How do you make the plastic viv hot enough without lighting?

[BHReptiles]

My room temps are pretty cold. Maybe around 67

if your room is that cold, you will either need to heat it up or use a tank where you can use lamps to keep the ambient temp over 75*. If the temp is too low, your snake can get a respiratory infection which are a killer to knock out.

If you still want to use a tub, a 12 or 15 qt will be good for a baby. Once they get 500g or so bump them up to a 28 or 32qt tub.

Make sure to have a thermostat on the UTH and try to offer two additional hides.

[tlich]

I turned it to the side for the pic, but its normally centered. I wrapped the aluminum foil to direct the light/heat downward, also rigged up the "hook" part with wire, just had this lamp sitting around didn't see why to go buy another.


This is they kind of lamp I would buy (deep dome already has the hook):

[kitedemon]

Perhaps looking at a different type of enclosure might be a better option. Tubs are difficult to deal with in room temps as cool as you have custom plastic enclosures (like vision or animal plastics) are easier to heat as the insulate better and often have provisions for fluorescent lighting inside the enclosure. FL lights get warm enough to heat ambient air with out being overly hot as to pose a hazard.

[Willie76]

As many have mentioned...but I will repeat thrice...please, please, please, buy a thermostat for your UTH. Do not run your UTH without a thermostat...even with cypress substrate covering it. Ball pythons can burrow and an unregulated UTH can burn or kill your ball python.

[Medusa<3]

[QUOTE=ballophile;2025704]As many have mentioned...but I will repeat thrice...please, please, please, buy a thermostat for your UTH. Do not run your UTH without a thermostat...even with cypress substrate covering it. Ball pythons can burrow and an unregulated UTH can burn or kill your ball python.[/QUOTE.

I dont have a thermostat and the soonest i can get it is tomorrow. Would it be better to just turn it off??

[kitedemon]

If I understand you correctly you are having issues holding a warm spot at 90º and your cool end is below 80? If this is the case NO do not remove the heat. Not all heating appliances will get hot enough to burn. Many now hold no hotter than 100º and given your very cool room temps it is unlikely if you had this type it would become scary hot.

Thermostats are never optional. They regulate a constant temp rather than allow variation. You should buy one asap. I would suggest a better one than a cheap inferior unit. They save money/frustration in the long run. I personally recommend herpstats as they have the most advanced systems for safety (why we use them for safety). Any of the proportional units would be fine (as herpstat also makes the least expensive models the others become questionable).

All that said exactly what are your temps? Warm, cool, and air temp?

[Willie76]

I would not turn it off given your room temps. I have had both a Zoo Med 6"x8" and a Zilla Medium UTH on glass enclosures and both were too hot to my touch when I directly touched the glass. I found my Normal liked to burrow under her cypress substrate sometimes and one found her coiled around the edges of the UTH like a square "C" one time (all temps were spot on) and am glad my UTH was on a thermostat...

Like many said, thermostats are not optional. The UTH gets plugged into the thermostat, the thermostat gets plugged into the wall, the temp probe goes on top of the heating pad, and you set the temp you want the UTH to be (the hotspot). Thermostats control the flow of electricity to the UTH to control the temp of the UTH. Where your snake lies on top of it should be about 90 degrees. With cypress, I set mine to around 95 degrees as there will be a few degrees of heat loss between the bottom of the enclosure to the top of the substrate.You'll need to adjust yours accordingly depending on the thickness of your substrate. Also, use a hot glue to secure your wires and probe inside your enclosure, never use tape.

This is the best pic I could find online as I am at work and can't show you mine. UTH is affixed to the bottom-underside, probe is directly over the UTH inside:



As far as thermostats go. Herpstat is THE best ($139.00 currently):
http://www.spyderrobotics.com/store/

Many in our community have used the HydroFarm (~$40 on Amazon) until they could get a Herpstat or equivalent:
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S

Hope this helps...

[Medusa<3]

I just measured them again and my air under the log where his heating pad is is 82.6 and under the tank is 90, and the cool side is 72.5 so im going to go get a heat emmiter and hopefully that raises the temp a bit, or are the temps fine here?

[Medusa<3]