CHE inside a tub? CHE mounted sideways?

My dad and I are currently trying to find an alternate solution to heating my bedroom to 78F for my ball python's ambient temps since I'm finding that a bit too warm. I was originally planning to cut a hole in the lid of the tub, glue down a wire mesh, and put a ceramic heat emitter on top of it, but my dad says this won't be very effective since most of the heat and humidity will escape through the wire mesh in the lid.

He's suggesting putting the ceramic heat emitter inside the tub and building a wooden guard around it so the snake can't touch it, or by mounting the CHE sideways on one side of the tub and separating it from the area the snake can reach by building a wooden wall with holes in it.

I have never seen anything like what he is suggesting done before, so I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on if this would work, or why not if it wouldn't?

On another note, how are those of you using CHEs for ambient temps ensuring that the temperature is correct? Does your thermostat measure ambient temperatures or the CHE temp, and how is it installed?

Like your first plan, I would just cut a hole and put a wire mesh with a CHE lamp on top. Just keep the mesh cut close to the size of the lamp, and heat and humidity won't escape easily. I've seen people do this setup around quite a few times!

You should be letting your thermostat probe hang under the CHE for ambient temp. Put the probe through a hole in the top of the tub and let it hang, is what I personally do for my RHP. The probe shouldn't be laying on the substrate/anywhere the snake can sit on, since if he pees/spills water or sits on it, it won't measure the ambient reading correctly and cause heat spikes.

I've used a CHE on top of the lid, and there was very minimal heat loss. The plastic lid holds in a bunch of the heat and humidity, unlike a glass tank's entirely mesh screen. Since only a section of the plastic lid will be replaced with mesh, you're not losing as much heat as you would if you were using the tank lid.

Something about using wood near a very hot object sounds like a "no" to me. Wood is an insulator, so the "case" holding the CHE would probably get very, very hot inside if it were made of wood.

Also, if you do go with mesh on top of the lid, I'd use something harder to remove like zip-ties over glue.

Thank you both for the advice! I'm gonna go with putting the CHE over a mesh, glad to hear it doesn't mess up the humidity too much. I was also thinking putting something so hot next wood is a tad sketchy, plus having a wooden guard around the CHE would probably just make it even harder to heat the tub.

Thanks for the notes on the thermostat probe placement and zip ties as well, super helpful! This community is the best resource a ball python owner could ask for.

EDIT: Also another quick question -- would you recommend putting the CHE on the cool or warm side of the tub (or the middle)? I have the most trouble getting the cool side's temps up to at least 75F since that side is next to an outer wall of my house and a window which makes the air cooler.

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Originally Posted by Luvyna

EDIT: Also another quick question -- would you recommend putting the CHE on the cool or warm side of the tub (or the middle)? I have the most trouble getting the cool side's temps up to at least 75F since that side is next to an outer wall of my house and a window which makes the air cooler.

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Do you mean that you already have a UTH to create the hot spot? If your surface temps on the warm side are already within the right range under the hide, then I think you might as well use the CHE on the cold side!