my UTH melted my tub

Hey everyone! I'm in the process of preparing for and buying my first ball python. I'm going the plastic tub route since I can't afford/don't have room for any kind of a rack system. I bought a regular plastic tub, a zoo med UTH, a rheostat, and a thermometer with a probe. When I got the rheostat it didn't work so I have to order another one. In the meantime, I set up everything else in my tub and turned on the heat pad thinking that it would be fine as long as I didn't have a snake in there until I had the rheostat. I was wrong. I woke up in the middle of the night last night to the smell of burning plastic, only to find out that the UTH had melted through my tub ruining the tub and the UTH. Needless to say, I obviously won't be hooking up another UTH without a rheostat.
My question is with the rheostat set on a much lower temperature it won't melt my tub, right? I don't want to go through this whole process again only to find out that no matter what temperature the UTH is at it's going to melt a plastic tub.
Also, I won't be getting my snake until I get the temperature thing worked out and have my new rheostat...don't worry.

The heating pad malfunctioned, as most tubs wont melt/warp till 180F+.

And to get a Heat pad that hot to melt a tub, there must of been lack of air flow.

I would suggest, you get a thermostat and not rheostat, Rheostat will still give you headaches.

Correct. As long as you have something to maintain your uth, it should be safe. The problem with leaving your uth plugged in directly is that it could easily get over 130+ degrees.

Get a Hydrofarm thermostat off amazon for $30.
It's affordable and way better than a rheostat since it sounds like you're on a budget.


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I suggest getting Ultratherm heating pads. You wil still need a rheostat or one of the Hydrofarm thermostats on Amazon but these things are low wattage, low priced and work great.

Wow, that's crazy.

ZooMed heat pads can really get up there, I don't like them at all. They're also really thick and expensive, at least at my local pet store. They charge something like $50 for a "large," lol.

I use Ultratherms instead (with rheostats at the moment). Glad there was no snake inside. ;)

Lik i stated, that heat pad malfunctioned from either manufacture or user error. And most tubs like rubbermaid and sterilite withstand temps of 180F before melting or warping.

Honestly, I'd recommend a thermostat over a rheostat because they are going to be more accurate as the room temps change. For my corns, I can get away with a Hydrofarm thermostat (http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...2093006&sr=8-1) though it does allow for about 4 degrees variance before kicking in. With that on, I've never had any problems with a tub melting and I've used them for some time. For balls, I've heard it's good to get a more reliable/accurate thermostat such as a Herpstat, Helix, Ranco, or Vivarium Electronics. Most of those are proportional instead of on/off like the Hydrofarm variety which actually increases the life of your heat mat/heat tape. They also will keep the enclosure within a degree or so of where you want it.

Rheostats are not the way to go with UTH's you really should use a thermostat.

Here are 2 that are good (and will keep your tub from melting

1. The hydrofarm thermostat, sold on Amazon for $30 these will do their job but aren't very accurate and don't have any built in safety features.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000NZ..._bxgy_ol_img_b

2. The Herpstat, these cost more but are very accurate and have built in safety features.

http://spyderrobotics.com/

Thank you everyone this helps a lot.
There was a lack of air flow. I put it in a wooden crate to keep the ambient temperature up as my apartment is kind of drafty and one of the plastic feet had fallen off the bottom of the tub on the heat side so the UTH was actually resting directly on the crate.
I will look into getting the ultratherm heat pad and a thermostat instead of a rheostat.