Seeking advice from Herpstat users!

[Starlily]

Hi there,

I purchased a Herpstat2 for my beardie, but I've been using it incorrectly.

My intent with the purchase was to ensure that the basking area stay between 105-110F. Common sense told me to set the probe up where the hottest point is and so I did just that, securing the probe with a zip tie.

Although I have the Herpstat set to "dimming", the light flashes on and off several times throughout the day, worse at night while it is ramping down. I contacted Herpstat about this and was told that I need to have the probe drop through the roof right next to the lamp and the probe tip should dangle in the air about 3-4 inches below the bulb. If the probe is anywhere else blinking issues will continue. He also mentioned basking assist be on which I already was aware of.

Does this then mean that there really is no way to monitor the basking hot spot with a Herpstat? Is it more for an ambient air measurement device? This seemed like a wise purchase for moments where I'm not home to consistently measure the area with a gun but if it's unable to do what I need it to I'd be disappointed, especially with how expensive it was. I should have dug deeper before I bought it, so that is on me.

If anyone reading is a Herpstat owner, it would be nice to see your set up, and which light you are using. Even a screenshot of your settings in case there is something else I am missing would be very helpful.

I'm having some trouble picturing the probe dangling in the air... Not too close to where it would melt the plasic, but not so far where the reading is pointless..

Thank you for your time.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

You can try that advice and see if it remedies the problem. You could still set it up that way and still have proper basking temperatures. You'd just need to figure out what temperature the probe needs to be at while 3 inches away from the basking bulb to produce the desired basking surface temp.

For instance, maybe you get it set up so that your basking surface is at 105, and you put the probe the 3 inches away and now it's reading 150. Well, if you set your stat to 150, then you know lower down at your basking surface you should have the 105 degree temp. This might take a bit of trial and error to figure out what the difference is, but doing it the way described to you should still allow you to utilize the benefits of the stat.

-Brandon