UTH Temp

[Pinned27]

I have my digital thermometer laying flat on my repti carpet, and im keeping it at a constant 88-90 degrees, and thats also with a 60W clear bulb from home depot.
Is it ok that the light aids in the heat to the thermometer which means the substrate is most likely about 80 degrees?
Or should i have the substrate itself at 88-90 degrees and then the light?
just wanna make sure when i get my gecko everything is proper.

heres pics of my setup, where the probe is and the lights.

 

[abrahamavelar]

I believe the substrate, try puttin the probe inside the warm hide

 

[Pinned27]

whats the correct temp range the substrate should be? and is that how the probe is supposed to be laying? or just the tip touching?
and ill put it in my warm hide and see where the temp goes.

 

[abrahamavelar]

90-95 thats the right thing but some care sheets say from 85-100 (atleats petcos and petsmars one) but if u keep it between 90-95 should be better....

i put the probe down with the tip touching the substrate but i might be wrong, but thats how i doit

 

[Pinned27]

yea seems like 90 is the most desires temp.
i got the leopard gecko starter kit from "All Living Things" and their UTH seems to only get my tank up to 84.2 degrees.
Are these UTH just not the best, or should i get the Zoo Med Repti-Therm UTH?
i have mine duct taped to the bottom of the tank nice and tight, is that also ok?

 

[abrahamavelar]

to tell u the truth idk about brands, nut ive used zoo med b4 and i trust it, and so far this zoo med its working for me

 

[abrahamavelar]

ur tank looks good tho, u got pics of ur leo????

 

[Pinned27]

Thanks. I might try some way to heat up my current UTH, if nothing works ill get the zoo med one.
All the hides are bows i got at dollar tree, and the red one will be the moist hide, just got done cutting the hole for the gecko.
and no i dont have pics. im prolly going to get one from petco and give it a good home.

 

[abrahamavelar]

yeah my hides one is a box of a ceramic bulb one from a plastic container thingy and the other is a half coconut thing that i had since 05 when my sister had hermit and the bridge thing came with my gecko

 

[Pinned27]

That coconut thing is sweet. Cheap and does the job lol.
So far since i added a sheet of aluminum foil my temp and gone up from 84.2 to 89.8 and i think its still going up. sweet. this would just be a temporary fix. i also think since the tank had to be lifted up for the heat pad, i think i lifted it a bit to much and heat was escaping. its lifted up about an inch now. so the glass sits a bit higher id say the glass bottom is 1 1/4 inch. most likely to high. lol

 

[Pinned27]

Since i have done the aluminum foil addition. the temp inside my hot hide gets to about 93 degrees, this is normal yes? and when i remove the hide from the probe the temp drop down to 88 degrees, and is this normal and ok?

 

[abrahamavelar]

i think the right hight might be just like 1/8 of an inch i think thats how big the rubber feet are in the zoo med ones

 

[abrahamavelar]

yeah cuz the temperature hets hotter inside the hide (the heat gets trapped)

 

[Pinned27]

So yea, the height of my tank is whats most likely causing my UTH not getting up to 90 degrees without aluminum foil. I just got some rubber pads from home depot and stacked and glued them, so ill get another set tomorrow but just do one.
Now just gotta find the right temp when i use my light, it increases the temp some degrees so just gotta find the sweet spot on my dimmer i use for the UTH

 

[abrahamavelar]

teah, and if u get the rubber pads u dont need the tin foil, cuz it might get too hot

 

[Pinned27]

exactly. or i could just use the dimmer i have connected to the UTH and dim it down. but id rather take off the foil.

 

[abrahamavelar]

yeah dimmers might work but ill rather have a thermostat since if it will go off if it passes certain temp n kicked back on at certain temp so its more consistent imo since u set it up n forget about it besides the monthly check up instead of constant check up

 

[Pinned27]

Can you just like use any thermostat you can find at home depot? or it a special one that you need?

 

[abrahamavelar]

thats a good question, im new to leopard gecko keeping but i guess as long as it has a probe u could

 

[Pinned27]

Im going to guess something like this from lowes.
has a probe and you can plug your UTH right into it.
same price at the reptile thermostats.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_106389-3742...br|0||p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=