New Tub setup

[SerGregor]

Hi everyone. I've been lurking for a while here now soaking in anything and everything I can. I work at a Humane Society and approximately a month and a half ago we had a person surrender their BP because they had not been able to get him to eat since December. I fell for the little guy and have taken him home. From the sounds of it their husbandry was non existent. When he came in he still had some stuck shed from who knows when, and was (and still is) pretty small, as of the last weight he was 115 grams (he's gained 20 grams since I've had him) at around 9 months? Anyway, long story short Steve is eating like a champ now. This past weekend I went to my first reptile show and naturally came home with another danger noodle. Sal the champagne.


Steve (he's on his second shed)


Sal



Initially I had Steve set up in a Exo terra setup with and UTH. With the mesh top though my humidity was horrible.

I've ordered a T8 from Animal Plastics. With the divider in, Steve and Sal should be comfy for a while. In the 8-10 weeks time frame though for delivery, I've set up a tub system with flexwatt.



(nevermind the 24x48 I cut a piece down at Home Deopot)



Flexwatt is being ran by a thermostat. But now I am having the opposite problem as before. My humidity sits at 99%.

There is already 20 holes per side of each tub.



And I have reduced there water dish size twice already and they are down to these ramekins for water.



So I am just looking for some advice now for getting the humidity back down. Whats the next step? Even smaller water dishes? Holes in the lids of the tubs?

Thanks in advance and these forums are great!

[Ashley96]

I have the exact same setup as you. Down to the hides and purple latch containers. Mine hold steady at 65%-70% humidity and I have a few less holes than you. How long has the thermometer been set up in the cage? And have you tested it outside the cage?

I'm sure someone more experienced will be able to help you shortly 😉 In the meantime, nice snakes!

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

[SerGregor]

Hey, I see you're in Minneapolis! I'm in St. Cloud.

Ya, the thermometer's been in the cage for about 2 days. It does change outside the cage because I had one of the same thermometer/hygrometers in Steve's Exo Terra setup and it was reading in the 40's for humidity. When I first put them in these tubs they were reading around 65% but just kept going up and sit at 99% now.

[BPGator]

What's your air temperature inside the tubs? I was having a similar issue and had to add a space heater near the tub in order to bring the air temperature up which result in reduced humidity.

[SerGregor]

My air temps are in the 70's. Something I need to work on and am going with RHP's in my T8. Until then though I was thinking of picking up a strip of 3" flexwatt and another thermostat and placing that on the cool end of the tubs? Any thoughts on that?

[BPGator]

My air temps are in the 70's. Something I need to work on and am going with RHP's in my T8. Until then though I was thinking of picking up a strip of 3" flexwatt and another thermostat and placing that on the cool end of the tubs? Any thoughts on that?

Anything helps, but I don't think the tape will get you there. The room I use now is in the low 70's. I have heat tape on both hot and cool side, and although the surface temperature is good, the heat tape is not effective in increasing the air temperature within the tub. Since there's no air circulation within the tub, there's just not an effective heat transfer mechanism. The only way I think to get the air temp high enough so that you can bring your humidity down is by increasing the air temperature in the room your snakes are in.

What is an RHP and T8?

[SerGregor]

A radiant heat panel. Animal Plastics T8 enclosure. http://www.apcages.com/home/terrestrial/T8/T8.htm

[SerGregor]

Does anyone know if a 40W RHP would be able to be used inside of a 32qt sterilite tub? Bolted to the underside of the lid?

[BPGator]

A radiant heat panel. Animal Plastics T8 enclosure. http://www.apcages.com/home/terrestrial/T8/T8.htm

Glad I asked! I'm gonna get one too.

[BPGator]

Does anyone know if a 40W RHP would be able to be used inside of a 32qt sterilite tub? Bolted to the underside of the lid?

Not sure about the answer, but I imagine it would have to be one of the deeper tubs. If you try this, you may also want to put a piece of wood over the lid to bolt through that rather than just the plastic. And you'd definitely want a thermostat connected to it.