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Where Does The Thermostat Probe Go?

B

BlackMamba

New member
I searched and I only found a few irrelevant threads.

I finally got everything together for the enclosure and I'm just wondering where to put the thermostat and thermometer probes. Also, what do I secure the probes with? I have a 10 gallon glass Zilla Critter Cage and I used foil tape to secure the UTH to the bottom of the tank. I'm using a 10-20 gallon Zoo Med UTH with a thermostat.

Also, unrelated but ... I set my thermostat to 84 and it is fluctuating between 80 and 86. Is it okay if it goes down to 80 once in a while? I guess it's better to be not warm enough then too hot?

I would really appreciate some help!
 
I used hot glue to secure mine to the glass in the center or the uth. You can also use blue tack (sp) and silicone as long as you give it time to dry. My thermostat bounces between 80.9 and 85.7 all day but I think the prefered temp is between 82-85
 
New2this<3 said:
I used hot glue to secure mine to the glass in the center or the uth. You can also use blue tack (sp) and silicone as long as you give it time to dry. My thermostat bounces between 80.9 and 85.7 all day but I think the prefered temp is between 82-85
Click to expand...

Okay cool thanks. I'm actually worried about something else now too lol. Dang it. I just checked the cold side temperature with the uth off an it's 79 degrees! Is that okay? I don't know what it's that warm. My AC is set to 73. My room is the warmest in the house though ... idk.
 
I'm not really sure I have had my room get to about 80 but only for a few hours.. I was wondering the same thing. I see some people veiwinbhg so hope fully they can give some advice.
 
What is the cold side temp with the UTH on? Not much you can do anyway, except place the viv in a cooler place. (Closer to the floor). A high that fluctuates to 86 is okay, as long as it's not constant. Any higher, in that small of a viv, would make me nervous.

On/off thermostats fluctuate like that. Proportional thermostats are much steadier, but also a lot more expensive.
 
Unfortunately my bedroom is like an oven. I have the tank on 2 ceramic tiles on the floor and with the UTH off the thermometer is reading 79.6 degrees. I'm going to turn the UTH back on now and see where it gets.
 
Okay, it looks like the cool side got up to 80.5(according to a zoo med thermostat).

Luckily my thermostat and thermometer seen to be pretty dead on actually. I let the thermometer just sit and measure air temperature in my house and it was within one degree. The thermostat and thermometer temperatures are also within one degree.
 
Well that's not good. I just ran into another problem ... My thermostat probe cord is too thick to fit through the hole they have in the lid, so now I guess my old option is put secure it to the heat mat directly. I would rather have it on the bottom of the mat, especially since I already foil taped the mat down. Is having it taped on the other die of the heat mat okay? Any help would really be appreciated.
 
If you put it directly on the heat mad your thermostat will work wrong my heat mat runs almost 10 degrees hotter than the glass inside the tank...
 
I actually panicked and already foil taped the probe onto the bottom of the heat mat. I'm giving it a while to stabilize temps but it seems OK so far. I've heard a lot of people say that I should put it directly on the heat source anyways, so hopefully it's fine. I was worried about the snake moving it anyways.

I heard that foil tape can give false readings so I was apprehensive about using it, but then someone said they use it because it insulates the probe and gives the mat temp and not the air temp. That makes sense, but I also left around half of the probe exposed just in case.

I know that my thermometer wire can fit, so luckily that's fine. Unfortunately my thermometer and thermostat are a few degrees off now, but I guess that's normal because glass is an insulator? Is it normal to have to turn the thermostat up higher to get the inside glass up to 85? It looks like I might have to turn it up to 87ish because on 85 it's only getting to around 82/82.5 degrees.

Anyone?
 
New2this<3 said:
If you put it directly on the heat mad your thermostat will work wrong my heat mat runs almost 10 degrees hotter than the glass inside the tank...
Click to expand...

Whoops, just saw your reply. Okay cool thanks, I figured it's normal but it still gets me nervous seeing the thermostat up so high. I almost want to buy another thermometer to be sure lol.
 
Yea you have to have the thermostat prob on the glass and an extra thermometer probe on the glass. So that is ur thermostat is set to 85 it turns off when the glass reaches 85
 
Another thing that gets me nervous, is the probe wire is on the heat mat because I thought you're supposed to put the probe on the middle of the mat. It just worries me though that it could be a fire hazard ... What do you guys think? Should I move the probe to the edge of the mat so little to no wire is touching it?
 
The heat mat should be secured outside the vive (which I think you have done with the foil tape), and the probe should be stuck to the bottom of the glass on the inside - right in the middle of the heat mat, where the hottest temperature would be. This way there is no fire hazard with the thermometer probe/wire touching the heat mat, as you are worried about.
But I read earlier that you said the hole in the lid isn't large enough for the wire, so I'm wondering if you can get a small drill to fix this? Or someone who has one. It would take all of two seconds with the right size of bit (if the lid is plastic)!

Hope that helps :)
 
It really shouldn't matter where you put the thermostat probe, as long as you have your thermometer in there to check the temp on the glass inside the cage. All the thermostat does is keep the heat at a preset temperature. In order to get your heat where you want it inside (say 85), the heat mat is going to have to put out a certain amount of heat. It doesn't matter where the thermostat probe is, the heat mat is going to be the same heat either way. The only difference is that outside of the viv there is less insulation, so the probe will read hotter. In that case, set the probe to the amount you need so your inside temp is at 85 (or whatever temp you decide). As the actual heat inside the viv will be the same either way, it is not more or less dangerous to have the probe on the inside or the outside. Hope that helps.
 
Okay cool, thanks. I appreciate the help. Sorry for asking so many questions, and probably a lot of them a few times. I just really want to make sure I set everything up right.
 
Another unrelated thing, but what is safe to use as homemade hides? I've heard flower pots are pretty good but are they safe? What else is good as a homemade hide. I was gonna use toilet paper rolls but it seems pretty small and I'm afraid it might roll around or something.
 
Flowerpots are great as long as there are no sharp edges for your snake to cut itself on. If there is a hole in the bottom make sure it's not too small for your snake to get stuck in. I would also go for unglazed or at least ensure the glaze/paint used on the pot is non-toxic/lead free. If you are worried about TP rolls moving around I would suggest flattening them down a bit, I think this is even recommended for hatchlings. Just check often to make sure they're not wet/soiled. If you're going for homemade, I've seen all kinds of things used, really anything you can imagine as long as it's not toxic and/or sharp (personally I wouldn't use anything metal though)... boxes, sculpey clay, coconut shells, flowerpots, the bottom of a soda bottle, legos, wood. Almost anything! Have fun with it :) I would HIGHLY recommend you check out the DIY section of the forums, there is scads of info there on making your own viv decor.
 
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