Need help with rubbermaid setup.

Vengeance · 08-13-04, 08:53 PM

Ok, I'm trying to prepare for the arrival of my 3 new ball pythons. So while I get the custom wood enclousre I have ready I'm going to be storeing them in rubbermaids. Also I want them to be a little bit older before they go in there as well. This is my first time using rubbermaids and I'm running into a few problems. Here is what my setup looks like....

Currently only one of the human heat pads are hooked up to a rheostat and turned on. So mabye things will change once all three are up and running. But anyway my problem is this, as you can see I have the human heat pad setup on one side and nothing under the other. I can get the Tempature high enough on the side with the heat pad, 90 - 95 for a hot side, but the cool side never seems to get over 80, it's allways around 71 - 75. The same tempature as my room. Without adding another heat pad is there something I can do to raise the temp on the cool side? Is there something wrong with my setup? Any suggestions would be greatly appriciated.

Just for a little background, I'm using a digital Thermometer/Hydrometer in the rubbermaid to check ambiant air temps, and I'm using a temp gun to check surface temps. The ambiant never goes over 72 - 75 either, the same temp the cool side is when I temp gun the cool side. The hot side is 90 - 95 on the hot side when I temp gun it. I could try and heat the room but I also have a Cali King in the same room and it supposed to be a spare bedrom for guests as well, so I don't want to keep ambiant air temps in that room at 80 all the time.

Any suggestions would be greatly appriciated. I'll be picking these guys up at the reptile expo so I have some time, but I'd like to get this problem solved as soon as possible.

HetForHuman · 08-13-04, 09:09 PM

I use quite a few rubbermaids, and the only way i achieve the 80 ambient is to heat the whole room, IMO it is the best way, but someone else may have another solution...

Vengeance · 08-13-04, 09:15 PM

The setup is in a closet, I was thinking of putting the doors back on and maybe setting up a light in there I could turn on and off, but it would make accessing the rubbermaids much more difficult. My main concern is the surface temps on the cold side. The ambient in and around 75 should be ok as long as the surface temps are where they should be. This will be a breeding trio, I'm waiting on a digital thermostat from GCSReptiles to control day and night drops, so is there some reason the surface temps on the cool side are staying so low? I thought that rubbermaids were supposed to be a better alternative to glass cages when it came to heat retention?

Derrick · 08-13-04, 11:34 PM

Hets right you wont get your cool side temps up with a heat pad I also heat the whole room. Also if you get heat pads with a lo/med/high seeting low should put your cool side at 92(sunbeam). Also rubbermaids are better than glass(aquraiums) for holding humidity not heat. But thats a good thing when it come to balls. I have an friend that keeps his in an aquarium and he is always having bad shed and eyecap problems.

installing a clamp on heat lamp in the bottom of the rack my raise the temp enough if the closet is closed. You would have to play with wattages or hook it up to the rheostat. use a red bulb so you can leave it on all the time

michele.kyle · 08-14-04, 12:19 AM

hey all Im in scotland . what is a rubbermaid? i hear you guys talking of them all the time

HetForHuman · 08-14-04, 12:26 AM

its just a plastic storage tub...

http://www.rubbermaid.com/hpd/consum...uct/list.jhtml

Vengeance · 08-14-04, 08:19 AM

My current Ball python is in a Glass tank, but I took a lot of time and money to set it up.

so heating the whole room is the only option.....GF isn't going to like that. Could add a second heat pad on the cool side to raise temps on each of the rubbermaids. Problem is I was hopeing to be able to accuratly controll the tempatures a bit better.

Ok here is another question, this is the cage I have allot of work to do on....

I'm going to be installing a false floor so I can put in some UTH because my thermostat can't controll surface temps with a lights. I have to finish the wood with a stain of some sort ( If forget what you guys have mentioned before that is good for that). I havent decided if I'm going to take the lights out or not. Then I have to seal all the cages with silicone (I'm not sure if that is the best stuff to use I know there may be something better, if there is let me know). Then test the heat on it and stuff like that. Do you think this would be a better option for heating then the rubbermaids? I'd have to bust my *** to get it all ready by sept, but I think I could do it.

My one fear is that the cae is too big for baby balls. They will only be about 4 - 5 months old when I get them. I can give them a ton of hides and add some fake foliage to make it seem less big, but I'm not sure if it will stress them out too much.

Vanan · 08-19-04, 10:43 PM

Frankly I don't even see what the problem is? The higher the temp gradient you have the better. There's a higher range for your snake to choose from. As long as your hot side is warm enough, I wouldn't worry about the cool side as long it's higher than 60-65F. Seems to me you've got a good thing going, don't fret it.