Quote Originally Posted by Stewart_Reptiles View Post
Placing the UTH on the side is very inefficient and allows for a lot of heat loss.

The best way to maintain proper temps during the winter on the cool side if your ambient temp is low is to have a second UTH on the cool side (underneath the tank) with a second thermostat.

You want to be careful with covering the tank, proper airflow is very important, what you can do is change the substrate to a coconut type bedding such as reptichip, and provide a larger water dish.
Thank you for your response.

He already has an UTH for basking, this strip of heat tape and aluminum tape is just stuff I have on-hand from when I bred dubias. What you say makes sense, and should have been obvious. I'll put it underneath- with a thermostat of course.

He does have a decent sized water dish- which helps. I wish I could put a humid hide in as well, but a 10 gallon doesnt provide much room. I'll look into getting substrate for better humidity retention.