heating plastic bins?

[escm]

I was thinking about transfering my new ball python to a sterilite 96qt. plastic bin. My question is how do most people heat these things? heat tape? Would it be ok to have heattape at 100 deg. on the underside of the plastic? No melting? Or is heat tape just not the way to go for heating plastic bins? Also i remeber reading someone's post about the best place to put holes in the enclosure in order to promote good airflow and still retain moisture...but i cant find that post...any ideas on that?

[Lisa]

100F is a little too hot. you want a hot spot of about 90F the cool end should be about 80F.

[Big Mike]

Heat tape or UTHs are the way to go. I don't know what temp these things melt at but it's a lot hotter than 100 F. That's too hot for your ball anyway. Be sure to use a rheostat or thermostat for your heating device.

I think the best places to put the holes are in the sides. Some people go all around and some just have clusters of holes. I also like to have a few holes in the top just so the air does not get stuck in layers of warm/cool. It's easiest to make the holes with a soldering iron btw.

As for the "best" place to put the holes...I don't know. Here is a theory...If you put the holes on the warm end lower on the side. The warm air above the heater will rise and therefore suck some air in through the holes. If the holes on the cool end are higher up then the warm air that's coming across from the warm end can vent which allows the air on low/warm end to enter in the first place....does that even make sense?

[escm]

its not actually 100 deg. where my snake is: substrate + thickness of bin...im assuming in order to get a localized 90 deg. substrate temp at the hotest spot the heat tape is going to have to be operating at about 100deg where it meets the bin...at least thats how it is with my glass tank+newspaper sub. +uth...i just wanted to be sure that stuff wont outgass or melt at that temp.

I also have a thermostat to make sure the substrate temp never goes above 90.

also yea mike your idea about hole placement makes perfect sense...that is what the other post i read said i just couldnt remember which side (hot/cold) the holes (high/low) went on. thanks again!

ps. - mike you rule man like 2 minutes after every question I post your on the answer hehe i love it!!....you to lisa hehe!

[escm]

oh yea on a side note, for some reason my snake seems to like it even colder than the recomended 90F-80F gradient. When I first got him I had it set up that way but he spent all his time on the cold side trying to get out hehe. I lowered the tank temps down a few degrees and now he cruises back and forth sleeping on one side for a bit and then cursin on over to the other side and sleeping...and boy he sleeps a LOT. reminds me of old ****zu...

[Big Mike]

No prob...I guess I just don't have anything better to do...not really...that pesky job of mine does tend to interfere with my hanging out here....go to love it :)

[tightsqueeze]

100 F IS WAY TOO HOT FOR ANY BOID!

JAY AND KELLY

[escm]

Originally posted by tightsqueeze
100 F IS WAY TOO HOT FOR ANY BOID!

JAY AND KELLY


thanks, but again, im not concerned with the temps on the substrate level I am concerned with the temps where the heat tape meets the plastic. i stated above that in my experience my uth operates at about 100F and as the heat travels through the glass and substrate it loses a fair amount of intesity where eventually it meets the substrate at 90F (if that). Of course (not sound like a jack@ss) I already explained this so I urge you to read all the posts before you break out the big ol' caps lock and dis my husbandry.

im concerned with melting plastic not with the temps where my snake hangs out.

[Lisa]

the problem isn't that the substrate is a certain temp the problem is that the snake can easily move the substrate and end up on the heat tape... you don't have to worry about the plastic melting but you don't wanna cook your snake either

[escm]

I thought I already posted a reply to this...hmm maybe it got lost during the server migration...

Maybe I am confused on heat tape placement. I have my uth mounted OUTSIDE my tank (stuck to the underside in fact)...in order to even heat the glass surface on the INSIDE of the tank the direct contact temperature between external glass and uth must operate at around 90F. To get a temp of 90F on the internal glass the external contact temp is about 100F. Ive used a digital probe to come to this conclusion. Regardless I use a newspaper substrate and the difference between the internal glass temp and a layer of newspaper is minimal. If my thermostat probe is reading 88-90F (which it is) and it placed directly on the newspaper directly above the hotest part of the uth then I really dont think I need to worry....but my confusion lies in heat tape placement. DO you put heat tape on the INSIDE of the enclosure? If not, how could my snake move the substrate and end up on the heat tape? It seems like there would be a layer of plastic bin if the heat tape was placed outside the bin...so in conclusion...based on my findings with the uth and external placement relative to a glass enclosure I assumed that the external contact point between heat tape and plastic would be at max about 100F. Hope this clears my statements up a bit, dont be alarmed I care just as much about not frying up my lil' guy as you do Im sure. He appriciates your concern though :p

[Big Mike]

Not to say anyone is wrong...but if you are losing 10 deg. from the heat tape to the enclosure through glass then it must have good ventilation. Don't get me wrong...that would be an ideal set up because a little ventilation is good but normally a UTH at 100 that is directly on the underside of a piece of glass will heat up the surface of the glass to very close to 100. Really thick glass will disapate the heat better but typical tank glass would match the heat pretty close unless there are other factors...like ventilation or other insulation. IMHO

[escm]

interesting...yea its kinda a cheap uth and only had sticky tape in two strips so I would estimate only 10% of the total area of the uth is actually touching the glass...the rest is VERY close but theres enough distance to allow a loss of a few degrees...

well look at it this way, if I make sure plastic wont melt at 100F when I put my plastic bin setup together and run some tests with heattape/thermostat IF it needs to be that hot then Ill be prepared and know nothing will melt. if it ends up not being that high then thats even better :p I know you guys were just making sure I wasn't cookin up my snake...totally understandable!