Heating tubs with grooves

[Citrus]

I am using about 16qt sterilite tubs. They have a groove on the bottom which means there is a dip on the inside. I have my thermostat set to 94, which gives a hotspot of about 89-92. However this seems to only be along the groove. Luckily my snakes are currently small enough to fits along this groove. Here's where it becomes an issue:
I'm building that plastic storage unit rack from Home Depot and will keep my hatchling in his 16qt but my pastel will be moved into a 28qt. I'm going to use 11" heat tape. The 28qt sterilite tubs have a groove that is the same size as the 16qt tubs, which means if that's the only hot spot then they won't e able to fit into it. How hot is flexwatt allowed to get in order to get a hotspot that is the full size of the flexwatt strip before it's dangerous? Are there any other recommendations for this? Can there be a 95 degree part(groove) and a 90 degree part of the hotspot?


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[Syfaio]

As long as your temps don't exceed 95 ° F inside the tub itself you could even go with 4" heattape as long as they have that hotspot I also believe plastic has a 400° F melting point so even with your flexwatt running full power it should get nowhere near that (but harmful for your snakes) as long as you have a thermostat you will be A OK lol

[Citrus]

Cool. Thank you.


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