Stuck on what to do for housing...

So we use a plastic tub for our BP. The issue is that we need to use a heat lamp to bump ambient temps, and even with it suspended and dimmed way low, the plastic tub lid dips and gets soft. Not melted, but not ideal. Additionally, the lid has gotten weak over time and the locking handles no longer stay secure so the lid has to be secured with weights(until we get some clips). The last issue is our new cat LOVES hopping on top of the tub which isn't helping with the dipping.

Does anyone have ideas for how to fix up a different type of lid for a tub? I just wish I could get a hard, solid lid with a metal mesh portion for the heat lamp. Does anyone have ideas for how to rig this? Am I better off just buying a pricey tank instead? I'd love to hear some ideas.

Yep, that is the issue with plastic totes. My suggestion is getting a UTH and putting it on a thermostat ( this one set to 90). Because you having issues with ambient temps too, your going to want to get another UTH and put it on 80, that's your cool side. Another solution is to cut a hole into the lid, then putting mesh, which you can get at home depot, and glueing it to the inside of the lid so the lamp can sit on it. Any heqtspurce you have should have a thermostat. Luckily there are ones online you can get for 20 dollars. Both of mine from Amazon.

Btw binder clips are an amazing choice for clipping the sides of the bin.

A cheap fix that may work is getting some dowel from a hardware store the extends over the edges of the lid. Using soldering iron or drill make holes and with zipp ties attach to the lid on outside on top giving support like ceiling beams in a house. Maybe a zipp tie every 2 or 3 inches. This could suck it up enough that the heat from lamp is a non issue and latches may work again.

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Originally Posted by Techbunneh

Yep, that is the issue with plastic totes. My suggestion is getting a UTH and putting it on a thermostat ( this one set to 90). Because you having issues with ambient temps too, your going to want to get another UTH and put it on 80, that's your cool side. Another solution is to cut a hole into the lid, then putting mesh, which you can get at home depot, and glueing it to the inside of the lid so the lamp can sit on it. Any heqtspurce you have should have a thermostat. Luckily there are ones online you can get for 20 dollars. Both of mine from Amazon.

Btw binder clips are an amazing choice for clipping the sides of the bin.

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Oh we do have an UTH with thermostat- we live in a cold drafty basement so without the heat lamp, the ambient temp falls way low.

Yeah we were thinking about the mesh idea- I think that honestly may just be our best bet at this point!

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Originally Posted by Jakethesnake69

A cheap fix that may work is getting some dowel from a hardware store the extends over the edges of the lid. Using soldering iron or drill make holes and with zipp ties attach to the lid on outside on top giving support like ceiling beams in a house. Maybe a zipp tie every 2 or 3 inches. This could suck it up enough that the heat from lamp is a non issue and latches may work again.

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Oh that's an interesting idea... Are you meaning that the lamp would sit directly on the dowels or what? The lamp is already on a suspended hook ~3 inches above the tub so I don't know if dowels above the lid would work much better than the current scenario.

Thanks for the suggestions guys!!

I would assume that the lamp is on one end and get one close enough that it does not burn although maybe wrapping the dowel with a few wraps if foil might keep it from burning. Just shooting from the hip here and allowing my cheapness to show through.

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I bet an old wire hanger cut to length could do the same job

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I would put a second UTH and thermostat on the other side of the tub, set to 82-83*F while the hot side is 90-92*F. Heat lamps were never meant to work with tubs.

You can also put the tub into a bedroom with a small space heater and close the door, leaving the rest of the house cool.

That works and I’m able to do that for my Boa in his tub however if the room isn’t a dedicated snake room the room temp at 75+ may be a bit much for human comfort. I only see ambient temps in my tub at 8o-81 on a good day. My tub is maybe 5 inches deep, room temp is 76 and any warmer I would not be able to sleep. Sadly, This is in a second floor apartment with better insulation than a drafty basement I’m guessing. My BP,s are in glass tanks so better in that sense.
An after thought I guess is how deep is this tub suffico. The lamps should be far enough away to keep the snake safe. You could use a CHE with a dimmer if it regulates temps like it would a UTH.

The entire bottom is covered with two separate heat mats one at 80 and one at 90 degrees ambient is 77 with my room temp at 78. Its adequate however I'm not impressed with tubs, at least in the sense they get tons if hype. It does keep humidity great but room temp is very important.
First picture, that tub never seen good ambient temps and was replaced with the second and although it's good the room is quite balmy.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e2c69436e4.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5e51c5103c.jpg

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You could try a radiant heat panel, which runs at a lower temperature than the CHE so maybe it won't be too bad. You could even just make a new lid out of plywood to attach it to if necessary.

There are also folks who use CHE's and heat lamps with tubs by cutting the lid around the hood of the lamp and covering the hole with screen. I think there are pictures of that in the DIY forum section.

But as someone who also keeps a snake in a house that can get very cold, at a certain point you need more wattage to raise the temperatures than you're going to get from UTH's, and higher wattage heat sources take a lot more work to use with tubs. The plastic sides of a tub are a bit better than glass when it comes to heat retention, but they're still pretty thin. You might improve matters by putting lots of insulation around the tub (even put the whole thing into a big box full of styrofoam peanuts).

I would start looking at wood or PVC vivariums. They're more expensive than a tub, but you can also build your own and sometimes find good deals on Craigslist or wherever. The walls are thicker so they retain heat better, and they will give you a lot more options for heating equipment.

1/4" hardware cloth, tin snips, a drill, and small zip ties, and a sharp box cutter.
The lids don't cut easily, and be careful about cutting yourself, but the project isn't too difficult. Bug people do those sort of projects all the time, and tubs altered this way are how I keep my rats.

Fold back the edges of the hardware cloth so there are no exposed sharp edges to injure you or the snake.

I guess I’m bored so I’m overthinking I’m sure. If you want to go the cheapest route then reinforcing the current lid would be how I would do it. Just so it elevates any sag and will maybe get your latching feature back.
However the depth of tub being used is important. If it’s a shallow tub I would go the route of two UTH’s and probably insulating tub as mentioned and covering existing hole. The box with foam peanuts is a good idea.
If it’s a deep tub like 11”+ or 30+ cm the lamp would be my go too. Since it’s already in play. If there is no screen that should be addressed. There should be no way the snake could ever make contact with the lamp heat source. They get really hot. My CHE’s see temps over 200 degrees when on. Maybe with a pulse thermometer the lamp setup won’t go higher than setting but on/off type get hot.

Thank you guys for all your ideas! We were out all day doing errands and also ended up on a solution suggested by a couple people. So here's what we ended up with:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/ckoDl4P.jpg
It's not exactly pretty, but darn if it doesn't work. So we have a hole cut where the lamp heats which prevents the sag and a wire lid zip tied on to help with the structural integrity so the cat walking won't effect it. Also helps because we were having trouble with the humidity being a little too much, so the hole will be great. Thanks very much for all your suggestions, I will definitely keep them in mind for future alterations!
(Ps- don't worry, all plastic edges are sanded down to a smooth edge, and there is no space for him to squeeze between the plastic and wire)

Btw- for using a second UTH or CHE or something- we did consider it but the tub is quite tall(has a ton of floor space as well) and he utilizes the height with the sticks we have secured in, so a second UTH wouldn't effectively boost the ambient temps enough, I think. If it was a shorter tub then it would definitely work though.

And as you can see we already have to use foam on the sides! Chilly canadian basement haha. When winter sets in fully we basically surround the box in foam :D

Not bad, effective and creative. Two thumbs up. It’s a tub so not much on pretty anyways.

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Originally Posted by distaff

1/4" hardware cloth, tin snips, a drill, and small zip ties, and a sharp box cutter.
The lids don't cut easily, and be careful about cutting yourself, but the project isn't too difficult. Bug people do those sort of projects all the time, and tubs altered this way are how I keep my rats.

Fold back the edges of the hardware cloth so there are no exposed sharp edges to injure you or the snake.

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That's a very true point. When I had my tarantula (may she RIP) I used to use this method to cut vent holes. Biggest difference was I could use a mesh drain thing instead of gluing it.