Uromastyx.org

HELLO FORUM! Long time no see! Life's been busy and I dropped pretty much all forums I was regular on. All apologies.

And, of course, I need help with something if anyone has any ideas.

I run Herpstat pros on all of my enclosures, and double check with an IR temp gun. I get completely different readings. I brought home a gun from the heavy duty mechanics shop I work at, and yet again very different, but in the middle of the other two. Sure, taking averages is what most people say, but when it's a matter of 20 degrees Fahrenheit, this isn't a reasonable compromise to me. This has been bothering me for awhile and have come to no reasonable conclusion, so am on a man hunt (just for an answer and/or solution, not heads!)....

At lower temps they are a few degrees off, which is fine for the leos and snakes, but not so much in the higher temps for the uros.

So using one of the HSP locations, aimed the temp guns at the same spot at the same time and got the following readings:

Gun #1: 66F
Gun #2: 70F
HSP: 72F

What I need to figure out is which device is most accurate.

I used the guns on the coffee pot after (it was morning, so heat and lights hadn't turned on yet and now heat gun #1 is no longer accessible since my husband took it back to work, so needed something hotter in a jiffy). Heat gun #1 read 100F and #2 140F. The HS likely would have read quite a bit higher.

Currently I have the HSP set between 105-115F depending on the cage, but the temp gun I've been using (#2) will read up to 140F. They're all active, eating and seem to be thriving, but I'd like to have accurate temps for many reasons (especially weeks like this where the temp OUTSIDE has dropped to -40F/C, take your pick, and affects everything indoors), and right at this moment I'm pretty choked that I've spent so much money on equipment that isn't accurate.

Thoughts? Advice? Funky chicken dance moves?

Hi. I don’t know if I can be of much help but I will tell you what I do over here.
I use a Ryobi Temp gun I got at Home Depot. I seems to me to be accurate enough.
I use it to measure the basking area on 2 slabs of flagstone which is created by a 75W
Philips Halogena Spot bulb(Also from Home Depot). The max temperature on the hotspot
is 130F when the air temp on the hot side of the enclosure is around 93F - 95F. I have a
dual thermometer with wired probes hanging at either end of the enclosure to measure the ambient air temperatures. Just for good measure I lay my hand down on the hot area and sure enough,
it’s plenty hot but not burning hot so I can keep my hand there. So by rough estimate, I can
guess by the way my hand feels that the temp is in the ball park. What I would suggest is
to use the temp gun that is best for you and check the area once in awhile with your hand.
Check the area with your hand especially if you get a abnormally high reading with your
temp gun. I have found that when my Uromastyx was smaller, he would not stay in the hottest
spot for long. Instead, he would move away a bit to a slightly cooler area. Nowadays, my Uro
is much larger and he will bask in the direct heat and even snuggle his belly with a snake-like
motion onto the hotspot. This is why it is good to have a large area for basking to provide some temperature
variation. The Uros go to the area that they like at the moment. Remember that the temp should
be high enough so the Uro can digest its food efficiently. Another thing you can try is to keep the
temp gun the same distance away from the heated area when you go to take the temperature.
For example, on my Ryobi gun it states you should take readings within 2 feet of the area being
measured. I hope I helped you in some way.

THanks for the reply sihunt. I never trust guesses, though, especially with human hands. When I need to remove sculpey from a tray after baking it in the oven, I call my husband over. It's too hot for me to handle, but to him it's just warm -- yet another example of how untrustworthy and varying something can be. I'm fairly fair skinned, so when I'm cleaning the uro cages my skin actually turns red and nearly burns when I'm in the basking area, and I can't keep my hand on the rocks they sit on.... but again, to my husband the area is merely warm. (He's part native and has much darker skin, as well). Trust me, I freaked out pretty good the first time I realized how hot it was! But to bring the temps down to something that wouldn't burn my own skin would likely kill the uros.

What I ultimately am looking for is a way to find out which of my temp readers is the most accurate.

Since they were all sold to me as "accurate within 5 degrees" I no longer trust when anyone says that theirs is accurate. Doesn't help that I'm not a trusting person.... lol Right now I'm relying on the herpstats to keep the temps consistent, and watching the animals themselves closely for activity/distress levels.

The best I can suggest is to boil water. We know that water boils at 212 F or 100 C at sea level. You can likely find out your elevation and find out at what temp it boils at your location. I doubt it would be very different, but if you want exact that is what you will have to do. Then you can boil water and use all of your temp measuring devices to see what they register at the exact boiling point. You then will know how off each one is and use that information accordingly. I hope this helps.

Thanks Tim. Looks like that's my best solution. Next question is, do I measure the water directly, or boil say, a clay tray to pull out and measure? And boil as soon as steam starts rolling off, or as soon as the water begins to bubble?

Here is some information that I found at www.foodservice.com. The information was on how to calibrate a thermometer. You could do the same but just check the readings of the different thermometers and see how far off they are.

"Boiling point. Boil at least six inches of water. Once the water has reached a rolling boil, stick the sensor part of the thermometer into the middle of the water, taking care to keep it at least two inches from the sides, top, and bottom. After 30 seconds, the thermometer should read 212 degrees Fahrenheit if you’re at 1,000 feet or less of elevation. See below if you are at a higher altitude. If it doesn’t read 212, your thermometer needs to be recalibrated.

Changes in boiling point temperature by elevation:

Sea Level: 212 degrees Fahrenheit
1,000 feet: 210 degrees Fahrenheit
2,000 feet: 208 degrees Fahrenheit
3,000 feet: 206.4 degrees Fahrenheit
4,000 feet: 204.5 degrees Fahrenheit
5,000 feet: 202.75 degrees Fahrenheit
8,000 feet: 197.5 degrees Fahrenheit

Read more: http://www.foodservice.com/articles/equ ... z1jxsDxBmk"

I hope this helps some.

THanks! I was going to work on this last weekend, but time failed me (and procrastination took over. Heh.) Maybe I'll give it a try today and see what happens. Figured I'd use all three and see what happens....