UTH Way too hot!!!

[mdworske]

I just moved my corn up to a 36X13X16H (not sure what size this is). I was going to get the dragon's lair uth since it was a steady 90 degrees. I was at my local pet shop getting aspen today, and they had a zoo med for a 30-40 gal on sale 1/2 price because it was out of the package, but hadn't been used.

I stupidly stuck it to the bottom of the tank and had it on a rheostat on low. The temp read 104 degrees. I have tried this rheostat before and don't think it works.

I also have acouple esu thermostats. Should I hook it up to this, or where can I get a dimmer that will turn the temp down. I had originally planned to use the uth in conjunction with a light, but that is way too hot.

I turned the uth off for the night and am using my old 60 watt red bulb. My house is 70-72 degrees, so hopefully this will be warm enough for the night.

I would be thankful for any suggestions!

 

[danvega]

Here's what I use. It's relatively inexpensive, looks decent, has a 6' cord, and, most importantly, does the job.

Lutron 300 Watt White Credenza® Lamp Dimmer With Nightlight

 

[dwyn127]

In the search above, type in rheostat and find the thread "how to make your own rheostat for under 7 dollars". I made 4 of them in an hour.

 

[Snowman]

Hello,

I too have a couple of zoo med heat pads and have been pretty happy with them but the rheostat is a must, especially for heat tape, that stuff gets hot really fast. I got lucky and picked up a rheo on consignment at petco and it works well, one thing that is pretty handy to have is a distance thermomiter, tempgun.com. It is nice because you can just point it at the temp in question and there you go! I am not sure how totally accurate it is but it gets the job done. It works great for aggressive snakes, less bites!

 

[Muggle]

I had the same problem. I turned the rheostate as low as it could go and it was still too hot, 100.1 I think it was. I taped two paper towels folded to fit over the UTH and it droped the temp to 91-92ish. Hope that helps

 

[CJBianco]

You could always buy a quality thermostat. This would constantly regulate temperatures (up and down) instead of just staying at the "ON" position.

The problem with rheostats is that if the ambiant room temperature changes for any reason (natural daylight heat, central AC/heating fluctuations, etc), then the temperature in the cage changes also. This change may introduce critical levels.

(For instance...if the rheostat is set to allow for a hot spot of 85ºF in a room with ambiant temperatures of 65ºF, and the ambiant room temperature increases to 75ºF, then the hot spot may now be anywhere from 95ºF or higher. This could be deadly to the animals.)

A quality thermostat will regulate the cage temperatures. If the ambiant room temperature increases, then the thermostat will stop giving power so that the 85ºF cage temp is constant. If the ambiant room temperature drops, then the thermostat supplies extra power to maintain the 85ºF temp.

I know this may sound like overkill to most people, but I had a good friend who kept his Ball Pythons using a rheostat. Every night (as the outdoor temperatures dropped) he would turn the rheostat up, and in the mornings he would turn it down. One morning he was in a hurry and left the house without turning the rheostat down. He returned to find half his collection dead. (And this was before noon.) He lost several thousands of dollars worth of Ball Python morphs.

It was an expensive lesson to learn.


Just My Thoughts On The Subject,
Chris

 

[justcage]

Dimmers/rheostats are for lighting.. nuf said

 

[Preita]

In the search above, type in rheostat and find the thread "how to make your own rheostat for under 7 dollars". I made 4 of them in an hour.

Thats what my husband did too. Works great. Easy to make. :dancer: