Tubs??!?!

[starmom]

I'm looking at peoples rack setups, how do you get the lighting and heating with tubs??

You got my short answer, and now the long one.
Most people will be using whatever product they need to fit into the room environment that the snakes are kept. For instance, I live in the high desert and the temps are really cool at night and never get really hot even in the summer. So, RBI racks (that are fully enclosed) fit my bill since they help to insulate the tubs. In my cages, I use radiant heat panels because I need the bump they give to ambient cage temps.

I could never use a stand-alone tub given my ambient room temps and could never use just an ultratherm, for the same reason. I could also never house a snake in a tank because it is so dry here I would have a heck of a time keeping humidity where it needs to be.

There are many choices but first you need to assess your needs: look at the environmental picture (ambient temps, humidity, etc) of the room you'll keep your snake(s) in, figure out if you want a display or not, etc etc.

All this planning is not only going to make for a smooth start-up, but it's pretty fun doing all the learning!!

Good luck! Have fun! Take care.