Thermostat not working

emwilly90 · 07-18-17, 05:35 PM

I have been watching my temps the past week because for the first time my snake refused his food and I cannot get my heat mat to cool down for the life of me. I have turned the stat right down to 20 degrees C but the mat is staying at 33 degrees C outside the hide and 37 inside!!!! I have a corn snake so this is not good. I assume the stat is not working properly. Can anyone recommend any decent thermostats? The heat mat is habistat so I assume I should look to getting a habistat thermostat?

TRD · 07-18-17, 05:45 PM

Where is the probe located, and how do you measure temps?

Also what kind of thermostat is it.. pulse, dimmer, ...

emwilly90 · 07-18-17, 06:22 PM

I have tried the probe in various different places but ended up feeling like the best place for it was directly on top of the heat mat outside of the hide (I have previously put it inside the hide but it made no difference and still didn't cool it down). I measure my temps with a probe thermometer.
I believe the thermostat is what you call an on/off stat, so when the temperature drops it turns on but I haven't noticed it turn on for a while now.

**EL Ziggy** · 07-18-17, 08:00 PM

I'm glad you identified the t-stat failure before your snake got hurt. I'm not sure about the thermostat brands on your side of the pond but Herpstat seems to be a highly preferred brand here in the U.S. I use Hydrofarm thermostats personally, and have for years without issues, but they're similar to the on/off type that failed you so an upgrade might be in order. Are you placing the thermostat probe on the outside of the enclosure directly between the uth and the bottom of the enclosure? If the probe is inside the enclosure snakes tend to move them or pee/poop on them. You may want to consider investing in a temp gun. I think it's the most accurate way to measure temps anywhere in the enclosure.

dannybgoode · 07-19-17, 12:02 AM

For a stat to work on a year mat the probe should be in contact with the mat.

Mats do very little to warm the air in the viv so having the probe elsewhere is pointless especially if the mat is covered by a hide. It simply won't be seeing the air outside of the hide. I don't think therefore there is also problem with your stat but your set-up in general.

Personally I'd get rid on the heat mat and get a basking light bulb and have that on during the day and off at night. A corn, kept in a normal room in a normal house in the UK, won't need heating at night.

emwilly90 · 07-19-17, 04:27 AM

I've read in a few different places that corn snakes don't necessarily require the air to be warmed, they just need somewhere warm they can go so they can regulate their body temps and digest their food, which is why I decided to go for the heat mat. I'm also concerned that if I got a heat lamp it would make his entire enclosure too warm, as it is a 2ft viv cos he is only small at the moment.
The probe is in direct contact with the heat mat and wherever I place it, whether it's under the mat, directly on top or inside the warm hide, it doesn't seem to make a difference to the stat and it just stays the same temp regardless of if I turn it down.
I do have a second heat mat at home that I bought as a back up if this one broke, so I think I will plug the stat into that one and see what happens.

dannybgoode · 07-19-17, 05:27 AM

What are you using to measure the temperature of the heat mat with? Is the mat covered by anything?

emwilly90 · 07-19-17, 10:27 AM

I'm using a probe thermometer. The heat mat has a hide on part of it and a thin layer of substrate which is what the instructions of the heat mat told me to do.

Doug 351 · 07-19-17, 10:38 AM

OK....this is just me...but#1: get rid of the hide over the heat mat. It could be causing the overheating, and, IMO...unnecessary.

Second, with a heat mat, as long as it's only on one side, your snake can figure out how hot it wants to be...

emwilly90 · 07-19-17, 11:24 AM

I thought snakes were supposed to have a warm hide though, where will he hide if he wants to hide and be warm??

**Aaron_S** · 07-19-17, 11:27 AM

Maybe your thermometer is broken....

emwilly90 · 07-19-17, 01:29 PM

I did consider it being the thermometer, but I have another thermometer in there to measure the ambient temperature of the air which always says it's around 23/24 and the probe thermometer says the same. Also the heat mat does feel too warm for a corn snake, as far as I'm aware it should only just about feel warm to us as our body temps are so high

emwilly90 · 07-19-17, 01:52 PM

So I have just plugged my second heat mat into a normal plug socket just to make sure it works and it started to warm up, so I plugged it into the thermostat and it didn't come on and the heat mat went cold?! I would definitely say the stat is broken. I will purchase a new one ASAP and hopefully that will solve my problem

dannybgoode · 07-19-17, 02:25 PM

What make of stat are you using?

emwilly90 · 07-19-17, 02:38 PM

It's by swell reptiles, the reviews were really good on the website. I think I will go for a habistat one next as it's the same make as my heat mat