Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I keep persephone in a vision 332 cage, and use under tank heaters for her heat source. They have been doing great, up until today. I rearranged her cage and used about half as much cypress as I did before. Now there is a hot spot near one of her hides that is reaching up into the low 90's. The rest of the tank ranges from 74F to 82F, and it is just this one spot that is reaching higher temperatures. I've taken the heat gun all around.

Is this going to be a problem. Will she be smart enough to stay out of the kitchen? Suggestions? I do have a zoo medz rheostat, but I just removed it because of the annoyance factor of having too many wires running into the cage.

Thanks,

Josh

Well, they aint real smart, not smart enough to get off the heat unless it's a slow change. Probably need to do something but don't know your setup to make a good recommendation. Is this one of multiple heaters that ois causing the hot spot? If so could you add a dimmer to just that one or turn it off?
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Sorry, yes, this is one of two "10 gallon" UTH heaters. Rheostat was hooked up to one of them, consequently not the one that I am now having problems with. The thick cypress mulch was doing a great job of soaking up most of the heat in the tank. Looks like I will have to put the rheostat (fancy term for a dimmer switch) back into place and fiddle with it until I get the temperatures right.

IMO minimal setup is to have a rheostat (dimmer) to allow you to turn down the heat. The thicker mulch would appear to dissipate the heat better but not if the snake decided to burrow in the wrong spot.

Brings up another point I'll harp on over and over again. Aquariums are for fish, not rainbows!! Duh, you didn't say you have an aquariom and you could have a plastic cage with UTH's wich is not the same. Glass is a great conductor of heat and allows the heat to escape rapidly which means you have to run at higher power to keep it warm. BUT, with a dimmer if the room warms up, then the cage will overheat.

Two points to my rambling

1) IMO, get a good thermostat, not a cheap @$$ dimmer. Long term you will be happier with it and you snake will be healthier from it.

2) Again IMO, go with a solid cage, no screeen topped aquarium. Even if mostly covered with plastic to "fix" the humidity problem, unless the room ambients are just a little below optimal temps, it will be hard to maintain good temps.

Don't want to come across wrong, I just care about the animals!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Dave,

Its a vision 322 all pvc/plastic cage. I've got plastic covering all the vent holes. Two thermometers, two humidity detectors, and all the other bells and whistles. I'd love to live in her cage myself! I just put back in the rheostat, and placed its temp sensor directly on the hot spot and dialed it down to 85F. This keeps the temperature still ranging between 72F and 80F throughout the rest of the cage. I'll put a picture up tomorrow of the setup. I swear I put close to 4x what I paid for her into her enclosure.

That's great, sounds like you've dialed it in.

A rheostat with a temp sensor is a thermostat????? ot just a dimmer switch!

Sorry for the rant, I've just seen so many horror stories with aquariums.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Yeah, I did my research before I bought. It was a toss up between the boaphile or the vision and I went with the vision when I should have gone with the boaphile cage since I had to custom cut a bunch of lexan sheets to cover up all the air escape routes. Now the humidity is high and stays high.

Ok, so I guess I didn't buy the rheostat, but an actual thermostat from zoo med. It isn't the best thing out there, since I really would have liked to see actual numbers on the dial! Details on it below:

Repti-Temp 500R Remote Sensor Thermostat

Features include a 6 ft. remote sensor probe and a dual port plug receptacle to control multiple heating devices. Safety cover prevents accidental “bumping” of the temperature dial! Includes mounting hardware and extra adhesive pads. Can be used in conjunction with a timer for day/night cycle simulation. Range is from 70° to 110°F (21° TO 43°C.)

Yup, that is a thermostat!! I've heard some not so great things about that type, I'm assuming it has the round brown dial? I've read reports of them sticking in the on position. With the newer (and duh more expensive) electronic units there is fault circuitry that will shut down the outputs in case of error. Much safer that way as animals can survive being too cold much better than being too hot.

Still, sounds like a good cage (after mods) and yeah, the proper cage can be quite expensive! A factor many folks seem to overlook. Having many can reduce the cost per cage section but still is typically more than the snake inside unless you're keeping the more expensive morphs.

>>Yeah, I did my research before I bought. It was a toss up between the boaphile or the vision and I went with the vision when I should have gone with the boaphile cage since I had to custom cut a bunch of lexan sheets to cover up all the air escape routes. Now the humidity is high and stays high.
>>
>>Ok, so I guess I didn't buy the rheostat, but an actual thermostat from zoo med. It isn't the best thing out there, since I really would have liked to see actual numbers on the dial! Details on it below:
>>
>>Repti-Temp 500R Remote Sensor Thermostat
>>
>>Features include a 6 ft. remote sensor probe and a dual port plug receptacle to control multiple heating devices. Safety cover prevents accidental “bumping” of the temperature dial! Includes mounting hardware and extra adhesive pads. Can be used in conjunction with a timer for day/night cycle simulation. Range is from 70° to 110°F (21° TO 43°C.)
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I suggest you invest in a good thermostat.

>>I keep persephone in a vision 332 cage, and use under tank heaters for her heat source. They have been doing great, up until today. I rearranged her cage and used about half as much cypress as I did before. Now there is a hot spot near one of her hides that is reaching up into the low 90's. The rest of the tank ranges from 74F to 82F, and it is just this one spot that is reaching higher temperatures. I've taken the heat gun all around.
>>
>>Is this going to be a problem. Will she be smart enough to stay out of the kitchen? Suggestions? I do have a zoo medz rheostat, but I just removed it because of the annoyance factor of having too many wires running into the cage.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Josh
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Josh,
....I have digital proportional thermostats and dimmer switches and all sorts of cool heating stuff and I mostly agree with what other people have posted. Before we had all these great electronic accessories we made do with simpler methods. Your hot spot is too warm and if the snake gets stressed it may spend too much time right down in the bottom of the mulch on top of the hot spot. If your room temperature is fairly stable you could probably get the warm spot the desired 5 to 10 degrees cooler by placing a sheet of 3/8 or 1/2 inch plywood between the heater and the cage. If your room temperature varies too much you need to invest in a good (preferably proportional) thermostat.
Jeff

>>I keep persephone in a vision 332 cage, and use under tank heaters for her heat source. They have been doing great, up until today. I rearranged her cage and used about half as much cypress as I did before. Now there is a hot spot near one of her hides that is reaching up into the low 90's. The rest of the tank ranges from 74F to 82F, and it is just this one spot that is reaching higher temperatures. I've taken the heat gun all around.
>>
>>Is this going to be a problem. Will she be smart enough to stay out of the kitchen? Suggestions? I do have a zoo medz rheostat, but I just removed it because of the annoyance factor of having too many wires running into the cage.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Josh