was too hot with UTH

[Photog]

Ok so my leo has been acting weird for the past couple weeks, and not really being interested in crickets, or eating. He would eat, but only if I made him hungry by not feeding him a few days. And he wouldn't care about crickets, only superworms and mealworms.

So I was told temperature might be a problem, so I bought a touchless IR thermometer to check the temps everywhere in his encloser.

I have a zoo med UTH on the left side of his tank, and a white light on the top during the day and a red light on the top during night on a timer.

The temps at ground level on the 'hot' side was 120 degrees fahrenheit in his warm hide on the hot side, and 105 degrees outside of his warm hide on the hot side. Wayyy to hot! This explains why he's been hiding all day for the past 3 days in his tree on the cool side. It was only 78 degrees fahrenheit in there. This is probably because the weather got much warmer outside the past couple days, cause before my leo didn't have a problem with the UTH heater being on.


Well, I turned off the light on the top of his terrarium and just left the UTH on, but it only knocked the temps down by 5 degrees, still too hot. So I am forced now to unplug the UTH, and just go with the light on the top for now. With just the light on and no UTH, the temp in the entire cage is about 85 degrees F, hot and cool side unfortunately.

It seems I can't win with temps!


What should I do?

 

[pugmommie]

You could get a lamp dimmer and plug uth into it.

 

[roger]

Ok so my leo has been acting weird for the past couple weeks, and not really being interested in crickets, or eating. He would eat, but only if I made him hungry by not feeding him a few days. And he wouldn't care about crickets, only superworms and mealworms.

So I was told temperature might be a problem, so I bought a touchless IR thermometer to check the temps everywhere in his encloser.

I have a zoo med UTH on the left side of his tank, and a white light on the top during the day and a red light on the top during night on a timer.

The temps at ground level on the 'hot' side was 120 degrees fahrenheit in his warm hide on the hot side, and 105 degrees outside of his warm hide on the hot side. Wayyy to hot! This explains why he's been hiding all day for the past 3 days in his tree on the cool side. It was only 78 degrees fahrenheit in there. This is probably because the weather got much warmer outside the past couple days, cause before my leo didn't have a problem with the UTH heater being on.


Well, I turned off the light on the top of his terrarium and just left the UTH on, but it only knocked the temps down by 5 degrees, still too hot. So I am forced now to unplug the UTH, and just go with the light on the top for now. With just the light on and no UTH, the temp in the entire cage is about 85 degrees F, hot and cool side unfortunately.

It seems I can't win with temps!


What should I do?

Geez with all that heat source know wonder your temps are through the roof.First off permanently get rid of the day time light,you don't need it.You need a thermostat for your heat pad to maintain temps.What substrate are u using?? Can u add extra substrate so a little less heat comes to the surface? If u left only your heat pad on u said it lowered your heat to

 

[CallDr]

I am using Tile with Rep Carpet under it. It has gotten warmer so I did get a light dimmer to adjust once the wether gets stable ( warm). I need to get a temp gauge but don't know which one to buy.

I use an over head red light ( not heat ) that sits up off the screen so it does not add heat. Plus a plastic screen to diffuse the light.

 

[sammer021486]

I am using Tile with Rep Carpet under it. It has gotten warmer so I did get a light dimmer to adjust once the wether gets stable ( warm). I need to get a temp gauge but don't know which one to buy.

I use an over head red light ( not heat ) that sits up off the screen so it does not add heat. Plus a plastic screen to diffuse the light.

You can use almost any thermometer. I personally like the exo-terra digital thermometers, they are small and very accurate and have a very small probe that is easy to hide.

A digital thermometer is normally better than an analog thermometer because the analog can be inaccurate and takes longer to adjust to the temperature, as it takes time for the spring in the analog thermometer to adjust to the temperature.

 

[roger]

You can use almost any thermometer. I personally like the exo-terra digital thermometers, they are small and very accurate and have a very small probe that is easy to hide.

A digital thermometer is normally better than an analog thermometer because the analog can be inaccurate and takes longer to adjust to the temperature, as it takes time for the spring in the analog thermometer to adjust to the temperature.

Get a temp gun, its ideal for tile

 

[CallDr]

Whats a good temp gun and where can u buy them?

 

[Tony C]

Whats a good temp gun and where can u buy them?

PE-1 at LLL Reptile. :main_thumbsup:

 

[Taquiq]

Yep, Temp Gun is the way to go.

 

[CallDr]

PE-1 at LLL Reptile. :main_thumbsup:

Ordered! Thanks!

 

[Photog]

Well I want to keep the day time light on that way I can see my gecko during the day. But with just the day time light on and no UTH, the temps are too low, 85 degrees throughout the whole cage at floor level, when it's supposed to be 95 degrees on the warm side right?


So I need to find some way to make the UTH cooler. What kind of lamp dimmer would you guys suggest? Or thermostat or something?


The substrate I am using is reptile carpet, one layer. To be honest I should probably change it, because it's been in there for 3 months now and probably dirty. I was just worried if I take everything and the gecko out of the cage he would get too stressed.

I was thinking about the slate/ceramic tiles. What kind would you guys suggest? Thanks.

 

[Eric1969]

Yes definitely get rid of the white light on top that can really stress them out. I found out the hard way, my red bulb blew out so I put one of those in, and he wasnt eating after that. It took a while after I changed it back to the red xterro bulb and now he seems better.

 

[sammer021486]

So I need to find some way to make the UTH cooler. What kind of lamp dimmer would you guys suggest? Or thermostat or something?

I am pretty sure that Lutron is the brand that makes the dimmer that you can plug straight into the wall then the mat into the dimmer, this can be picked up at almost any DIY hardware store.

As for ON/OFF thermostats I recommend either RANCO or JOHNSON for digital thermostats. There is no difference between the two, other than the Johnson has an anti short cycle made to protect compressors in fridges or freezers from burning out.

best prices I have seen for them pre-assembled is from www.reptilebasics.com

I have only used the Zoo Med 500R ON/OFF thermostat for analog and it has performed very well for me over the years.

If you would like to go proportional for the thermostat then either a Helix or Herpstat is recommended

 

[CallDr]

I put tile over my rep carpet. They recommend if it's too hot under the UTH is to make layers. I think one suggested cardboard. But I would not use cardboard because they are made with Very bad chemicals.

Maybe someone has done a Layer trick to lower the UTH temp?

 

[roger]

Well I want to keep the day time light on that way I can see my gecko during the day. But with just the day time light on and no UTH, the temps are too low, 85 degrees throughout the whole cage at floor level, when it's supposed to be 95 degrees on the warm side right?


So I need to find some way to make the UTH cooler. What kind of lamp dimmer would you guys suggest? Or thermostat or something?


The substrate I am using is reptile carpet, one layer. To be honest I should probably change it, because it's been in there for 3 months now and probably dirty. I was just worried if I take everything and the gecko out of the cage he would get too stressed.

I was thinking about the slate/ceramic tiles. What kind would you guys suggest? Thanks.

Lose the day time lamp.Leos are nocturnal and dont come out during the day.Tile is good

 

[Photog]

Got a dimmer for the UTH.

Now with dimmer, and light on top of cage, it is 80 degrees F on cool side and 95 degrees F on warm side under his warm hide

Is that abought right?

Also switched to poreclain tile as substrate instead of reptile carpet

 

[Tony C]

Now with dimmer, and light on top of cage, it is 80 degrees F on cool side and 95 degrees F on warm side under his warm hide

Is that abought right?

Sounds perfect.

 

[Photog]

He still won't eat crickets though! I thought temps would fix that.

The crickets just crawl all over him and he doesn't care.

In fact two of the crickets have been in there so long they are chirping now! They have grown that much bigger. They didn't chirp before.

Right now two of the chirping crickets are in my gecko's warm hide, and my gecko is on TOP of the hide lol because he's afraid to go in there with the monster crickets.

Sometimes the crickets will sneak up behind him and he will fling them away with his tail.

Hmm.


He seems to only want to eat superworms. But he only eats 2 which doesn't seem enough. I'm worried still. Plus I can't dust the superworms, calcium doesn't stick. So I'm worried my gecko isn't getting enough calcium. I have calcium powder in his food dish but I never see him lick it, ever.

 

[CallDr]

Most don't leave the crickets in the cage. If they are not interested or eating them we take them out. Some skip a day or 2 of feeding and then try again. I used to leave a dish with mealworms in the cage 24/7. The thing is..... they sat there most the time.

Now I feed a couple of crickets and a couple of mealworms. Or just stop feeding when they no longer take the food and either look at it or go into a hide.

 

[JonJon]

I am using the same items "zoo med UTH & reptile carpet" When i first hooked my UTH up I put my digi thermometer under the carpet and directly on the glass.
It was around 120○F.
And I was flipping out thinking I'm going to cook my gecko.
But then I decided to tak the thermoeter and place it under his hid eon his hot side. it now reads around 92.3 and 96 max at all times.
So you might want to try that, idk or maybe yours just gets to hot.