THG Heat Tape Concern

[zachsdad]

Hey guys ! I built a home made snake rack out of a pvc shelving unit from my local walmart. For heat im running 15 feet of 4 inch THG heat tape for 4 shelves. I set my thermostat to 90 degrees but the tape gets up to 105 degrees according to my temp gun ! The stat prob is directly on the tape secured with aluminum tape. Even at that the inside of the tub only reads in the low 80's ! The room temps range from 68 - 76 degrees. Is this ok or am i doing something wrong ? Any input will be greatly appreciated, thanks. BTW i will be housing a pueblan milk snake in a 32 qt tub with this setup. The snake is about a year old.

[Sublimeballs]

What thermostat are you using? Is the tape holding the probe still on the probe itself or the wire? I have quite a bit of this heat tape and its always worked great. my thermos are set anywhere from 92-111 to get a 90 degree spot out of different setups so don't think to much on what temp you actually set it at, but what gets that needed temp in the cage.

[zachsdad]

Thanks for the reply. The thermostat is a repticzone on/off type. I have it set at 90 degrees. The head of the probe is secured to the thg with aluminum tape. I have a vivarium electronics ve-200 proportional stat on the way. It should be here this week. Maybe that will help the situation.

[Sublimeballs]

With the on/offs Its been my experience that they have to be set a little higher then the proportionals. Take the tape off the probe itself and put the tape on the cord. You never want to put the tape directly on the thermostat probe; it traps heat and grows the readings off. Try this and you should see some improvement.