Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering for those of you who use a thermostat with newspaper or cage liners as a substrate. Do you tape the probe of the thermostat down to the newspaper, or underneath of the newspaper incase the boa goes under the paper?

I used a little common sense and put the probe under the paper on the cage itself, but on top of the paper is obviously a few degress cooler.

The question is so do I set my thermostat to as high as I need to so on top of the paper will be where I want the temp to be (90)..and if thats the case, flexwatt says never exceed 95 (even if I have to raise the stat that high to achieve that temp above the paper). and then what if the boa ever goes under the paper and the cage surface is too hot?

thanks,

mat

Good idea to put the probe UNDER the paper.

You do then have to adjust the thermostat so that you get the temperature you want ABOVE the paper... that's when one of those infrared thermometers comes in handy.

You have to play around a bit - set the thermostat, let the cage warm up, see what the temp is above the paper. If it's not warm enough, adjust the thermostat up a little... wait again for the heater to catch up... check temps again.

So, even though the probe is measuring a higher temperature under the paper, you want to get an ambient temperature above the paper, because that's where the snake will be.

The same sort of adjustment happens when you have the temp probe underneath (outside) of a plastic bin... obviously the more material the heat has to go through, the higher the thermostat has to be set to get an appropriate temperature.

But, go out and buy a infrared temp gun if you don't have one! You can get one online for about $25, or if you have a Harbor Freight store near you, they sometimes have super sales (I've gotten temp guns for as low as $9).
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
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