Location of the hide to CHE

[Natasha]

Hello everyone,
I love this forum as you guys are so helpful. I have a question.
Ok, this maybe a stupid question, but... please someone help, as it's a bit confusing to me.

I am trying to setup a closed chamber for a first time for leopard baby and as I read, I will put a probe of the thermostat that controls CHE in the darkest corner to have a temp at about 80-85. So on a right side I have a heat source - Powersun UVB/UVA, the CHE is right in the middle.

Where do you place a hide?

I am not worried about a day time temps ( I am sure it will be good tomorrow), but more to keep him warm at night. Because the heat lamp will be turned off at night, I am not positive I will be able to achieve 80 degrees in a whole enclosure with just a CHE.

Right now I have his hide right under a CHE and I have it pretty low and I've been just using temp gun to make sure hide is warm. It is about 85, and it has been 2 hours since we set it up. I don't really see it getting any warmer, the around temps are between 75 to 77. Maybe I need another night heat lamp.
This is his first night in the new enclosure, so I am still figuring it out. Any help would be really appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Blakem]

What wattage is your CHE? I used a 120 watt che at night for my Russian and it heated my two story 3x3 enclosure. If you have a closed chamber, and a strong enough wattage che, it should stay warm in there. Do you have your heating devices on a thermostat?

I placed my che in the middle of the enclosure for my sulcata. My enclosure for the sulcata was 5 feet in length. I didn't have a problem. Keeping g her warm, around 90 ambient temp at night.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Im thinking the same as Blake. What size wattage is your CHE, and is your tort house fully enclosed with a lid? You should be able to maintain proper temps. A pix of your setup will help everyone assist you better. Good luck.

 

[Neal]

If you can maintain your entire enclosure above the 80 degree threshold, then it will not matter where you place your humid hide as long as it is not directly under your light.

I agree with the above suggestions about increasing the wattage of your CHE.

 

[Tom]

Neal phrased it exactly as I was going to. In some enclosures it helps to use two CHEs, to spread out the heat some. They can both run on the same thermostat.

In my 4x8 closed chambers, I am not able to run a MVB. Much too hot. This tells me that your closed chamber is not as closed as you think. That might be why your CHE is not able to keep up with the heat loss.

 

[Natasha]

Thank you for all the info. I realized that we had gaps on the doors last night. So we insulated it as much as possible, and this morning the hide was at 92, everything was around 83, but the coldest corner was at 77. I haven't setup CHE on the thermostat yet, I think I need to put the probe somewhere in the far corner, but not the coldest. The CHE is 150W. Enclosure is about 4 x2. Here is the pic. I am just very paranoid to make him cold at night, as I did at first, and he just got over being sick.
On another note, Is there any good ways to insulate gaps? We put a masking tape, it seemed to help a lot, but maybe there is something better, like we use for house doors, but thinner? Anyone know?
Here are the pics. Still reaarranging. The light on the left is just a light bulb to make it brighter, no heat elevement to it. The one on the right is Powersun UV 100W.

 

[Natasha]

 

[Natasha]

I forgot to ask a questions,
Where do you put a probe? in the substrate, near it, or few inches above?
I got the hydrofarm one that is used for seeds, so not much info on the instructions regarding reptiles!

Thank you again, everyone!

 

[Tom]

I forgot to ask a questions,
Where do you put a probe? in the substrate, near it, or few inches above?
I got the hydrofarm one that is used for seeds, so not much info on the instructions regarding reptiles!

Thank you again, everyone!

I hang my thermostat probes in the cooler sections of the enclosures and just high enough to be out of reach of the tortoises. I don't mind higher than 80 ambient day time temps. I just don't like it any lower than 80 at night. Most of my closed chamber ambients creep into the high 80s or low 90's in summer. I think this simulates the hot African days these guys would get over there.

 

[Natasha]

I hang my thermostat probes in the cooler sections of the enclosures and just high enough to be out of reach of the tortoises. I don't mind higher than 80 ambient day time temps. I just don't like it any lower than 80 at night. Most of my closed chamber ambients creep into the high 80s or low 90's in summer. I think this simulates the hot African days these guys would get over there.

Thank you Tom,
I did that and the thermostat shows around 87 during the day on the cool side and that is just with the UVB basking light. Amazing how much closing gaps can do. although when I do temp gun right under the probe the floor temperature is about 3 dergees lower. It seems ok, hopefully not too high.