temporarily keeping my bp in a dresser?

Hey guys this is my first post here and am looking for some suggestions or opinions. I am having difficulty keeping my 34 quart Hefty brand tub at proper temps. I have a 10-20 gallon zoo med heat pad and that is definitely not enough to keep temp. The hot spot is at 90, cool side at 68. Now I know for keeping a thin plastic tub at a good temp the actual temperature of the room its in needs to be warmer. This is not possible for me so i was wondering if placing the tub in my dresser drawer with a mini space heater attached to a thermostat and fire proof insulation would be good or would it dry out the snake too much. I would drill vent holes in the rear of the dresser and drawer. This would be temporary as I got an Animal Plastics terrarium on order but will be weeks or months before i get it and will keep temps up in that with radiant heat as well as under tank heat.

That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

First off, uth mats are not meant to heat the air. They are for surface heat.

I would add a heat lamp over it. I've done it many times in temporary setups and it works fine. I prefer to use a lamp on a Zoo Med lamp stand($20 at big box stores and Amazon) that is purpose made for this and very adjustable. Plus you can raise and lower the lamp to lower or raise the heat delivered.....or get a dimmer from the hardware store.

That's what I have done and would do.

FYI, it is very likely you'll have similar issues with the AP cage using uth alone. You may need a oil filled heater to heat the room a tad. That's how I heat my snake room all year and I use one in my bedroom so I don't have to run the heater as much during the winter. They're great!

lol yeah it does sound pretty sketchy. I dont like the light idea just because it would need to be on almost 24/7, it gets pretty cold in Michigan. What about ceramic heat bulbs? would the heat be enough to penetrate the plastic lid? I just dont wanna dump a bunch of money on things that may or may not work. Fyi i dont yet have my ball python and it would be my first snake.

With your PVC cage get a radient heat panel. That will warm the air. In the meantime the lamp sounds the way to go. The dresser drawer idea sounds like it would end up with a dead snake.

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Originally Posted by Virago

lol yeah it does sound pretty sketchy. I dont like the light idea just because it would need to be on almost 24/7, it gets pretty cold in Michigan. What about ceramic heat bulbs? would the heat be enough to penetrate the plastic lid? I just dont wanna dump a bunch of money on things that may or may not work. Fyi i dont yet have my ball python and it would be my first snake.

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Either a CHE or heat bulb will work fine. I've used both. They easily pass heat through and can even provide a proper hotspot and ambient temperature once dialed in.

I once did this for months when an ordered cage took much longer than expected. That was for my large Blood Python in a under bed storage tub.

thanks I will give that a try. also i did plan on getting a good radiant heat panel for my pvc cage when i get it. ive heard good things about them

Ditto on the heat lamp idea. What I did when I had tubs was a UTH for belly heat and a dome fixture hanging from a lamp stand over the center of the tub. I used a CHE in the fixture so that it would not emit light. It is important to have the lamp on a dimmer switch so that you can adjust it to the proper temps. I hung mine about 3" above the tub top and it went though the plastic and heated the air fine.

Be careful to get a fixture and CHE that are rated correctly (i.e. the right watt CHE for the fixture and not something rated higher than the fixture).

I now keep all my reptiles in a heated reptile room, so I don't have to use the CHE anymore. I use an oil-filled space heater hooked up to a ranco t-stat.

hilarious thread title. There has to be a better way to keep temps up.

I second the space heater to help with ambient temps. Just switched to heat tape and will NEVER look at another UTH again!!! Have not yet tried the lamp because with the heater on its very toasty...

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Originally Posted by Virago

lol yeah it does sound pretty sketchy. I dont like the light idea just because it would need to be on almost 24/7, it gets pretty cold in Michigan. What about ceramic heat bulbs? would the heat be enough to penetrate the plastic lid? I just dont wanna dump a bunch of money on things that may or may not work. Fyi i dont yet have my ball python and it would be my first snake.

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I use a Che in my aquarium enclosure for me and my daughters BP it does a great job of heating and also sucking every last drop of moisture out the enclosure. I think I spend more money on water misting the cage then I would on a oil heater to up the room temp. It does work for now though till we get our pvc cage. Just a little devils advocate for ya

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Originally Posted by DandD

I use a Che in my aquarium enclosure for me and my daughters BP it does a great job of heating and also sucking every last drop of moisture out the enclosure. I think I spend more money on water misting the cage then I would on a oil heater to up the room temp. It does work for now though till we get our pvc cage. Just a little devils advocate for ya

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Using a che on a tub will not do that as badly. It heats well but the better sealed tub holds humidity much better than a glass tank. I kept my ETB in a tall tub like that while waiting on my custom cage without issue. Honestly it was easy.

Nothing about this thread sounds good. Its better to leave the snake with his hot spot to lay on and nothing else before that other disaster waiting to happen. People used Hot Spots only for 30-40 years before we had these other products. Several people use Flex Watt only in their PVC enclosures. As far as the Heat Lamp or CHE id be careful with any HEAT EMITTER since I haven't heard anyone mention controlling them with at least a dimmer.

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Originally Posted by CALM Pythons

Nothing about this thread sounds good. Its better to leave the snake with his hot spot to lay on and nothing else before that other disaster waiting to happen. People used Hot Spots only for 30-40 years before we had these other products. Several people use Flex Watt only in their PVC enclosures. As far as the Heat Lamp or CHE id be careful with any HEAT EMITTER since I haven't heard anyone mention controlling them with at least a dimmer.

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The lamp stand I mentioned can work the same as a dimmer.

If you raise the lamp it lowers the temp.

If you lower the lamp it raises the temp.

Just like a dimmer as long as the room temp is fairly stable it works great. I like it better than a dimmer. I have used those too and I swear I get better results with a lamp stand.

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Originally Posted by KMG

The lamp stand I mentioned can work the same as a dimmer.

If you raise the lamp it lowers the temp.

If you lower the lamp it raises the temp.

Just like a dimmer as long as the room temp is fairly stable it works great. I like it better than a dimmer. I have used those too and I swear I get better results with a lamp stand.

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Ive only used a CHE over a tank for quarantine & it was a bad experience. It was on a dimmer and I notice the fluctuation of room temp changed it drastically. I decided to run 2 UTH's on a herostat 2 instead. One side of the enclosure 80 and the other 90. The ambient temp doesn't really bother me when the entire floor of enclosure is heated.. If the room temp was very Cold then that would be another story.

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Originally Posted by CALM Pythons

Ive only used a CHE over a tank for quarantine & it was a bad experience. It was on a dimmer and I notice the fluctuation of room temp changed it drastically. I decided to run 2 UTH's on a herostat 2 instead. One side of the enclosure 80 and the other 90. The ambient temp doesn't really bother me when the entire floor of enclosure is heated.. If the room temp was very Cold then that would be another story.

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Yep, if the room temp fluctuates a stand or dimmer is a poor choice imho.

Can a che not be used on a thermostat?

I'm having a similar problem. Room temps in high 60s, and flexwatt can't keep up. Hot spot occasionally hits 80.

My idea was to build a temporary shelf out of insulation board. Open only in the front. Hopefully, that would help to contain some of the heat. Any thoughts on that?

Also, these are 18qt tubs with 4" flexwatt, each on its own thermostat. The thermostats are most likely on/off, because they're pretty inexpensive. I plan on upgrading eventually.

Currently, I have the thermostat probe in the tub (directly above heat tape), and 2 - 4" flexwatt (12" long) on one tub. One taped to the back, and one underneath the tub. Room temp is 68°. I can't get my tubs hotspot over 81°. I've even replaced the flexwatt on the bottom with a 12"x12" heat mat with the same exact results. I've also cranked the thermostats to 100°. Same temp inside the tub.

I don't pick up my snakes till next month, so I'm trying to perfect this before then.

Do you think the thermostats are the problem?

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Originally Posted by Digitalepiphany

Also, these are 18qt tubs with 4" flexwatt, each on its own thermostat. The thermostats are most likely on/off, because they're pretty inexpensive. I plan on upgrading eventually.

Currently, I have the thermostat probe in the tub (directly above heat tape), and 2 - 4" flexwatt (12" long) on one tub. One taped to the back, and one underneath the tub. Room temp is 68°. I can't get my tubs hotspot over 81°. I've even replaced the flexwatt on the bottom with a 12"x12" heat mat with the same exact results. I've also cranked the thermostats to 100°. Same temp inside the tub.

I don't pick up my snakes till next month, so I'm trying to perfect this before then.

Do you think the thermostats are the problem?

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First, flexwatt and uth do nothing for the air temps. They should only be used for the hotspot.

Second, the tstat probe should never be inside to monitor heat from below. It needs to be outside the tub. Placing it anywhere on the flexwatt will work. Since each level is on its own tstat I would place each probe in the corner beside the tub.

Third, yes a che can be used with a tstat but the a non proportional(on/off) one may not work that well. I've run a che on a tstat but used the proportional setting to deliver varied power instead of full on and full off in a non proportional setting. A che takes time to heat and cool, much more than a bulb so you will probably find wide temp fluctuation using a on/off tstat.

Something to be mentioned about a che is they work much like a spot light heat bulb, meaning they deliver a fairly focused beam of heat. If you're trying to heat several layers of tubs a flood light heat bulb may work better.

Forth, get a IR temp gun. Do not measure your temps with the tstat probe alone. Use the IR temp gun to check your surface temps inside the tubs. Many times the tstat will be set near and even over 100F but that because you lose heat through the different layers. You need that IR temp gun to assure the surface temps are where you want them.

Whatever substrate you use it needs to be thin over the heat source, 1/4 inch at most.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Second, the tstat probe should never be inside to monitor heat from below. It needs to be outside the tub. Placing it anywhere on the flexwatt will work. Since each level is on its own tstat I would place each probe in the corner beside the tub.

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I only have it in the tub right now because I haven't been able to get the temp high enough. I have a heat gun. It's only reading 81° on the hotspot.

I think I'll try my insulation board idea and see how that works out. Still have a few weeks till I pick up my snakes, so hopefully I can figure something out before then.

thanks for the suggestions guys. im now using a ceramic heat bulb about a foot above the tubs lid. thermostat reads 78 degrees for the ambient temp and heat gun reads 75 for the floor temp. i honestly didn't thing the ceramic bulb would penetrate the lid enough to be effective but i was wrong i guess. time to get my first ball python yay.

Where are you planning to get your python from? I would advise against going to a big box pet store. You're better off finding a breeder

think ill also try the insulation idea to try an bump my ambient temps up just a tad more. i still think the dresser idea would work but better safe than burn the neighborhood down.

BHB reptiles. i live 15 minutes from their business. an i know petsmart an petco are evil. i might go to a few expos in the future if i get me another snake