Heating a 40l breeder.

[fledgehole]

Hey all I have a 40l that I am having trouble getting to temp. I am using coconut bark as a substrate I have an undertank heater and a 5.5 inch lamp with a 75 watt basking bulb. The tank has a total screen top. Our room temp in the winter averages in the mid 60's. My temps right now are 93 in the humid hide, 70 in the shade and 75 under the light. What would be the best way to get this heated more uniformly. Do I need a larger light that would spread the light more evenly through out the tank? I take some pics if needed.

 

[JeepFreak81]

You actually don't want a uniform heat in the tank. There should be a gradient from 90-95 on the warm side down to 75 or so on the cool side. Also the heat light is not necessary it's more important to have belly heat. Where are you measuring the temps? They should be measured right on the substrate, which brings me to the next thing...I would dump the coco bark and use newspaper, paper towels, tile, or repticarpet.

 

[Jusselin]

Get rid of the light all together. It is harmful to the geckos and can cause stress that will lead to other things that could be fatal. Another thing get rid of your substrate, you dont want anything loose that can be swallowed. Again, that can lead to a fatal illness.

As far as heating goes, once you have replaced your substrate with tile or paper towels, just put a 40 gal UTH on the warm side and that should suffice. Your geckos need belly heat, not so much warm air. If your cool side is too cold then add a smaller UTH to that side, maybe one for a ten gallon just to bring the temps up a tad. If your home temps fluctuate though monitor these UTH's so it does not become too warm for them.

 

[JeepFreak81]

I suggest buying a lamp dimmer, they aren't that expensive and it makes adjusting the temps very easy....I usually have to tweak mine if the temps outside fluctuate as my house is old

 

[Jusselin]

I suggest buying a lamp dimmer, they aren't that expensive and it makes adjusting the temps very easy....I usually have to tweak mine if the temps outside fluctuate as my house is old

for the UTH not the lamp

 

[fledgehole]

Thanks for the advice guys I am putting AFT's in the tank although I don't think that makes a difference since I will now use the leftover coconut bark for a humid hide. I have a room temp of an average of 60 degrees so too warm isn't an issue. I will switch over to reptile carpet tonight and then add a humid hide and check temps later in the day. I used to have aft's years ago and always used a heat lamp without knowing the dangers. I am betting I will need to throw another smaller tank heater in there for winter.

 

[fledgehole]

Alright switched over to paper towels and I have a humid hide on top of the UTH that is at an average of 88-89 in the hide. Outside on the direct UTH which is only around an inch wide I am getting 100-101. As soon as I get more than an inch off of the UTH I am down to 70-75, but more than 5 inches away from the UTH which is the majority of the 40L I am only at 60. Do I need to focus on the heat in my room or add another UTH on the other side?

 

[Jusselin]

I would add a SMALL UTH right in the center of the cool side....one maybe for a 10 gal tank, especially since you only have paper towels it's almost bare bottom. 60 seems a bit cold, and a small UTH wont add more than 15-20 degrees 75-80 should be good.

 

[doublet74]

Instead of using bulbs get a ceramic heater. It gets hotter than lamps and doesn't give off light.

 

[Jusselin]

Instead of using bulbs get a ceramic heater. It gets hotter than lamps and doesn't give off light.

This is really an un-needed expense, the geckos need belly heat not so much air temp. This is why I suggested a small UTH, not very expensive and it will provide the minimal amount of heat you need.

 

[fledgehole]

Stopped off at the store today and grabbed a 10-20 UTH. Also my tank has built in slide out screen on 2/3rds of the tank I am going to measure the pull out and replace that with a piece of cut glass. That should keep most off the colder temp air out, and the other third is screen for some air flow. I will post some pics and the results later tonight. Thanks

 

[Jusselin]

wait....what type of tank is this? If you have screens on the sides of the tank then that is your problem. it is letting out any heat the other UTH is producing and letting in cold air.

 

[fledgehole]

It is a 40l all the sides are glass with a removable screen top.

 

[doublet74]

This is really an un-needed expense, the geckos need belly heat not so much air temp. This is why I suggested a small UTH, not very expensive and it will provide the minimal amount of heat you need.

I suggested a C.H. as a additional heat source along with a U.T.H.

 

[Owens]

what is the brand of UTH that you have as your main one? an inch wide seems really small.

 

[fledgehole]

I have the rep therm 40-50 gallon pad it isnt one inch I was referring the temp drop an inch from the map. I have the new glass piece in the car now cant wait to see if this fixes the situation.

 

[Owens]

ah ok my bad, miss understood your post haha.

 

[Jusselin]

I suggested a C.H. as a additional heat source along with a U.T.H.

:main_thumbsup:

 

[fledgehole]

OK here are the new temps. The left side has a hi of 94-99 the right has a hi of the same and there are alot of 70 -80s around those and the lowest temp I got was 68 and that was a small spot in the middle. I think that I may have solved this issue. I am pretty sure in the summer I will be able to turn off the smaller UTH.