URGENT! Temps are too low in THREE new tub setups

[Blizzard]

I brought home three new Ball Pythons yesterday (I'll make a progression thread soon, I'm very excited!) and they are all in tub setups. I am using a UTH for each, and all are hooked up to a thermostat set at 94. So here's where I've got a problem.

Right now, the temps are 83, 82, and 81! I'm trying my best to keep the room warm to help raise them, but I'm wondering if this is my fault.

I put the UTH on the dresser, not directly on the tub, as I wasn't sure if that was okay and couldn't find answers online. The tub is also elevated by the included rubber feet, so it's quite a bit away from the heater. Could this be the problem?

*my thermostat probe sits directly on the bottom of the tub under the substrate.

I tried to get pictures to show what I mean;




^ This is how far it is raised off the desk.




^ Me lifting the tub up to show the UTH placement.



These snakes are all inside of the tubs and I have nowhere else to house them, especially since they are in QT from my other BP Sam, so I'm desperate to fix this.

If I need to place the UTHs directly on the bottom, I will need to unstick them from where they are already placed. Is it possible to do this without damaging the UTH? If I don't pull on anything and slide something like a butter-knife under to unstick it?

Also, is it a fire hazard having directly on the bottom?

Please let me know what I should do, I've gotta get these temps up by tonight, thank you a million times.

[Godzilla78]

Place them directly against the bottom of the tub, touching the tub. There is no fire hazard at all when thermally regulated to 90 F. Just be careful not to bend the UTH too much when you are removing it.

[Blizzard]

Place them directly against the bottom of the tub, touching the tub. There is no fire hazard at all when thermally regulated to 90 F. Just be careful not to bend the UTH too much when you are removing it.

Did this after you commented and it seemed to work perfectly! Temps look great. Thank you so much!

[Jus1More]

Did this after you commented and it seemed to work perfectly! Temps look great. Thank you so much!

Glad to see the problem fixed. Be sure your UTH's are hooked up to a thermostat unit. The thermometers are not enough to regulate the temps. Usually you can get a good thermostat like a Herpstat or Vivarium Electronics and regulate 2 tubs with UTH through one thermostat. I did that for awhile but those dam UTH drove me crazy with keeping temps stable so I went to heat tape instead. In your situation you could get about 3-4 feet of heat tape and run it through one thermostat for all 3 of your snakes instead of having 3 individual heating sources. You would have to decide which size heat tape, but I went with 6in for my adults (28qt tubs) and 4in for my little ones (15qt tubs) until they are ready for slight bigger tub. Just a thought... once I switched to heat tape I've never looked at one of those UTH again.