Very Cold

My snake (believed to be aged 6 months old) is in a 15 quart tub with holes drilled 1/2 inch apart and 1 inch deep coco bedding. (He hasn't eaten yet seeing as I've only had him for a few days). Anyway, his tub is warmed by a 1-5 gallon under tank heater by Zoo Med. The thermostat reads that the temperature is 73.7. The thermostat is set to 90. Is there is any way to warm up the tub using the same UTH or should I buy a new one. If so, which is the best?

In the beginning I used UTH with my tubs, but never acheived the desired temps my snakes needed. I switched to heat tape and have never looked back. Also, what kind of thermostat are you using? I know thermostats can be expensive, but I have also learned that you get what you pay for.... if you can get a Herpstat or even a Vivarium Electronics - you will be happy in the end!

I'm sure someone else will chime in to give you some tips. This group is very good at helping folks out ....it's where I have learned a lot..

A jump start thermostat. Also, my room in general is quite cold and I did look at heating tape; should I get 11" heating tape for the bottom AND 3" heating tape for the side to be the hot side or should I just get the 3" heating tape to replace where the UTH is (short side of tub)?

You may also have to play with your therm to get what you desire.

Turn the therm up higher to let the pad go higher.

Do you habe a temp gun?

Nope, I don't have the budget.

Generally heat tapes do very poorly at heating air. That's not what they were designed to do.

With that said, you can try and a tape some to a long side of the tub and see if it helps warm the air a little but honestly in a cold room, tubs and racks dont work well. That is why you see a lot of people who use tubs and racks also use space heaters like an oil filled radiator. I use only flexwatt on all my 4x2 and 6x3 cages but i also keep the room around 77-80F depending on the time of day and i also have an oil filled radiator if the room gets cold for some reason.

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Originally Posted by LadyWeirdo

Nope, I don't have the budget.

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If this is a response to a temp gun, they're actually pretty inexpensive on Amazon! Very budget friendly :)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0083...8A5ZFDNJ0TP0NQ

I can't achieve proper ambient temps with my UTH alone. So I use a 60 Watt CHE on my 15qt tub, on a dedicated thermostat.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...e7b686e946.jpg

My natural room temps are not terribly cold, though. They average between 68°-72° F in the winter, to 74°-76° F in the summers. So I just need a little boost to get my ambients right around 78°.

The OP is saying her Hot Spot wont go above 73. I believe the probe for her Jumpstart Tstat is placed wrong and she isnt using a thermometer to measure the inside floor temp. A ZooMed 8watt gets 114-120 degrees. Without you giving us info or a pic of how you set it up we cant give proper advice.
Check out the Sticky for setting up a Tank. It shows how to do the Probe and UTH etc...
All we are doing is shooting in the dark without understanding your situation.


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I like Zoo Med stuff but i hate their UTHs. I use only Fluker or Ultratherm for prewired UTHs. For heat tapes, i prefer flexwatt. Havent tried the fire retardant stuff yet since all my flexwatt is still working fine.

And if your hot spot isnt getting over 73F, you did something wrong lol. Put your hand on it and see if it feels warm. If it does, then it clearly over 73F as our body temp is 98F. So your temp unit would be faulty.

But like mentioned, a temp gun is pretty much a must have item.