Help! UTH/Thermostat not giving me the proper Temp

I have an UTH/Thermostat combo attached to the bottom of a 20L glass tank for my Female adult Hog Island cross boa. I have the probe inside the tank in the substrate by the UTH. I have the Thermostat set at 85F, but it's reading 77F and I'm getting the same reading when I use the Temperature gun. Am I doing something wrong here ?

Your probe should be directly on the heat mat, in between it and the glass. Then you raise the temp and check it with the heat gun until you get the desired temp that you need.

I just finished watching 2 Channels on YouTube where the Reptile Breeders and store owners covered this topic and indicated very clearly that you should not attach the probe to the Heat mat and attach it to the bottom of the tank. Somewhere there has to be a consensus on what the correct procedure is for using an UTH and Thermostat.

So if your snake knocks the probe loose and the temp tries to reach the desired temp it'll never happen and then you risk burning your snake or your house. Please don't put the probe inside.

Hmmmm...Ok. I just contacted the owner of Reptile Rapture who is the place that posted the video on YouTube indicating that the probe should not be attached to the UTH. This is all just very very confusing when you get multiple opinions on how to set up a tank.

YouTube is a terrible source of reptile information in general. The format (top-down) isn't right for sharing information, the motivation of "content creators" is suspect, the comment section is mostly Russian trolls, and so on.

I agree with Jason. When the snake knocks the probe loose, the heat mat will run flat out until you get a burned snake (or one that won't go in the too-hot hide and can't thermoregulate properly) or at worst a cracked tank or a fire.

The probe goes on top of the mat (I tape them on with aluminum HVAC tape so that the probe touches two of the Flexwatt bars, in case one of them runs a little cool). You set the thermostat at whatever, and then after it warms up use the IR gun to take take the temp inside the warm hide to see what thermostat reading calibrates to the hide box temp you want. In my tubs, the mat temp roughly equals the hide temp. In a fish tank, the mat is likely going to run quite a bit hotter than the hide temp; keeping the ambient temp decently high will help this somewhat.

After you get all that dialed in, keep an eye on the snake and see that it spends some time on the hot spot and some time off it. The snake will tell you if you have the hide too warm (snake is usually off it) or too cool (snake is usually on it).

Originally Posted by Socratic Monologue

The probe goes on top of the mat (I tape them on with aluminum HVAC tape so that the probe touches two of the Flexwatt bars, in case one of them runs a little cool).

That tape is great stuff and doesn't move easily.

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. The Thermostat I have came with a Suction cup attached to the probe, so what is the suction cup for and where is it supposed to be used? Under the tank?

A vast majority of reptile breeders don't use tanks, they use rack systems and the probe goes on the heat tape/mat, not in the tub. The safest way is to have the probe directly on the mat and not inside. The temp will be different but then you know that it can't get moved.

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.