Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok heres my setup!

20 gallon long with heat pad on one side,,,on the same side are hide box and water bowl,,,on the other side is another hide box,,the substrate is reptile carpet,,the top is a typical screen top for a 20 long and i have a 50 watt heat lamp in the middle.now on the cool side teh temp is reading like 70 degrees and the warm sais 100 sometimes. i thought i had the? perfect equipment? should i switch to a large tupperware box for housing,can i put the heat pad under a tupperware box? any advice woul dbe appreciated

thanks,
Jeff

This is typical of fish tanks with screen tops. You're losing all your heat and humidity through the top. Switching to rubbermaid box would be my suggestion, but before you do there are things you can do with your set-up. Cover 3/4 of the screen top with plastic wrap. Get a second heat pad for the cool side. A human heating pad set on low should warm to 80-85 degrees for the cool side. The warm side should not be 100 degrees. Get a thermostat or rheostat (light dimmer) to control the hot side. Temp should be 90-95 degrees. What's your humidity? With an open screen top it's probably low. Covering the screen top will help. The heat light will dry out the tank too much. I wouldn't even use a heat light, although some people like them. You can also put the water dish on the heat pad to increase humidity.

i just ran to kmart and got a sterilite plastic box? can i use my heat pad underneath that?

Yes. Put the heating pad underneath the sterlite box. Set it on low. Make sure to get a thermometer and lay it on the surface of the substrate in the box that's above the heat pad. This will give you an idea of how much heat is penetrating the box and substrate. Get 2 thermometers so that you can measure the heat on both sides of the box, one for the cool side and one for the warm side. Make sure to put hides on both sides.