First off, its technically my wifes snake, so I let her learn all about them and ask her questions when I hold him. So honestly I know very little of how they are to be kept. My expertise lies in bearded dragons, which I know very well; no under-heat, halogen bulb on basking, dimmed to temps 106-110, cool side in the mid eighties. I need UVB and all the good stuff. I build my own cages for my beardies and want to build one for our growing snake family.

Problem is that shes telling me a tub is much better... allows for stress free living... seems odd to me, but okay.

She tells me a tupperware type tub is best... okay... now light heating is out of the question... so she says under-tank/under-belly heat is better anyway...

Well I've read a bit about flexi-watt tape. I heard its fairly cheap, and great when used in commercial type applications... But from what I understand it simply heats up when plugged in. So then a thermo-stat is introduced. pretty expensive for something we're gunna need for each and every tub.

So I started thinking... maybe a reduced wattage to the flexi tape will keep it at a lower temp... kinda like turning down an electric stove. So I figure I can use a dimmer switch in conjunction with a digital probe thermometer to maintain proper heat... 90 on hot side and 84 cool...

figure I got it figured, but my wife says that this set up will only work in a climate controlled room... so where my den in the winter (where all our reptiles are housed) gets pretty cold at night with out the beardies lights off and the computer on standby. Yet during the day I have a sothern exposure and the room gets pretty warm, boosting my animals temps up. I've used my beardies thermometers to read that in they're plexiglass, well vented enclosure the temps only drop to about 72. Yet in the day they soar up to 89-92 during the day...

I wondered if the smaller, better insulated tub would not have those dramatic temp changes. Obviously once summer comes around here in co and my house sits at a warmish 85, the dimmers would have to be adjusted accordingly... probably need to be tinkered with once a week, but I tinker with my beardies heat almost daily anyway, so I'dd probably be on top of any serious temp changes.

anyhow, shes insistant we buy these bloody thermostats and run the heat tape off of that...

Not sure how I'm supposed to custom build a tupperware tub, but she want's me to build her some kinda rack... dunno...

anyway any advice would be great!

thanks!