Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have 2 small uth's on one side of a 29 gal tall aquarium that is housing a 2 1/2 ft bp. the problem is that the heaters are getting well over 100 degrees f. resulting in the burn of the snakes belly which is presently being treated with betadine/water solution soaks. is there anything i can do to get the heaters to not get so high? thanks all

buy a theromastat

sorry, i'm still new to all this, what is the thermostat going to do?

when it gets to a certain temp it will swith the heater off, after it falls a few degres it will swith back on agian and so on and so on

thank you, any advice on where i can get one...called the local pet store n they don't carry them...n bout how much they cost?

well myn was built into my heat mat but you can get them for around £15 upwards, but it dos depend on what size you get. You will only need a small one

You can get a "dimmer" light control at Lowes or Home Depot for $10-15.00. Then use a thermometer to adjust the temps to what you need by "dimming" the heater.

how would i hook up one of those dimmers? is there a site i can go to to get information on this? thanks...seems easier to find one of those since nobody has anything like a thermostat for this purpose around here....

thanks

>>how would i hook up one of those dimmers? is there a site i can go to to get information on this? thanks...seems easier to find one of those since nobody has anything like a thermostat for this purpose around here....
>>
>>thanks

a dimmer is really easy to wire into the UTHs plug wire. There are usually instructions with the switch or quiz the person in the electrical dept at Lowes. Don't forget a box and cover plate...Sorry, I don't know any sites off the top of my head.
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Sonya

kewl, thanks for all the help...i'll let ya know how things turn out...

You do not have to wire it. The one I got just plugs in.

I have both a UTH and a lamp that I use on the same side. I have them both on during the day and just the UTH at night. I have the lamp set on a timer so it turns on and off automatically each day (12 hours on and 12 off). That way it gets warmer during the day for him and cools down a bit, but still stays warm, at night. If I would just use a UTH the air temperature won't get warm enough on the warm side during the day so I use both to get the air temperature up. I have the UTH set on a rheostat to the lowest setting and it seems to get warm enough for me and not too hot either. But that's just mine. Yours might still get too hot on the floor so you'll have to see. They also sell thermostats in petstores that have probes (can't remember the name off hand) you can place on the floor of the enclosure. These are a little more expensive but are more along the lines of an actual thermostat than rheostats are. Rheostats just have a dial to adjust the heat where the thermostats with the probes turn on and off according to temperature. Like I said, the rheostat is working for me OK but if I was you I'd get the thermostat with the probe to be safe since you're BP has already been burned by your UTH.

ya, someone told me about using a light dimmer and that it would do the same thing since i can't seem to find a thermostat or anything similar around here...not alot of reptile places, well at least that know anything bout snakes. they jus sell them, heck, they couldn't even tell me when my snake at last or anything about him.

First, if 2 UTH on the same side is getting over 100 degrees, try unplugging one. Take your hand and put it on the glass directly on the UTH...did it hurt? It will probably hurt your snake too. So make sure that you tape several pieces of newspaper over the glass so that your bp can't come in contact with it. Then put your substrate nice and thick over the bottom of the tank. Okay...that should keep your snake safe. The next step is to go to PetSmart, or another pet store, and spend $20 on a rheostat. That is essentially the dimmer switch that you already heard about, except you can just plug in your UTH to the device instead of splicing wires, etc. This will let you fine tune the temperatures so that not only is your snake not burned, but it is living in proper conditions to get better and stay healthy. With a rheostat, you still have to check the temperatures daily though and make the adjustments you need. If you find a thermostat that you can plug the UTH into then it will be set to automatically control the temperatures...but they cost a lot.

actually i turned one on at a time to check the temp with a thermometer...they both got over 100 degrees by themselves, i'm going to try the dimmer switch and if that doesn't work then i will splerg n spend the money on the actual device..

thanks for all that helped in this matter....

go to Home Depot, Lowe's, any of those home improvement places will have thermostats in the $20 range...

if you want a better quality (more reliable!!) thermostat check into RANCO's. that's what i use. the one i have cost $100, but it's worth more than that to me to keep my snakes from baking.

a few guys sell these online, i got mine from Jeff Ronne, the Boaphile. he wires them up for you, you just plug and play right out of the box. well worth it.

bc