Can't get temps right.

First off, I'm not a complete newbie to snakes.... just BP's :) I have my BP in a Sterilite tub, with a UTH and themostat hooked up. My infrared gun reads 90-94 on the hot basking spot, and low to mid 80's ambient for the hot side. The cold side is usually a few below that. My problem is, I can't get the ambients to go up any higher, and my old house gets cool at night so temps sometimes drop into the high 60's ambient in my room. The UTH and Thermo work just fine. I've messed with the quantity of air holes, and all it did was change my humidity.

What can I do to increase the ambient temps in there? Or are these numbers okay? I feel like they aren't. I don't want to raise my thermo too much higher, cause it'll get too hot for the snake to sit on.

I've only ever dealt with Corns so I'm new to this whole BP heating thing.

If your temps are steady they sound fine. 78-80 for ambient is good.

If it were me I would lower the hotspot to 88-90.

The problem with UTH's is that they create a hot spot but they don't really raise ambient temps. Personally I use PVC enclosures so I have RHPs (radient heat panels) keeping up my ambient temps.

I guess for a tub, most people will suggest getting a heater to warm up the entire room. If you have only one snake, i'd suggest getting a PVC enclosure with a RHP.

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I would suggest getting a second UTH for the middle of the vive and having it set to about 80F or so. That is what I did with my PVC vive because it is shared (with a divider!) with my corn; they have a shared UTH set at 83.5F and the ball python has a hot spot UTH for 90F. No, it doesn't heat the air, but it was suggested to me by Ricky (from Rickey's Reptiles) :)
I think it works wonderfully.

Thank you for the input!

There is no reason to make the setup more complicated than it needs to be. The numbers are fine so why add on more expense and possibility to have a issue.

If more heat is ever needed a heat lamp suspended on a lamp stand will work great with a tub. I kept a big blood python this way while waiting on pvc cages I ordered that took forever. You can actually create a nice hotspot and heat gradient with a lamp alone if needed. Its just important to suspend the lamp so the tub is not melted. I also used this method on young bloods when they were in quarantine. You can use a dimmer to adjust the heat or do as I did and just figure out what distance from the tub gives the proper numbers and lock it in there. That is how I adjust all my lamps. I use them for my ball, hoggy, and pacman.

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Originally Posted by KMG

There is no reason to make the setup more complicated than it needs to be. The numbers are fine so why add on more expense and possibility to have a issue.

If more heat is ever needed a heat lamp suspended on a lamp stand will work great with a tub. I kept a big blood python this way while waiting on pvc cages I ordered that took forever. You can actually create a nice hotspot and heat gradient with a lamp alone if needed. Its just important to suspend the lamp so the tub is not melted. I also used this method on young bloods when they were in quarantine. You can use a dimmer to adjust the heat or do as I did and just figure out what distance from the tub gives the proper numbers and lock it in there. That is how I adjust all my lamps. I use them for my ball, hoggy, and pacman.

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I completely agree! This is exactly what I wound up doing last night... kinda. I cut a small piece of the plastic lid out, and replaced it with screening from a screen top, but only an appropriate size piece to prevent TOO much humidity difference. I then suspended the lamp a few inches above the screening, and have it plugged into a thermostat. I'm gonna run like this for a few days and see what happens.

I'm new to BP's, so I'm still in that paranoid stage that I'm doing everything wrong, hah.

Screw it, I went and got the dimmer. I like your idea better than mine, KMG. Thanks!