Almost had a cooked snake!

Trollbie · 05-02-12, 11:35 PM

Oh em gee... I get home from lab, and as I'm checking on Penelope I notice her thermostat probe is caught on the decoration and just hanging in the air... I have no idea how she managed that. But the temp got so high that my thermostat freaked out when I put the probe back where it's supposed to be.

I hope it didn't break. And I'm extremely glad Penelope didn't go anywhere near the hot spot. I checked her carefully for burn marks, but she's okay.

I need to figure out how to secure the probe so she can't move it when she's doing her thing.

BarelyBreathing · 05-02-12, 11:38 PM

Whew, that's scary. I'm glad everything turned out alread.

Trollbie · 05-02-12, 11:40 PM

Seriously. The temp went past 130 until the thermostat just gave me an error message or something. I'll never know how high it actually got.

Trollbie · 05-02-12, 11:40 PM

I had no idea a UTH could even get that high!

Trollbie · 05-03-12, 12:15 AM

By the way, I posted this so others could learn.

Caylan · 05-03-12, 02:15 AM

I keep the probe on the outside of the cage directly on the heating pad and calibrate the temp according to penetrate the substrate. A controlled 100 outside is much better then a possibly uncontrolled 90 inside. Just a thought, glad you were able to catch it. Its amazing how hot they can get.

bladeblaster · 05-03-12, 03:34 AM

attach the probe directly to the mat outside of the enclosure. If you do it outside of the enclosure then you can just attach it to the mat with sticky tape.

Gungirl · 05-03-12, 04:54 AM

Like others have said- Attach it outside the enclosure using tape. Then take a temp gun and set it so that she has the right temp inside her enclosure. No chance in her being able to move it that way.

Norm66 · 05-03-12, 05:41 AM

Glad you caught it. I had something similar in one of my aquariums when a heater stuck on. Luckily I happened to reach in to do something and felt how warm it was.

Lankyrob · 05-03-12, 06:25 AM

I have heard that with UTHs it is better to have the probe external to the viv, because i use bulbs i have the probes inside but there is not enough slack on the probe wire for the snakes to be able to move it far enough to affect the temps more than a degree or so.

glad that penelope is ok

CK SandBoas · 05-03-12, 06:27 AM

I am so glad Penelope is still alive and well! That must have been extremely frightening for you!

alessia55 · 05-03-12, 07:17 AM

Wow, glad you caught that in time. That's why it's so important to constantly check the temps in your critters' enclosures. Like others said though, you can just tape it to the outside and adjust the temps so that it's what you need on the inside.

shaunyboy · 05-03-12, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollbie

Oh em gee... I get home from lab, and as I'm checking on Penelope I notice her thermostat probe is caught on the decoration and just hanging in the air... I have no idea how she managed that. But the temp got so high that my thermostat freaked out when I put the probe back where it's supposed to be.

I hope it didn't break. And I'm extremely glad Penelope didn't go anywhere near the hot spot. I checked her carefully for burn marks, but she's okay.

I need to figure out how to secure the probe so she can't move it when she's doing her thing.

i use the little half circle shaped clips,that are mean't for securing the cable on a house telephone

they have little panel pin nails when you buy them,just replace the nail with a self tapping screw and your good to go

you can see it in the pictures below,it's holding my thermostat probe cable

the above is a ceramic set up

with heat mats it's better to have the probe on the outside on top of the heat mate

if you use the heat mat inside your tank.....

then what i do is use the little plastic coated metal twist ties,you get free with plastic freezer bags etc.

i just poke a hole through the edge of the mat,the part that does NOT heat up,on my heat mats theres a clear border of plastic,all the way around the edge of the mat

i poke a hole in the clear part,then feed one of those little ties through it.i then slip the probe cable through the tie,then twist it until it's tight and holding the probe firmlay in place

i'm glad you caught it in time,so no harm come to your snake pal

cheers shaun

Trollbie · 05-03-12, 10:17 AM

Thank you everyone. I'm for sure going to put the probe outside now.

BarelyBreathing · 05-03-12, 10:34 AM

Wow, Shaun, that snake is awesome!