Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay so instead of using a human heating pad like I usually do I bought an Exo Terra UTH(thinking Im doing the right thing). well today I used the temp gun and measured the heat in the cypress substrate it was 109..Way to high for a little cornsnake(now I know why he is always on the cool side)..I took him out and measured the temp right on the glass above the UTH and it read 139...SO I pulled it off the tank and am using a regular heat pad..Why is the UTH so hot? I could have fried my little corn..This pad is the kind with the sticky stuff on it that you stick right to the tank...What the heck am I supposed to do with this thing. I dont think my bps would even appreciate 139 degrees...Did I get a defective one? Of course I already threw the packaging away so cant return it. Did I do something wrong?
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0.0.1 Northern BTS (Huffy)
1.1 Ball Pythons (Korban and Leeloo)
1.0 Western Hognose (Fuego)
1.1 cornsnakes (Asmodeus and Strawberry)
0.2 Bearded dragons (itchy and scratchy)
0.1 Rosehair T. (Jigglypuff)
1.0 dog BC..(Kippy)
2.1 cats (Thomas,Sunflower,Diablo(Slinky))

>>Okay so instead of using a human heating pad like I usually do I bought an Exo Terra UTH(thinking Im doing the right thing). well today I used the temp gun and measured the heat in the cypress substrate it was 109..Way to high for a little cornsnake(now I know why he is always on the cool side)..I took him out and measured the temp right on the glass above the UTH and it read 139...SO I pulled it off the tank and am using a regular heat pad..Why is the UTH so hot? I could have fried my little corn..This pad is the kind with the sticky stuff on it that you stick right to the tank...What the heck am I supposed to do with this thing. I dont think my bps would even appreciate 139 degrees...Did I get a defective one? Of course I already threw the packaging away so cant return it. Did I do something wrong?

Likely, if you had the packaging to read, it would say that the UTH is meant to be used with a rheostat or control device of some sort. They sneak that in on you.
The thing you want to do now is get a rheostat or connect it to a dimmer switch. I tend to do the latter and just get a three prong extension cord and a dimmer switch and wire it to the extension. That way I can control three things at one time. Which is important in this addiction. It is also handy, even for those not addicted because it doesn't put bulk on your UTH cord. You could also spend more and get a plug in dimmer switch or an 'official' rheostat. But I have found the cheap rheostats tend to fry quickly and toast up anyway. So I stick with the dimmer switches.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

I dont remember it saying anything about needing extra parts but I really should have figured as much..I have already put dimmers on my ceramic heat emitters so it shouldnt be any trouble to put one on an extension cord for the UTH..Thanks..heating the enclosures has to be the biggest pain in reptile keeping.