Trying out the tub idea and aggrivated...

I set up a tub to see how this would work for me... In the glass tank it took both the UTH and the night light to keep the spec right. In the tub at the moment I am only using the UTH and I can't get my temps up. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I was going to use coconut husks like I did in the previous glass tank but it appears that maybe I either put to much in or the UTH is having having issues heating it up. The UTH seems to be working well... feels very warm to the touch and its brand new so I have no idea whats going on. I switched out the substrate to newspaper in hopes that maybe this will help out some... we'll see tomorrow I guess if I can ever manage to get out of work. I haven't moved a snake in yet... I am trying to get this right first.

you need to have a thermostat. no matter what the box of the uth says you still need one. They are expensive for what they are do but once you have one they are so worth it especially if you plan on getting more snakes. They come with a probe which takes the temperature of the hot side and then you control it to what you want. I own two rancos and will never go back to anything else. They are digital you set the temp you want place the probe and youre done. I also have one zoomed (bought it for the ball pythons but i now use it for my corn snake. It works ok but there is a lot of guess work. But if you only plan on getting a few and you don't mind being aggrivated for a few hours id recommend the zoomed one. At a petstore like petco or petsmart they are about $40 if you shop around online you can get them for much less. Now if you like the plug and go one like a ranco they are about $70 but well worth it. I know youre saying im going to pay more for something that controls the heat than the snake itself?!?!?!?!? Well trust me they are well worth it. If you bought an actual brand name uth heat it was a waste of money. You can buy the zoomed thermostat and a piece of prewired heat tape shipped to your door for about 50 or 60 bucks and it uses way less energy. Hope this helps.

P.S. when i did what you are doing i tried for a week to get the temps right and it just won't happen for over the dough and get a thermostat.

Go to reptilebasics.com

I agree on the thermostat idea... grab a piece of flexwatt and a thermostat and your problems will be solved. Flexwatt has a greater output than most of the in-store brands... plus, when plugged into a thermostat, you can set it at your preferred temp and it will stay there.

And yes, they can be expensive... however, if you do a little looking around, you can usually find some slightly used ones for a good price. I just purchased three more Johnson's thermostats for only $155... that's only about $51 a piece, which is a steal, really. You can't beat 'em.