[Temperature] Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

[Bigman70]

Hi everyone.

I have a 4' X 20" X 20" BoaMaster plastic cage for my 2 yr old male red-tail. I am using cypress as my substrate and I have a 18" X 14" RHP, with thermostat, attached to the roof on the left side. The probe for the thermostat is hanging down from the RHP about 10 inches towards the center of the cage ceiling.

I have two digital temp. & humidity gauges on each side about 6 inches from the side wall and about 2 inches off of the floor. BOTH of them are reading 82 - 86 degrees all of the time. I have switched both gauges/probes to their other sides and am getting the same results. I even put my old el-cheapo dial gauges back in just to see, and they both read about 85 degrees on either side.

What am I doing wrong??? What can I do to fix this??? I'm worried that he doesnt have a "cool side" to regulate his body temp.

The only thing I thought of was to move the thermostat probe to the other side of the RHP, closest to the left hand wall. I don't know if that would make any kind of difference. Thoughts????

ANY and all suggestions will be welcomed.

Thank you in advance.

Wade

[Elizabeth94]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

The probe for the thermostat is hanging down from the RHP about 10 inches towards the center of the cage ceiling.

I have had my set up running for about two weeks with a 75watt heat panel, the cage is a 4x24"x12"H. What I have been doing is I put my probe directly under the heat panel about three inches from the floor, hot glued to the wall. This gives me a nice gradient to the cool side, but since I have a really cold room that is about 60 degrees, I needed to add a heat pad for my cool side to stay above 76.

I would try putting the probe about three inches from the floor on the side the heat panel is on and have the thermostat to your desired temp. Use a heat gun to check surface temperature and a digital probe to check ambients on cool end. Thats my opinion, but there are more experienced people here. This method works for me.

Oh, welcome to the forum!

[Bigman70]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

Thank you Elizabeth. I had been thinking about that and it sounds like its worth a try.

Should I put the probe hanging down on the wall side or towards the center? (Hope I'm making sense)

I forgot to mention that I do have a heat gun for checking surfaces.

What should the temps of the gradient be on each side? The same as the ambient?? Warmer?? Cooler??

Sorry to ask so many questions.....just truly trying to get my feet wet.

Wade

[mjmullis]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

I agree with Elizabeth94. I have a 4 x 4 x 2 enclosure and an 80w rhp. The thermostat probe is 4 " from the substrate directly under the rhp. I just checked the temp gradient and it is 10 degrees cooler on the cool side. Locating it under the heat panel should give you a better heat gradient and also cut down on the electricity used/run time of the rhp because you aren't trying to heat the entire enclosure.

[Bigman70]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

I agree with Elizabeth94. I have a 4 x 4 x 2 enclosure and an 80w rhp. The thermostat probe is 4 " from the substrate directly under the rhp. I just checked the temp gradient and it is 10 degrees cooler on the cool side. Locating it under the heat panel should give you a better heat gradient and also cut down on the electricity used/run time of the rhp because you aren't trying to heat the entire enclosure.

With your probe(s) at that location, what are your ambient temperatures?

Wade

[mjmullis]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

I just set this enclosure up and am dialing in the Temps right now but as of last night they were at 88 on the hot and 78 on the cool side.

[Bigman70]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

I agree with Elizabeth94. I have a 4 x 4 x 2 enclosure and an 80w rhp. The thermostat probe is 4 " from the substrate directly under the rhp. I just checked the temp gradient and it is 10 degrees cooler on the cool side. Locating it under the heat panel should give you a better heat gradient and also cut down on the electricity used/run time of the rhp because you aren't trying to heat the entire enclosure.

Forgive me......but if the RHP is square.....how did you hang the tstat probe directly under it? Or did you go off to the side closest to the side wall and let it hang down?

Forgive my inexperience.

Wade

[Elizabeth94]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

I am pretty sure [MENTION=22622]mjmullis[/MENTION] means that they put the probe on the wall 4" from the ground, but on the side of the cage with the heat panel. Do not place the probe on top of a hide or a place where the snake can lay on the probe (it may mess with the temps an might cook your snake, from what I have read).

[Greenwood]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

I pretty much just hang my probe about 3" to the left of my RHP(left side of the cage is the hot side) so basically it is in the corner. Then I lift it about 2 inches from the floor of the cage so the snake cant sit on it. I just let it dangle there. Works great and if the snake bumps it, doesn't matter as it will just swing back to position. Then just set the Herpstat till you reach the desired temps you want with a temp gun. Also makes cleaning the cage easy as I can just slide the probe to the roof of the cage and then spray down the walls and floor with Chlorhexadine once a month for cleaning. Then slide it back down into position.

[Bigman70]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

IT JUST CLICKED !!! The Ambient is going to be the same (within 1 or 2 degrees).

What I should be checking for is the temperature of the substrate using the temp gun!!!! Right??

JEEZ......sometimes I worry about myself !!!!

Thanks, everyone, for your answers/help on this.

Wade

[mjmullis]

Re: Temperature is the same on both sides of his cage.

Yes it's not 'directly under'. It is mounted the same as Greenwood mentioned. I monitor my ambient Temps with digital thermometers and also the substrate with a temp gun. I'm running flexwatt also on 1/2 of the enclosure. I'm housing my 6' IJ carpet who likes to spend a lot of time wrapped up on his vines. He essentially has four different temp gradients to choose from.