Help! UTH/Thermostat not giving me the proper Temp

Originally Posted by denman

YouTube is a terrible source for reptile information??? The majority of the videos are all done by professional Reptile owners/breeders. Put YouTube aside, am I actually supposed to believe that these Reptile owners/breeders are total idiots who don't know what they're talking about? Wow.

That's not what I said.

I said that the "top-down" format is bad for information sharing -- that's because there isn't a good way to go back and forth and critique, and then improve, and then re-critique, and finally get to something where all the relevant info has been taken into account. That back and forth is how information sharing needs to work, in order for it to work. Just like we're doing in this forum thread, where people have to come to get clarity on stuff they saw on YouTube. QED.

I said that content creators' motivation is suspect. This is because many video posters are advertising a product or business or public persona -- not simply providing information. So not only do they have to prioritize making themselves look good, but they often need to produce content when they have nothing to say but need to draw attention to their channel anyway.

I said that the comment section is mostly Russian trolls. This may be overstated a bit (though not on, say, news channels -- take a look at all the bots there sometime; it is wild), but again there isn't a real opportunity for back and forth discussion on finer points, so drive-by comments are common and because they're funny they are good for attracting attention to the video.

I did not say anyone was an idiot, and did not say anyone doesn't know what they're talking about. FWIW, I actually know Richard at RR. He's a very decent person, and a very experienced and knowledgeable keeper. Every time I speak with him it is a pleasure. I'm pretty certain that if he were in this discussion here he'd admit the points that Jason and I are making, especially in light of the fact that the method he suggested isn't working for you. Again, top-down vs back-and-forth.

Originally Posted by denman

Ok, where exactly does the probe get placed on my 8x12 UTH ? I don't know if the UTH will now be able to be removed from the glass bottom in order to attach the probe to it.

The probe can go anywhere convenient on the heating surface nearish an edge -- make sure it doesn't sit right in between the heating elements (cables or bars) if you can tell where they are. Try to touch one or two of them with the probe, then tape it on tight.

If the mat doesn't want to stick to the tank again, you can use the HVAC tape around the edges of the mat to tape it on (I do this, and it works great and is sort of removable -- cut through the tape -- when you need to remove the mat).

As mentioned by the others, placing the probe on the heat source is the way to go. Look at reptile racks built by companies such as Reptile Basics. They have a channel cut specifically in the shelf to allow the thermostat probe to be placed on the heat tape. You will find you'll have to keep the temp of the heat source a fair bit higher than your actual desired temperature, as it will be heating up the glass bottom of your tank, and the bedding above it. Also have to fight against temp loss from the room ambient temp.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...cement-for-UTH

Thank you for all of your assistance. I will be removing the UTH and attaching the probe to it and reattaching it to the bottom of the tank Today. I have HVAC tape coming today from Amazon, if I need to I will use it to re-attach the heat pad. Thanks again.

I have a problem......I removed the UTH and sandwiched the probe between the UTH and the bottom of the glass and re-attached the UTH. I hooked it up to the Thermostat and set the Thermostat on 85. I checked the temperature inside the enclosure later, and it is registering 78-degrees. Infact, the entire tank is reading 78-degrees on both ends of the tank. So now I am totally baffled here ..... Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks.

Do you have a hide box over the heat pad? If not, you should, otherwise the heat will just dissipate.

The heat mat will have to be hotter than the temp you want the inside of the hide to reach. How much hotter depends largely on ambient temps -- what are the ambient temps (temp in the room)?