Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I built a new rack this weekend to house my BRB which is arriving on Friday. I set it up with 11" heat tape under the bottom of a 41qt sterilite tub. The back half of the tub gets to 84 degrees on the bottom (measured with a infrared heat gun) and only 65 degrees on the cool side.

The temps were measured with newspaper on the bottom of the bin. The rack is in my basement which tends to hover around 65 degrees in the winter.

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to bump up the temps slightly on the cool side? Do I have any room to bump up the warm side?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Nick

Aside from the obvious of heating the room, which may not be practical for you, you could drape all or part of the front of your rack with a sheet or blanket. This will trap some of the heat from the rear. I do this across the back of my rack in winter, which is open.

Thanks for the advice. I went ahead and put a wool blanket over the back since the back of my rack is open. I also opened up a few of the heating ducts in the basement to provide some extra warm air flow.

The very front of the tub seems better now - it is at 70.4 degrees at the very front (top to bottom). The back seems a bit warmer now also, but this may be because it has had more of a chance to warm up for several hours (I have it on a thermostat so it should stay fairly consistent). It is 89 degrees on the actual bottom right over the heat tape. It is 83.5 degrees one to two inches above the actual bottom.

Is this too warm for the hot side? Are the temps listed on many of the care sheets for the actual surface temps, or for the air temps? I may be able to turn the thermostat down a degree or two and not lose anything in the front now that it has had time to run for more than 8 hours.

Thanks again,
Nick