Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a little problem with regulating temps in my cage i have a UTH and a light but i can not get the air warm enough but then...the rocks i put down are getting a little to warm....any ideas on what i could do?

thanks,
Eric

Are you using a thermostat of some sort? If not you should get one. Most will control two devices. They have a temperature probe that you put inside the tank, close to the floor usually, and allow you to set a temperature. If it gets too warm, it turns them off, gets to cold, turns them on, works great.

Thanks so much!...do you know where you can get one?

The one I have is the Repti Temp 500R Thermostat by Zoo Med. You should be able to find it at any petstore that sells reptile stuff. Wherever you got the UTH whoudl also have the thermostats.

Here's how I have mine setup. I have my UTH plugged into the thermostat, and the thermostat plugged into the wall. I also have a lamp, but I have it plugged into a timer, and have that plugged directly into the wall. I have it set to turn on at 8:00 am and off at 10:00 pm. You can find these at any hardware store. So during the day the lamp keeps the tank pretty much at 88-90 degrees, if it gets a little cooler, i have the UTH turn on too. At night it's ok if it gets a little cooler, and because the air is cooler, the UTH will turn on and stay on most of the night. Since leos eat at night, and they need belly heat to digest properly, i feel this works out well.

Thank you sooooo much this was really worrying me cause i have heard of some pretty bad stories of leo's getting burned real bad from like rocks being to hot...and since thats what i am using as a substarte i was worried....they get rewally hot but i unplugged my UTH and i am gonna keep just the light on to see how they do...and hopefully i am gonna g get one of those thermostats this weekend!

thanks again!,
Eric

just make sure you have the temperature probe as close to the rocks as possible, or even in them, assuming you have a gravle sort of substrate. And it should be as close to the UTH as possible, this way it monitors the temp right at that level. Mine is in one corner of my tank, but almost directly above the UTH, that way it doesn't ruin the look of the cage, but still functions like it should. Good luck, and you should definitely use the UTH, Leo's need the belly heat.

You shouldn't be worrying about the air temp, but more about the ground temp. When you buy your thermostat place the probe on the ground because leos need more belly heat to help with digestion. In my setup my air temps will only be at about 75 degrees whereas my ground temp will be at about 90 degrees over the UTH.
So just warning you that you should check the ground temp in your setup before your leo(s) burns itself if you are trying to get air temps up into the 80's or 90's. That is way too hot!

Jessica