Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, so i am trying to heat up the tank for my female Ball. I have a medium size heater on the bottom of the tank (on outside)under her hide which has moss in it and moisture to give her a natural feel. I have a heat bulb also on it, 75 watt heat bulb. It is a 55 gal tank and i have most of the screen covered with newspaper to help keep the heat in. I am having touble getting the therm to read higher than 70 deg. Do i need a 100 watt bulb or what can i do to heat it up.

One thought i had is take the heat mat and put in INTO the tank, under her hide and maybe a thin layer of newspaper, to increase the temp in the tank and the hide box. I will try not to let her get into contact with it but i think it loses much of the heat penetrating the glass bottom of the tank.

Thanks for any ideas.

is that the the air temp or the ground temp, because the air temp is much less important.

Any good ideas on keeping track of that? I do know that the hide with the water and moss was chilly to the touch. When i think about it, the heat pad must heat through the glass bottom, through the bottom of the plastic hide, then warm the moist moss and it seems to have trouble penetrating it.

For a 55 gallon you would need at least a 100 watt if not 150!

Jason