Heat Tape Trouble (Anyone who has experience with heat tape please help!)

[Kyle S.]

I house my 2011 ball python in a 32 qt Sterilite tub. The tub has a lid with holes drilled into it. To heat the tub, I have 4 in. wide/8 watt heat tape from ReptileBasics as belly heat. The flexwatt is plugged into a thermostat that is currently set to 95. I was using cypress mulch, but the humidity was 80% and it was keeping in too much moisture to get goods temps. I am now using Aspen bedding.

Currently the warm side temp ranges from 82-90 and the cool side is from 73-76 which I know is too cold. (temp varies because I am using a dial and a temp gun to measure and flexwatt isn't very consistant) The ambient air temp is 78 and humidity is 60%(accurate digital thermometer/hygrometer).

Is the 4 ''/8 watt heat tape not enough? should I switch to 11''/20 watts for the 32 qt tub? Anyone who has experience with heat tape please help!

[The Serpent Merchant]

4"/8 Watt should be enough. 11"/20 watt won't actually get hotter. if you feel that you need the flexwatt to be hotter you should get the 3"/10 watt. That has the highest heat output per square inch.

[Kyle S.]

Also, I just want to be clear that the heat tape as belly heat should be on one end of the tub as opposed to running down one side, right?

^for anyone to answer

[The Serpent Merchant]

yes, flexwatt used as belly heat should be run on the bottom of a tub on one side. This allows one side to be hotter than the other side.

[Kyle S.]

yes, flexwatt used as belly heat should be run on the bottom of a tub on one side. This allows one side to be hotter than the other side.

Good, that's the setup that I have. I'm just having trouble keeping the hot side at 90 and even getting the cool side to 80!

Nice diagram btw!

[The Serpent Merchant]

thanks I haven't had a chance to use sketchbook pro in awhile lol

[The Serpent Merchant]

you might just need to bump up your thermostat. the way to tell if you need flexwatt with more juice is to first remove your snake from the tub then plug the flexwatt directly into the wall. wait about an hour and measure the temperature. this should tell you if your current set up just needs to be adjusted or if you need to actually physically change something. where is your thermostats probe?

[Kyle S.]

That's a pretty good idea. The probe is on the heat tape itself to make sure that it doesn't get too hot. The air between the tub and thermostat, plastic, and substrate make the surface temp cooler than the tape itself, so I set the thermostat to 95.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Ok thats perfect. as I said try plugging the flexwatt directly into the wall and see what happens (just make sure there isn't a snake in there) I have an enclosure that I have the thermostat set to 106 to get it to 91.

You could also try making the layer of substrate thinner.

[Kyle S.]

I'll definitely try running it through the outlet, it just so happens I have a spare strip of the 4 ''/8 watt so I don't even have to mess up the enclosure.

The substrate is about as this as possible while still safe. It's about 1/2''-1'' instead of the recommended 2''.