temperature

Ok so after a long month of Marmalade not eating I finally figured it out I think. She quit eating right around the time I put peel and stick tile on the bottom of her tank. I had added papertowel back to the tank where she would walk so she would not slide but I left her warm hut (uth under it) with just hte tile and the temp sat at around 87-90 most days. Well finally after a month I decided for some reason to put paper towel on the flooring of her warm hut and what do u know but the next night she was out and happy and ate 10 meal worms and well the last 3 nights has done the same thing.
So now tonight she is out ALOT and laying right outside her hut which is odd for her... so my daughter walked by and was talking to Marmalade and noticed the temperature was at 97.5. YUGGA so Iam not to sure if my heat pad is going or what. so I have unplugged it and took the temp down to 84 and plugged it back in and with 20 min it was back to 94.
HELP! we are suppose to go away for the night Friday and now Iam scared to cause not sure what is with this heater or how I will keep her warm. We are 2 hours from the closest petstore.

Don't panic, my boy thrives at 96-97 degrees and I don't turn my rheostat down until it his like 98.5. Think about it desert dweller isn't going to suffer at temps lower than your own body temperature, altho some leos prefer it cooler, some prefer it warmer. As long as you're providing a temperature gradient and your leo can move away if they like then it'll be fine. What kind of uth are you using (brand and size), how big is your tank? How old is your leo? Juvies should actually be kept a little warmer anyway, I usually suggest 94-96 for juvies. Id also add another hide, you can use a tupperware dish with a hole cut in it for now if you don't have one. Cover it in duct tape on the outside if you want it less see thru, your leo might feel more secure, for now kind off the edge of the uth so its indirectly heated. Then go t the hardware store and get a rheostat (a light dimmer), then it'll give you some time to order a new uth and thermostat or stick with a rheostat. They both work well for controling temps. You can also put a couple layers of cardboard in the viv over the uth to bring the temps down. I'm surprised your leo doesn't like the tile. You really need to go with a good textured sinulated stone high end tile to avoid slipping. Something that doesn't have a shiny coating.

Hope that helps

hey Iam not 100% sure on her age. I figure the petstore lied haha..she is a little bigger I would guess she is around 1 year. I have the 3 hids in there. The moist,heat and cold.
The UTH is just a EXO-TERRA heat wave dessert. and I have a 20 gallon long tank for her. This is the first time I have ever seen the tempature go that high and it just scared me.
As for the tile it is to smooth. I figured that out once I got it in. I thought there was enough grip for her but nope.Once I start my home renos I will have left over tiles from that and better quality as well so I will hold off till then and just keep the paper towel down.
Thank u for helping me. I did not sleep last night thinking that the tank would overheat and she would lay in the hut and cook.I guess she would be smart enough to move to the cool side. But temps are back to normal this morning and I feel way better!

That's good they're back down Niki, I posted right after you did, with in a half hour at least trying to avoid your sleepless night, guess you didn't recheck your thead before you left I'm usually on late so if there's a next time, I'm likely gonna be around

As far as the heat mat goes... I really dislike any.exo terra mats. Imo they're junk. Traditional heat mats like exo terra either pulse electricity thru the mat meaning current comes thru in waves so temp can fluctuate up and down and it can cause them to short out faster, or they run at top wattage until the internal temperature sensor reaches the shut off level and they stop heating until they cool off enough to restart at a safer temp then build back up to max again. Like a roller coaster. In my opinion the best mat for the money is the cobra heat mat either by ultratherm or t-rex, they both make it. T- rex for a 6x11 is 7 watts, and ultratherm 6x11 is 12 watts, teyre made in scotland, t-rex iste one manufacturered for ttheir U.S distributers,and the ulratherm brand is found most often in the UK. You can find both on line, reptiledirect.com carries the t-rex brand, I have seen the ultrather on amazon thru U.S sellers or I can give you some other web addresses stateside that carry both. What I like about them is they use all copper heating filament and are designed to un at a consistant, constant 100 degrees F which makes them very reliable when used in conjunction with a rheostat or thermostat. I use a rheo and my tank never has more than a 2 degree swing in temps. Best part is they don't really cost any more than exo or zoomed. I paid like 20$ for my 6x11 on my leos tank, and 354 for the 12x39-ish (can't recall exact size but its huge) that's on my balls 90 gallon slate bottom tank. Its so good it heats thru an inch of slate with no problems

My heat mat I use for my leo and my locusts are both made by prorep

Your also in the UK James, Niki is in Canada. Don't know that I've ever seen that brand this side of the pond.

Oh yeah lol

Kermit wrote:
As far as the heat mat goes... I really dislike any.exo terra mats. Imo they're junk. Traditional heat mats like exo terra either pulse electricity thru the mat meaning current comes thru in waves so temp can fluctuate up and down and it can cause them to short out faster, or they run at top wattage until the internal temperature sensor reaches the shut off level and they stop heating until they cool off enough to restart at a safer temp then build back up to max again.

I can't agree that it is a junk mat but I am noticing a three degree temperature fluctuation from time to time even with my rheostat. My uth is only an 8x8 and i'll be ordering a cobra 10x11 mat in the next few days. OP you should listen to Kermit as my baby Leo is loving 96-97 degree temps. He eats great and is really lively.