makes a lot of difference as the snake associates the scent with safety.
 
I went a cheaper way, I have one large UTH that is under two tanks (two snakes, two tanks, but the UTH I bought originally was too big for just a 20L tank) and have two probe thermometers, one in each over the UTH. Just the UTH alone would kick the temp up to over 100 so I bought an $11 sliding dimmer switch from Home Depot. One end plugs into the UTH, the other end to the wall socket. At 3/4 of the way to full power it makes the warm side temp on each tank a perfect 85.

I think thermostats attached to the UTHs are more expensive than my setup. It is what you prefer.


I would provide as many hides as you can, all over the tank, especially one on each end. As far as the size of the hides, the smaller the hide the better, as long as the snake fits comfortably. They enjoy the secure feeling of having the hide along their back and sides and on top of them. You will have to upgrade the size when necessary, but that just means you need a new, smaller snake to use the hides!
 
hydrofarm thermostats are pretty inexpensive...I got 3 of them from ebay for $30 each...free shipping...they work great, and I can rest easy knowing my snakes aren't getting baked from the heat being too high...without the thermostat I was getting IR readings of 105-110 on the surface of the bedding...if they burrowed I'm sure it was even higher :(
 
Yeah, even with the thick layer of substrate they have a high risk of burning themselves.
If you get a thermostat, then it will be fine, even with the hide over it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top