Heating A Glass Enclosure?

[Cortland V.]

Hi everybody. I am having some trouble with maintaining a constant heat in my glass enclosure. I keep a UTH under his warm hide. However, its only big enough to cover the bottom of the hide. The temperatures tend to fluctuate some. Any tips on keeping a constant temp? A bigger heat pad maybe? One that covers half of the tank? There is a screen lid.

[rocknhorse76]

Cover most of the screen top with plastic.

[Cortland V.]

Cover most of the screen top with plastic.

Well I have it mostly covered with aluminum foil. Is there some way to make the cage warmer?

[Brad91]

If the screen top is mostly covered you should have no problem with humidity if you use a bulb. That's what I do and I've got a constant 89° warm side, 82° cool side, 93° hot spot, and humidity is a constant 65%.

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[Cortland V.]

What kind of bulb are you using? Do you keep it on through the day and night?

[KMG]

Tell us more.

What size tank is it?
What is the room temperature?
How many degrees is the temp fluctuating?
What are your temps? Surface and ambient?
Is the uth on a tstat?
Where are your thermometer probes?

An uth does not help ambient temp. If you need more heat we need to know the above info to point you in the right direction. I have a 40 gallon tank in a room at 68. I need a che, uth, and a sixty watt bulb to keep my numbers right. Even with my top covered my humidity is to low and I use humid hides to correct that.

I have a dual bulb fixture. One day bulb and one red night bulb. They are always on. Remember to keep a spare so you are never without.

[Cortland V.]

It's a 20 gallon. The temps get down to mid 70s whenever it fluctuates. Never below 75°. The probe is right in the middle of the cage. I ordered at thermostat for the heat pad. I'm not sure of the room temp, but it's a sun room. So it's mostly natural heat that I rely on. It's well insulated for the most part, but some of the heat escapes/gets in. What is surface temp?

[KMG]

Surface temp is the actual temperature of the cage floor where the snake lays. Its best checked with a IR temp gun but placing a temp probe under the substrate where the uth is will give you an idea of the surface temp.

A tstat is a must. Without it a uth can really harm your snake by burning its belly.

What is the warmest the tank gets during the day?

Being in a sun room I imagine it can get pretty warm, especially if it gets direct sun light. This may be an issue when you add a heat lamp. You do not need much more heat. I Try to keep my ball above 78 but I have read some keepers that have semi regular temps down to 75. I would not let it go any lower.

Being that your room can get warmer during the day and you only need alittle more heat I would recommend a 40-50 watt bulb on its own tstat or something like the Herpstat 2. Having the bulb on a tstat too will allow the bulb to come off and on as needed and it can dim the bulb to give just the right amount of heat.

That would be the safest way. Now if you can keep the snake in a room with very little temp change a heat bulb without a tstat can be used. The problem with not using a tstat in a room with a big temp change is overheating. If the room gets to 80 and you have a heat bulb continually pumps heat you could very easily overheat the cage. Using a heat bulb with a tstat however will cut the bulb off or down and keep your snake at the correct temp if the took temp rises.

I would say if your sure the temp never gets below 75 you will be fine but will probably need a heat bulb in the winter. You may want to start piecing it together now so you are ready just in case.

Also placing thick paper or thin foam on the back and sides of the tank will hold some heat in. That alone would probably get your temp better under you current conditions.