Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, My leo setup currently has an UTH with no rheostat or thermsotat attached. I measured the sand surface temp and its like 100-110 degrees. I am going to install a dimmer switch, are there any tricks or anything or do I just wire it between the plug and the UTH? Also, my leos have been ok with this setup for over a year. They still go on the warm side and have the other end thats 80 to cool off in. Should I cool down the warm end? Thanks for any help!!

Steve
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0.4 leopard geckos

You can go to Home Depot and get a lamp dimmer, then you won't have to do any wiring. The UTH plugs into the dimmer, and the dimmer plugs into the wall. They're pretty cheap. One warning, though: if the ambient temps in your house fluctuate a lot, a dimmer won't work well; in that case, you're better off using a thermostat.

I can't absolutely answer your question about temps, because I'm still a newbie with leos, but yours sound too warm. The leos may tolerate it, but that doesn't mean it's OK for them.

HTH
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Jeannie

aka Sohni (my real name, just like Sony TV, it's Indian)
Northern California
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa (Bella)
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Bess)
1.1 Rubber Boas (Isaiah & Esther)
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise (Moxie)
1.0 Leopard Gecko (George)
2.0 adopted DSH Cats (Amos & Silas)
1.0 rescued English Springer Spaniel (Jimmy)
and...
2.0 Kids w/ 0.0.1 California King Snake (Rex), 0.1 Leopard Gecko (Geico), 1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa (Lucas)
1.0 Husband (no pets, just us, lol)

I did the same thing. I noticed that my temps were getting well over 100 degrees with my UTH and reptile carpet for substrate. I looked into getting on of the premade light dimmer cords, but ended up making my own for about half the price. I bought the dimmer and an electical box from the local hardware store and wired it into the middle of an extension cord that I already had. I suppose if you needed to buy the extension cord then the savings would not be that much making it yourself. Pretty straight forward wiring if u have any experience. It works great, although i do have to fiddle with it to maintain the temps around 90 degrees. It seems to fluctuate a bit with the different temps in the house. Just keep an eye on it and adjust it accordingly.

I would lower the temp to around 90 on the warm side. If the tank is big enough to allow a greadient of as much as you say there probably is a spot in the tank around there but it would make much better use of the tank to lower the warm end some. You can just splice the wires and hook them together, make sure to cover the wires with electrical tape or the special fasteners and use as little wire as neccesary. For a more minishe look and probably even safer you can get a conduit box. Plastic ones are really cheep but I like the metal ones better.

np
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0.4 leopard geckos