UTH question

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Sarah B

New member
I just got 2 leopard geckos yesterday, Lily and Daisy. Today I bought an Under Tank Heater for a 10-20 gal. I only had a glass thermometer that suctions inside tanks to read the temps but the temp was reading at 100. I want it to be more like 90. I have them on paper towel substrate. When I felt the paper towel it was just slightly warm, and one of the leos was laying on it. I turned off the heater because Im still worried it might be too hot. If I buy repti carpet will this fix the problem or should I just buy one of those dimmer switches ... and if I do that, how can I tell its the right temperature?

I attached a pic of the little girls snuggling in their shelter... :)
 

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Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
Get a thermostat or rheostat. All heating devices should be kept on one anyway, they all have potential to over heat. A thermostat will prevent this.
 
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Sarah B

New member
ok and thank you. Home Depot will be my first stop after work tomorrow. How am I able to tell if the ground is the right temps?
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
A digital thermometer.

Thermostats operate with a plug and a probe. You put the probe into the tank on the floor of the hot side, set it to 90-95F (depending on your preference) and plug in the UTH into the thermostat, then plug the thermostat into the wall outlet.

Rheostats are the same, except without a probe and are adjusted manually. I prefer thermostats. Big Apple Herps sells a thermostat for around $50 shipped.
 
Doublet74

Doublet74

New member
Dont use repti carpet. The reason being that your leos nails or teeth could get caught. I use tile in mine. Works great and easy to clean. Big apple also sells a thermometer with a dual probe so you can put one probe on hot side and one on the cool side to monitor both.
 
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Sarah B

New member
I DO need a probe thermometer! Thanks I hade almost forgotten!. I got the dimmer switch this a.m. and set it to med-low to start.
 
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Sarah B

New member
A heat GUN??? Sounds dangerous! Lol what is that and where can I find one? And does it measure the floor temps or just the air?
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
It measures the floor temp. It's shaped like a gun, with a little red light. Where the red light lands it reads that temp. It's basically a laser pointer that reads temps. :)

LLL Reptile has them online, I know that much. I picked mine up locally at their Esco location.
 
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Sarah B

New member
Ok found it! 25 dollars. Does it measure air temps too? And are they long lasting? This is really great information, never knew a heat gun existed....thanks for passing it along.
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
I don't know about air temp. With geckos air temp isn't needed, so I don't even bother. You'll want to measure only the floor temp across the tank.

They last a very long time.
 
Allee Toler

Allee Toler

Member
It only needs to do one function- read temps. Can't get much more basic than that. :) Any temp gun with good reviews would do.
 
Mardy

Mardy

New member
I have that one, works great :)

Point, click, move around to see different temperature. If you have multiple tanks it's a lifesaver having a temperature gun. I check it every feeding to make sure all is working well.

Oh and to the OP, you can easily lay slate tiles and/or some decoration cave items or such on places where it's too hot. A nice slate tile will make the temperature just about right, a decoration cave where you can buy in petsmart will raise it up even more, making it even better. Plus it gives them a hide spot. Can never have too many hide spots.
 
panthergecko

panthergecko

Active member
yeah i am saving up to buy one.
got to save money some how and these cut out thermometers since most thermometers measure air temp and these ground.
 
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