Advice needed please from others using Plasic Tubs with UTH!!

[ocean girl]

Okay, I switched my sons snake from a glass aquarium to a see-through plastic container/Tub. It's about 2 1/2 ft long by 13 high.
We did this so keeping humidity would be easier, and so we wouldn't need a heat lamp, just an UTH.
SO, Humidity is great, BUT, the temp in the tub on the cold side remains at 70!!!!
WHY??? I don't get it!
We also bought a digital probe thermometer at Canadian tire for the hot side, and I don't think its working properly, it will read 100 but when I place 2 other thermometers to double check, those ones read,90. when the probe reads 90, the others read 80, and the floor feels pretty cold.
So should I just assume that this probe is sucky?
Does anyone else have this problem as far as keeping the cold side at 80??
Also, my UTH is about half the size of the tub, I know its suppose to be 1'4 the size but we pealed it of the Tank and reused it. (I did this like the video posted on here, worked great). So being that it's 1'2 the size of the tub, one would think there would be no problem keeping the temp at 80 on the cold side.
Advice please from others using Tubs.

[dr del]

Hi,

UTH's don't really heat anything apart from the area above them - they do not increase ambient temps at all.

Are the two thermometers that read lower the round analogue dial things?

If they are they are only really fit for throwing at the salesman who foisted them off on you. They are known to be really inaccurate.


dr del

[ocean girl]

Well then how do you increase ambient temps.
One thermometer is the round kind and the other one is just a metal one with the glass tube and murcury at the bottom?? They both read the same. I know people are telling me they suck, but the do seem to be reading well. I think my probe is maybe the wrong kind. The papers it came with say to place it on the window ledge out of the sun to read indoor and outdoor temps, obviously I'm not using it that way, but maybe this one really isn't meant for what I'm using it for.

[blushingball419]

I also just recently switched my bp into a tub, and I had problems with both the cool side temp being too low and the humidity being way too high. I ended up having to add a bunch of holes and switch to aspen instead of coco fiber, and now the humidity is perfect but the cool temp is still a little low. Right now I'm using my old infrared heat bulb w/ clamp lamp to keep it several inches above the plastic lid, and it's keeping it around 80, so I would suggest trying a heat lamp or a CHE (just make sure it doesn't actually touch the plastic obviously).

I also saw a great idea once for a cheap radiant heat panel. I tried searching for the thread and I couldn't find it. From what I remember, you just take another UTH (controlled by a thermostat) and put it on top of the plastic lid instead, then cover it with a large piece of corkboard or some other kind of thin wood, and tape it down. It should be insulated and help raise your ambient temps. I'm thinking of trying that at some point, probably when winter rolls around again.

[West Coast Jungle]

Other options are keep the room warmer with an oil filled heater on a Tstat(that's what I do).

Some of my quarantines go into a setup that is a tub that's kept inside a larger cage. The larger cage is heated by a radiant heat panel mounted on the top and controlled by a Tstat on top of the tub.

Also as mentioned previously you just run the heat lamp outside over the tub but that method would probably be harder to control exact temps.

[Vypyrz]

Can you post a photo of the tub so we can see what it looks like and where everything is placed?

[AkHerps]

I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and I do not have a room for my two snakes. My room stays at about 70F, so I keep my ambient temps up in my ball pythons tub by having one heat pad(I use flexwatt) on the bottom of his tub for a hot spot, and one smallish heat pad attached to the side of his tub on the cool side. Everything of coursed being hooked up to a temperature controller. If your room temps stay pretty constant, you can use a simple lamp dimmer and they work very well.

This is what I have found works and is easy to maintain

[SlitherinSisters]

What type of thermostat are you using? It could be the thermostat. There's really no reason your tubs can't stay up to temp unless your house is really cold. I have 3 foot tubs for my adult females and I'm able to keep them warm. But, I do heat the room with a space heater until it gets pretty warm outside, I keep it between 70-75 in there. What do you have your UTH set at? You are going to loose a couple degrees from the UTH to the tub. I keep mine around 92 and my tubs are 90 hot side 75-80 cool side. They are also in racks which helps hold in the heat. When I have a tub outside of the rack for whatever reason, I put a towel over and around the tub to help hold in the heat if it's chilly in the house.

[Lexx]

UTH use radiant heat. Plastic is an insulator, not a good conductor. So I'd imagine using UTH with a plastic tub is a very inefficient way to heat. UTH work with glass because glass will transfer more heat. There's no way you're going to get heat anywhere but directly over the UTH, and you're going to waste a lot of electricity for that heat.

I'd recommend using some kind of heat lamp if you're going to use a plastic tub.

Besides that there's the fact that many plastics release carcinogens when they're heated. I'd do some research and find out which plastics are safe, if it were me.

[ocean girl]

Okay, I figured out the thermometers, I won't explain the details, but they are reading accurate now, and as for as the stick on ones go, they read pretty much the same, for example, if the didgital reads 91.5, the non didigital on reads 91. So I don't know why everyone says there crap because mine are quite accurate.

As far as the plastic Tubs go, the only reason we switched is because everyone was raving about how great they are and how easy it is to keep the temps up. But now, I 'm hearing a different tune, everyone seems to have the same problems with the plastic as they do the glass!
We had exact same problems with our glass tank, hot side good, cold side 70, then we added a CHE and it only raised it to 75, and that was with foam board inside and out side, a wood lid with 95 % covered to keep humidity up. So I figured, maybe the tank was just too tall to hold the heat down, so we switched to Tubs, but they are exactly the same for holding heat!
I will post pictures soon so you can see it.
We went back to the pet store and the guy said, as long as the cold side doesn't go below 70 and he has a hot side, it won't matter. Weather he is right or wrong I don't know.