Reptile & Amphibian Forums

To all you experts out there! I'm sure many of you have run into this, or have at least heard of it, and have a solution.

I picked up a complete Leo setup from a guy that consists of a 40 gallon breeder tank, sand substrate, quite a few hides, a black light heating bulb, and two under tank heaters (one still in the package). The larger UTH is the one attached to the tank and is on one end as it should be, but the problem is that the heated end directly over the UTH is getting to 100 degrees all the time. With the lamp on, it'll hit 110. It's crazy. The leos avoid that whole area of the cage thank God with the lamp on. They have begun handing out in the heated sand under the hides in that area with the light off, but I still feel it's too hot for them. I need to be able to cool that thing down. Somewhere I remember reading of a device that I could control how much electricity was going to the UTH.

Any one have more info?

Thanks,

-Patrick

I have seven 10-gallon tanks set up for my geckos and use UTH. I use the size made for 10-20 gallons. I started freaking out too when I plugged them in and the temps got up to 100+. But that is only the temp of the sand. What you should be concerned about is the ambient (the surrounding air) temp. Take a food dish or some other sort of item to set the thermometer on top of, at least an inch or more off of the ground to get the correct reading of the ambient temp. I find that the temp can be anywhere from 10-20 degrees different depending on the type of substrate you use. Hope this helps!
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1.1 Albino Burmese Python (Loki & Eris)
0.1 Normal Leopard Gecko (Aurora)
1.0 High Yellow Leopard Gecko (Orion)
0.2 Blizzard Leopard Gecko (? & ?)
0.1 Albino Tangerine Tremper (Semele)
1.0 Albino Tangerine Rainwater (Zephyr)
1.0 Albino Rainwater (Adonis)
0.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Norbert)
2.3 Fancy Rat (John, Herbert, Artemis, Callisto & Echo)

Because your leo's belly is directly on the substrate, this is primarily how they absorb heat. Ambient temp is less important than substrate temp IMO.

I would disconnect the lamp and get a thermostat. You may also find that with a thick temp-spreading substrate like large tiles of slate, that not as much heat reaches the surface. My UTH was too hot when I was using calci sand, was not using tank for quite awhile but now that I have it set up again with slate it is not warm enough and I had to add a lamp.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

np
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Peace-
Kelli Hammack
H.I.S.S.
email me

to control the temperature in the enclosure. If I were you I would not even use the heat lamp, it is not necessary with an undertank heate. Below is a link to The Bean Farm's thermostat page. I would recommend either of the forst two on the page. Good luck.
Bean Farm's Thermostats

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Peace-
Kelli Hammack
H.I.S.S.
email me

Thanks.

I've got two thermometers (not really thermostats, but identical to the ones at the bottom of the Bean Farm thermostat page). One at the cool end, and one at the warm. They are attached to the back glass, however, so they're only showing the ambient air temp of where they're at. I pulled one of them and placed it on both directly the sand and on top of one of the hides over that area and both were over 100 degrees.

I'm wondering, though, if I'm missing something with the thermometers you're recommending. I don't see how, but do they enable you to somehow cut some of the power to the UTH?

Maybe I just need more sand? or ruin the UTH (might be heat tape type, didn't look) by pulling it off and putting in a new one with cardboard between it and the bottom of the tank? Or is there a way to control the UTH's output?

Thanks again!

-Patrick

You need to get a rheostat which reguates the temp of the UTH.There are a few to choose from. i use mine for the UTH and it works great to control the temps. You do need a thermostat to chk your temps as well . I recommend a temp gun(they are easy to use ) . hope this helps

rheostat link
http://www.reptiledirect.com/subcatmfgprod.asp?0=357&1=358&2=-1

peace

A rheostat will do the trick. My girls and I thank you all for your help!
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Patrick
Wichita, KS
0.2.0 High Yellow
0.3.0 Normal

A rheostat may work, but a thermostat is best. A rheostat is just a dimmer switch. A thermostat keeps temps at a pre-set temp using a temperature probe.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

np
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Peace-
Kelli Hammack
H.I.S.S.
email me

A thermometer and a thermostat are different things. A thermostat has a thermometer yes, but it only uses it as a sensor by which you can control heat to a pre-set level.
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Sarah Stettler aka Starling
Sarah@stargecko.com
StarGecko.Com COMING SOON! Star Quality Leopard Geckos
Specializing in Hypotangerine Tremper Albinos

Although thermometers come in handy too, to show you the temps in the enclosure. A thermostat, like the ones on the page I linked for you is what you need. You plug the thermostat into a wall outlet, and plug your heating pad into the thermostat. There is a probe attached to the thermostat that you place on top of the substrate over your "hot spot". There is a dial on the thermostat that you can adjust from 60 to 110 degrees or something like that. Set it at 88-90 degrees. The thermostat will automatically turn the heating pad off when it gets to 90, and turn it back on when it gets below 89. A rheostat is similar but not as good because it is similar to a dimmer switch, like Starling was talking about in her post. Thermostats are much easier to use and MUCH more accurate. Do you understand now?
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Peace-
Kelli Hammack
H.I.S.S.
email me