Quote Originally Posted by kitedemon View Post
The issue is likely the ambient air temps tub do not have much (any) insulation so they lose heat as fast as it can be added. Typically this is cool room issues low room ambient air temps can often mean low enclosure ambient air temps. Dropping both the ambient air and cool side temps and in some cases the hot side temps. Are by chance using a Ultratherm UTH or intelliheat, of new zilla? They are low wattage and designed to not get as hot as the typical UTH the down side is in cool conditions simply do not produce enough heat period. The solution is easy higher ambient air temps either the whole room... which for a small number of animals is inefficient or localized. Tubs offer few options for this have you given though to an other type of enclosure system? PVC enclosures offer the best of all worlds they insulate well and have a modest range of heating options a side turned tank also does the same with slightly lower efficiency but much lower pricing (often tanks can be found free)

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...arium-Solution

Using a Zoo Med ReptiTherm UTH, the small or medium one, but would need to measure to be sure.

Used a plastic tub because that's what I've been reading works well, better than tanks according to many. We are planning to build a snake rack, using melamine, which I've read should help hold in heat? I have a feeling we'll be adding to our snake collection in the future, in which case large enclosures will be impractical (already have the rosy boas set up in a large, divided tank, and it does take up a lot of space).

Sounds like one of two things:
1) I can try using a localized heat source, such as a heat lamp.
2) I'll have to heat up the room.

Two of our bedrooms are newer construction (2006 I think, compared to the rest of the house which is 1940 or older), and better insulated, so it probably won't be a huge issue to heat up one of those. I typically end up turning down the heater at night in cooler weather (and during hot summers I need to turn up the A/C and/or run a fan at night) because the bedrooms do stay so much warmer than the rest of the house (including the hallway). Guess I'll experiment a little and see what works!