Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just finished setting up a new 10 gallon tank for a juvenille ball python. I purchased a Zoo Med 10 gallon UTH for the warm side of the tank. The problem I am having is that if I plug in the UTH without a dimmer of any kind the surface temperature shoots up to over 110 degrees. I have a piece of zoo med cage carpet in the bottom of the tank.

I tried the zoo med dimmer control, but with it set on the lowest setting it still is 110 degrees on the floor of the tank. Do UTH usually get this hot?

I have a heat lamp (both day and night) above it, and the air temperature on that side of the cage only seems to be getting up to around 82 degrees during the day and 79 degrees at night(the thermometer is about 1 1/2 inches above the bottom of the tank).

Should I just turn off the UTH and use only the heat lamps? I was hoping to use the UTH to get the surface temp up to around 90 degrees for basking on the warm side of the tank.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions,
Nick

Sounds like the dimmer isn't working if it's still so hot on the lowest setting. Or maybe it's somehow wired backwards. Try the highest setting to test that theory. You can also get an inline lamp dimmer at a hardware store for about $10 and try that.