Reptile & Amphibian Forums

heres my situation. ive got the helix setup with my 3 tanks. im using overhead lamps (have to get some undertank heaters but in the meantime...) with glass aquariums. not sure the gallon size but they are roughly 36" wide. ive got the helix set to 89F and it is showing 86. ive put duct tape on the screen tops around the lights and left space for air to get in and out for each tank. however the thermometers ive attached to the tanks (digital readout with probes and humidity display)show different temps and one even shows a temp of 116F. i thought these things were supposed to keep all the temps the same. bulbs being used in the lighting fixtures are 100watt btw.
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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boas
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Surinam Redtail Boa

"heres my situation. ive got the helix setup with my 3 tanks. im using overhead lamps (have to get some undertank heaters but in the meantime...) with glass aquariums. not sure the gallon size but they are roughly 36" wide. ive got the helix set to 89F and it is showing 86. ive put duct tape on the screen tops around the lights and left space for air to get in and out for each tank. however the thermometers ive attached to the tanks (digital readout with probes and humidity display)show different temps and one even shows a temp of 116F. i thought these things were supposed to keep all the temps the same. bulbs being used in the lighting fixtures are 100watt btw."

The output from the bulbs will be the same but there are way to many variables in a snake cage that will alter air and surface temps when heating with light including the snake itself. For example a darker boa will absorb more heat than a light boa. Darker substrate would also get warmer. Two temperature probes from a thermometer place just a few inches apart can have a huge difference in there read out temp. A Helix isn't really designed for multiple cages that are heated with light. It only has one probe and the temperatures in a multiple cages with the same light bulb will vary a lot just as you have stated. Using a Helix with multiple cages that use under tank heating will work well. With a Helix as long as your cages and substrate are the same thickness your temps will all be the same. I use a few sheets of newspaper in my rack system with one Helix controlling the entire rack. They all are within a degree of each other on both the hot and cool side. My advice is to get some heat tape ASAP.
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Jaremy Douglas