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Where is the best place to put a temperature or humidity probe when using a digital thermomety/hydrometer?s7.gif I saw in a few of Doug's posts that he uses one but couldn't see the probe. Does it run along the top of the enclosure? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Re: .Probe location
I leave mine free to move around... I put it in the hiding places and the middle of the uth and then the far coolest side and stuff like that... I would use it like a lil' info gathers. so I would just leave it in the middle of the hot side... since that is the most important... and I would put the actul gauge at the cool end... That way you know what the temp is in the actul hot spot... which is where you need to have the 90 degrees... The wall on that side could be as much as 6 to 10 degrees cooler....
Well have a good one
Eric aka...Red -
Re: .Probe location
HI,
Sorry about that most of my cages , I want the thermostat probe 1 inch from the floor, it picks up the heat from the floor and the che or over tank heaters Mats. I also cover the probe with a piece of tape in the back of the cage. This slows the heating and cooling of the probe. I once tried putting it on the floor and the uth shut it off within mins and the cage never warmed up.
On my large cages I also monitor the uth with the probe from the thermometer, the air may be 82-84 degrees but that floor can hit 100+ almost in mins.
All my cage heat is tied into a single thermostat thru a power strip , this cage has two che's and one uth all tied into a power strip thats pluged into a thermostat. each cage has its own thermostat.
this prevents that uth from over heating the floor and saves money on power if you don't need extra heat why use it, the snake will avoid that hot spot until it cools down.
My uth cycles with the thermostat and I have monitored the floor temps and they go from 86-110, they will go much higher if not controlled . Some post talk about snakes being burned by so called safe uth's that have failed on. All my thermostat's have safety cut outs that prevent over heating if they fail. so far no problems.
that black wire running down the back of the cage is the thermister from the thermostat its also taped 1 inch from the floor, the thermometer takes the temp/humidty at the unit and at an additional proge see the white wire running to the floor on the left side under the themometer this mesures floor temps thsi unit only cost about 18 bucks at walmart.
also if you look at the top interior of the cage you can see some addtional heat mats the heat mats heat the sueface and any exposed animal slightly,this cage also has two cobra mats under the cage taped to the exteiror floor this heats the cage flooring under the hides. I have insulated the exterior of the cage with thin wall insulation this help hold that heat in the cage and the insulation is on the exterior so it stays clean/
if I have a mess in the cage no problem the floor is coated with a thick layer of poly thats like a glass finish (water proof) never use any type of varnish ( pine tree sap) inside a cage,, key word is poly (Plastic-sealer)
Doug
psps
I have been working with that FLipping Rocks to build a new permanent cage for the Guyana it will be 72in long 46 in deep 24in tall with shelf built in, we are working out the details I'll post a pic when its done..
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Re: .Probe location
In the hog house picture, you have some "cages" around the che's. May I ask where you got those and what exactly they are. I am in the process of building my own cage now and I would love to put something like that in the cage for a CHE or two. Right now I have holes cut out to set some regular over head heating lamps on screen covering the holes. I would love to put some CHE's in instead, but the cages are very hard to find. I thought about using some small rodent cages and screwing them into the roof, but then I didn't think that would look quite right.Comment
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Re: .Probe location
hi,
I posted a shortcut to the cover maker the post is called so you want che covers
[ftp]http://www.redtailboas.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=board7;action=display;num=1036117960[/ftp]
[ftp]http://www.showcasecages.com/options_page.htm[/ftp]
the smaller ones are proably large enough for most che's I bought the bigger one and had to cut about 2 inches off the side fastened to the cage, the big ones are huge.
dougComment
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Re: .Probe location
Kool thanks!!!!!!
Not a bad price either. Another question though. Are those standard light connections that you are using to screw the CHE's in, or are those special hook up connections?
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Re: .Probe location
Hi,
You ask the best questions, I should have mentioned that che's reach really high temps and you must use some type of cermaic light fixture no plastic please it will melt that fixture if its plastic. 80 % of all external light fixtures sold in pet stores are either white plastic or dark brown or black plastic .. Most cermaic externals come without a switch thats a clue and the ceramic portion is off white..they usally have a really heavy black wire with a huge plug in . if its got a switch its proably not cermaic unless it says so. you may have a fire if you don't get a ceramic fixture for a che's ..
I ve seen them pet stores sell the aluminum light holder as being safe for che's there not unless they have a cermaic lamp outlet .
my cages all have built in ceramic outlets for lights/che's, most indoor /outdoor garage light holders are white ceramic, its required for fire safety. I never put anything on the exposed portion of the cermaic outlet if its exposed to the air above the cage to cool it will sizzle a finger if touched..
they are cheap at lowes just be sure there ceramic. ps I ve bought painter light holders at lowes that are alumn and have ceramic outlets for the paint drying lamps, if you want to save some bucks, they seem to have safer heavy wires with large grounded fixtures.if it says it safe for 200 watt heat lamps .. this was brought to my attention by a friend at a petstore who had a small fire with his set up..his che melted the plastic outlet..
be safe.. dougComment
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Re: .Probe location
Very kool, thanks for the input!!
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