Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a new young ball python purchased two days ago.. I purchased a 25QT sterlite from walmart. I also put a 10-20 gallon zoo-med UTH on one side.. using aspen bedding. i have a hide on each end.. i just have a question on raising the heat. i do have ventalation holes mostly on the side of the container and few on top( I did put a few more on top but have since covered those extra holes with tape.... i have the 10-20 gallon uth plugged into a dimmer plug. my question is, I have the digital probe inside the hide on the warm end and it read anywhere from 88-92 degrees inside the hide, but on the cool end its currently reading around 71 degrees, it seems the cool end follows room tempature, as my bedroom temp goes up, so does the cool end..any hints on how to keep some heat inside the sterlite? putting a space heater in my room is not an option. the room with the tank will always be room temp. is plastic a bad choice for me, should i have gone w/ a glass tank and added a lamp on top? i love the using a tub, but im worried about the temps. is there something i can cover the tub with?. could the 10-20 gallon uth be too small for a 25qt sterlite? footprint not much bigger then a 10 gallon tank....please help..thanks

UTH and plastic tubs is generally a bad idea. It seems ideal, with the lower cost of the tub, convenient way to stick the heater to the bottom, then you just attach a dimmer and go! But eventually that dimmer is going to kick it. For reasons I am not clear on, dimmer switches and UTH don't mix. Either it will kill the UTH, or the dimmer will give out, either of which can result in sudden heat loss or a melted tub.

I recommend going with a glass tank and attach the UTH without the dimmer to the SIDE of the tank right next to the hide. This works particularly well with a half-hide, such as a bowl cut in half, that will allow the snake to hide, but snuggle against the glass with the warmth. It also reduces the risk of burns because the snake can detect burning heat on the side and top of its body whereas, strangely, many reptiles cannot detect burning heat on their bellies.

A heat lamp usually only works to dry out the air in the tank. Keep the humidity in the tank about 50%, preferably above 60% most of the time. Cover the screen lid of the tank with a towel, plastic, or something else that will reduce air flow except for a few inches on either side. These combination of things will usually result in higher, more stable ambient temperatures provided by the UTH.
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26 year old 0.1 from Lincoln, NE
Ball Pythons - 0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma, 0.1 Yellowbelly, 2.1 Normals
Kingsnakes - 1.0 L. m. thayeri, 0.1 L. m. thayeri X L. alterna, 1.0 L. g. californiae
Other - 0.1 Whitesided P. catenifer sayi, 1.0 H. nascicus, ?.? Chrysemys picta, 1.0 husband, ?.? Mini-human