Hey everyone! I'm in the process of preparing for and buying my first ball python. I'm going the plastic tub route since I can't afford/don't have room for any kind of a rack system. I bought a regular plastic tub, a zoo med UTH, a rheostat, and a thermometer with a probe. When I got the rheostat it didn't work so I have to order another one. In the meantime, I set up everything else in my tub and turned on the heat pad thinking that it would be fine as long as I didn't have a snake in there until I had the rheostat. I was wrong. I woke up in the middle of the night last night to the smell of burning plastic, only to find out that the UTH had melted through my tub ruining the tub and the UTH. Needless to say, I obviously won't be hooking up another UTH without a rheostat.
My question is with the rheostat set on a much lower temperature it won't melt my tub, right? I don't want to go through this whole process again only to find out that no matter what temperature the UTH is at it's going to melt a plastic tub.
Also, I won't be getting my snake until I get the temperature thing worked out and have my new rheostat...don't worry.