RUB probes

[Blanny]

Hello, it's me, the noob with many questions .

I was wondering if someone could help me please. I have bought a 9L RUB, a Lucky Reptile thermometer with two probes and a Habistat pulse proportional thermostat and I was wondering if someone could advise me about the best way to feed the probes into the RUB. If your answer is drilling a hole then does anyone know what the best size drill bit is to use please?

[Nodders]

Originally Posted by Blanny

If your answer is drilling a hole then does anyone know what the best size drill bit is to use please?

The size that allows the probe to be pushed into the box

Just lay your drill bit against the probe to test the width before drilling and use the one that would allow the probe through once drilled . Don't know what else to say to that reallly .

[truncheon1973]

according to tall paul at cold blooded you dont need to put it inside. he told me to simply sellotape the probe to the heat mat to get a better reading

[Nodders]

Originally Posted by truncheon1973

according to tall paul at cold blooded you dont need to put it inside. he told me to simply sellotape the probe to the heat mat to get a better reading

Yeah you can do that , just have a temp gun handy and take your spot temps inside the rub at the mat end .
I did it that way , but after a swap around yesterday and rubs transferred onto strips , I now have one rub with the probe inside and use that has the temp for the other rubs , just have to spot temp them all , make sure they are all holding at roughly the same temp .

[Blanny]

OK, if I place the thermostat probe underneath the RUB and on top of the heat mat then that would make my RUB unstable. Therefore I would have to buy some rubber feet or something which would, in turn, lift the RUB away from the heat mat.
I think I would prefer the heat mat to be in direct contact with the RUB as it is only 7 watts and when I have tested it in the past it only gets up to a maximum of about 35 degrees anyway.

Please can someone advise as I am now hesitant to start drilling holes in my RUB.

[Nodders]

You put the probe near the edge of the mat , so the rub is not on top of the probe . Just leave a bit of mat showing and test temps inside the rub . Easy peasy .

[jools]

I have my thermostat and thermometer probes in the rub. I made a hole at the base with a heated up screwdriver. I also used this method to make ventilation holes. The hole has to be large enough to feed the probe through. Once the probe is in place if you feel that there is too much gap around the wires then just fill this with blu-tack. Hope that makes sense lol

[erewegoagain]

what size snake is in the rub? I ask cos if you go making holes in the rub there is always a gap around the probe when its in place: enough for hatchling corns to wriggle through. Better to have a dummy box with probe or raise it: ive got mine on runners made from plastic, that is sold to take electric cabling, then just enough room underneath for the probe and you can tape it directly to the mat.

[Blanny]

I don't actually have a snake yet but yes I do intend to get a hatchling corn in the near future. I want to get everything in place and make sure that I can maintain the correct temperatures before buying the snake and putting it in there.
I think I am going to drill a hole and place the probes inside the RUB. If I think there is too much space I will try to source a blank grommet, possibly from Maplin.