Tell me if this makes sense.

I have Oakley and Hissy in the exact same enclosure setup. 19 qt Rubbermaid w/ clamp top, t-rex (I think) UTH wrapped in aluminum foil (after looking at the 10 gallon tank setup thread), aspen bedding, 2 hides, 1 water bowl, dimmer, accurite thermometer w/ probe on bottom of tub on top of UTH.

So here is my issue, both of the temps are different and neither are holding humidity well. I measured the surface temp on the hot side of Hissy's cage w/ my temp gun last night and it was 91, measured Oakley's, 83. The humidity is also staying in the low 50's and I am trying to get Oakley's up because he is soon to shed but it won't stay up. It gets to a max of about 60% and will drop. I had holes in it but I had to cover them back up because of the low humidity. I am also having an issue with having to turn up the dimmers too high to get the temps right on top of the substrate but neither of them are burrowing down so I don't guess that is too much of a problem. I have taken out LOADS of aspen to get the depth right, it's about 1" deep right now I think. I hooked up Oakley's UTH to Hissy's dimmer to see if that helps but I didn't have a chance to check it this morning but I'm not sure if it is helping.

Any ideas?

I'm not quite sure about how things are set up. Any chance you can post a picture? Where are the holes drilled? Is there another way for air to circulate since you covered up the holes? What is the room temprature? Are the enclosures near a window or outside wall? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get a clear picture of your situation.

I am currently in school and I don't have any updated pics of their cages but I can answer your other questions. The holes are drilled by the handles on each side, I don't think there is any way for the air to circulate, I closed them up to keep the humidity in, but there are a few holes still open. I think the room temp is between 65-70 (it's been kinda warm here lately, otherwise the house typically sits around 60. They are as far away from a window or outside wall as they can be.

I'm sure others will chime in, but right off hand two things seem odd to me. The uth wrapped in aluminum foil, and the thick layer of aspen. Many people just use a thin layer or even a just a few sheets of newspaper. It seems like you are insulating your tub FROM the heat source rather than insulating the tub from the outside air. Humidity can be raised by increasing the size of the water bowl and/or moving it closer to the heat source.

If you look at the "10 gallon tank setup" sticky you will know what i am talking about when it comes to that. I tried paper towels and the humidity was still crappy along with it not getting hot enough. I have the water bowl over top of the hot side to try and help. When I get home i'll try putting the UTH directly to the bottom and see if that helps.

Are you talking about the top being covered with aluminium foil to keep in heat/humidity?

bottom.

Here is where i got the idea.

I have trouble with my humidity, but that's cause my gf keeps the apartment unstable. So i can't help you there.

I wrapped my UTH in foil too and I don't feel that's an issue. Aluminum foil, especially one layer, is extremely heat conductive.

i had a thought, where are your tubs, specifically. Are they one on top of the other? is one at a higher elevation in the room? are they side by side? my thought process is that stacked, the top tub loses a layer of bottom insulation as the heat radiates both directions. also, heat rises. in florida, it is imperative that you have fans because cool air falls. i might be comfortable sitting in my chair, but the ac constantly runs cause the thermostat is 5 feet off the ground. it never gets cool enough so i waste electricity. maybe use your temp gun to check the random things around each tub to see if there is a different temp in the room. plastic can cool easily so if one is getting a draft and the other is not, that could be your culprit.

My boys dont burrow either. i have less than an inch of aspen so i have to make sure that i keep my surface temp a little lower cause they lay so close to it. i put the hide directly over it and it hold the heat in pretty well.

hope this helps.

They are sitting side by side and our room is actually the hottest in the house besides the downstairs. The house is old and the windows are slightly drafty because of them being old but not enough (I don't think) to mess with the tub temps.

OK I get it now. Forgive me I'm a little slow on the uptake. What is clamped to the top of the tub?

nothing. the tops of the tub are the clamp-type. guess I should have specified.

Looks like this but with a blue top.

http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid...ct/3c89_sm.jpg

OK now we're getting somewhere. Is your tub tall like the one in the picture?

Not that I know of. It's a 19 qt like it but I think mine is longer and not as tall.

More like this one, except clear bottom and blue top.

http://rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/ima...y-frost_sm.jpg

OK you're not too far off here. 91 hot side is fine and some people would kill for 50% humidity. I suspect the difference between your two set-ups is due to the inconsistency between uth's. They are not as reliable as flex-watt.

I think with a bit of tinkering you will have it. I would go with a larger water bowl. Another thing you could do is to have a few more holes open on the warm end than on the cool end. This will draw air in the cool end and across the water bowl to create more humidity.

Just one more thing... It is so much easier to maintain temps/humidity in a very short tub as opposed to a taller one. The best tubs to use are ones that are very short (six inches) or so.

the tubs are about that height. I'll try opening up the hot side and see how that goes. I could actually switch to flexwatt for cheap because I don't need much for those tubs.

If you put them next to each other you can use just one piece of flex-watt and one thermostat or dimmer!!!

they are next to each other, but the issue is what would the flexwatt sit on? If I sit it on the top of the dresser they are located on it may burn or something. It's made of particle board that has been painted over.

In fact, if you go this way you may want to consider ordering your flex-watt long enough to go under three (or four) tubs. The extra length and another tub would be very very inexpensive. Just saying!!

don't have the space to put that much flexwatt along with getting more at this point. additional snakes will have to wait until Ashtin and I are moved out and have more space.

So what about my question as to whether it would be ok for it to sit on the dresser or what I would have to do? I could get a 1 foot piece and it would stretch from tub to tub and get the 4" wide type.

It really doesn't get hot enough to worry about. You could put down something underneath to protect the dresser. Besides if you are going to have a fire hazard it would be with with a uth way before flex-watt. I had a uth short out and burn. Never a problem with flex-watt.

One foot will not be long enough unless your tubs are only six inches wide. The flex-watt needs to be long enough to cover the width of both tubs.

And isn't your uth sitting on top of your dresser now?

well looks like I may just switch to that and put a towel or something underneath. thanks for all of your help. Do you know how hot a 1 ft x 4" strip of flexwatt gets w/o a thermostat/dimmer? I want to say I have heard 130+.

The UTH it attached to the bottom of the tubs via aluminum tape so they aren't in direct contact with the dresser.

I wouldn't use a towel. Perhaps a piece of plywood or something like that.

And again, one foot will not be long enough. I'm not sure how hot a piece of unregulated flexwatt can get. But it would have to get to over 450 degrees to catch your dresser on fire. Above all NEVER NEVER NEVER use flexwatt or uth's without a thermostat or some other way to regulate the temp.

i won't. When my income tax check comes in I'll invest in 2' of flexwatt (once I measure and make sure that will work) and get them to wire it since it's only $5. The total including shipping is like $21.