Is this safe?? Temperature woes:(

colleen0904

colleen0904

New member
I have three tanks going right now. One has Suri, my adult female normal, one has my two blizzard juvies, Orpheus and Athena, and the last one houses my brand new hatchling, who I have yet to name. I believe it is a patternless. I need to get pics up soon. The camera is charging now :)

Anywhoo, We have all the tanks in our bedroom which is the warmest room. We are having a lot of problems with temps right now. The temps are either way too high or way too low. For example, I usually turn on the heat lamp before I leave for work at 5:30 am. We had the space heater on, as we usually keep it on at night or we will freeze to death. My bf woke up around 9 this morning to find Suri's tank at a whopping 101 degrees!! The other two tanks were like 98 degrees too. So of course he turned the lamps off to cool down the cages. Now the temps arelike, 72 in the hatchling's cage, which is a 10 gallon with a 75 watt red bulb over it, 85 degrees in the juvies cage, which is a 20 long with a 100 watt red bulb, and 88 in Suri's cage, which is a bin that is a little longer than a 20 gallon long with a 100 watt red bulb. All of these temps are taken on the hot side of their tank with a thermometer with a probe. These temps are varying way to much for me. I mean, Suri's tank seems to be the warmest, and 101 is way too hot, but 85 doesn't seem hot enough. We are really having problems getting the hatchling's tank even to 80 degrees. I told my bf that we need to buy UTH for them and that hopefully will stabilize the temps for us. But we want to make foam rock walls and put foam (like great stuff) on the floor of the cage to make tunnels and stuff. Is the UTH safe to use with foam? I am kind of worried about that. We could use repti-carpet, I guess, but we have been looking forward to making it look really natural. Do any of you guys know if polystyrene and Great Stuff is safe with a Under tank heater? Any other tips for helping keep the tanks at a constant temp? This is getting frustrating.
 
A

acpart

Well-known member
I really do think the UTH is the best way to go. I know other people have different constructions in their vivs with the UTH. One suggestion would be to have the warm area a little lower than the rest of the viv and use just a tile. There's a recent post of a leo viv that has a flat area and it looks really good.

With the different heat lamps that you have, the other solution is to get thermostats. You would put the probe on the hot side and the thermostat should switch the heat source (whether it's above or below) on and off depending on the temps.

Aliza
 
colleen0904

colleen0904

New member
Ok thanks. I think we are going to get a UTH. If I put my adult gecko into the 30 gallon tank that I have sitting empty right now, and put the UTH for a 30 gallon, will that be hot enough? I also have a 75 watt red lamp I could use that would help keep the temp where it needed to be if neccessary. Do you think that the UTH and a 75 watt light will keep a 36"x 12" x 16" 30 gallon tank hot enough on one side for her? I just wanted to know before I go spend more money on something that won't work right, lol.
 
Riverside Reptiles

Riverside Reptiles

Administrator (HMFIC)
You should put UTH's under all the tanks. Personally, I would use flexwatt heat tape. Then you need to put all of your heating devices on a thermostat in order to keep a consistent temp. If you want overhead heat to increase the ambient air temps, I would suggest using a CHE (ceramic heat emitter) instead of the red bulbs. They last a million times long and they don't put off any light.

As for the great stuff as flooring, I wouldn't do it. It's going to be impossible to keep clean and will harbor bacteria. Plus, it would not be good to use a UTH under it.
 
colleen0904

colleen0904

New member
Okay, so how does this sound? I will probably just use repti-carpet instead of foam for flooring. I am going to get UTH's for each tank, probably Friday after I get paid. I already have the red bulbs, and since they supposedly can't see red anyways, I will just use those in case the UTH doesn't heat the tanks sufficiently. It would be really expensive to get a ceramic heat emitter for each tank. But I think it should be okay, right? Anything else? Thanks for the advice!
 
G

Gecko Newbie

New member
Good price

That's actually a good price from where I'm sitting. I've got 2 tanks (20g long and 10g) and I've been looking for a thermostat. I can only find a $45 one that doesn't really seem all that great...
 
G

Gecko Newbie

New member
No, I haven't, but that's a good idea, thanks. :)

Since this is my first experience with geckos, or reptiles at all, I'm really reluctant about straying from any "reptile specific" products... I know there are other places to find things I need (like a thermostat), but I'm worried it won't be gecko-friendly. I also hate the fact that reptile stores and pet stores can rip me off on prices, but I don't really feel like I know enough about this stuff to stray from the "experts."

Thank goodness for the internet and forums!! :biggrin:
 
A

acpart

Well-known member
If you can find a thermostat at a home improvement place that doesn't need to be wired into the wall (like the ones for your furnace), it's perfectly fine to use because it's just regulating heat. To be honest, I don't think you'll find one because I don't think they make them (but I'm willing for someone to tell me I'm wrong). I agree that many things should be reptile specific, like a UTH instead of a heating pad, but if you consider what the item you're purchasing is doing, if it's performing a mechanical function not directly related to the reptile (like regulating a heater), it's not only fine to get it from a home improvement center, but probably cheaper since some of those items are marked way up when they are reptile specific.

Aliza
 
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