Newbie questions (temp/humidity)

[ja88er]

First time herp keeper here, I've worked with snakes for about three years now but this is my first time caring for one 24/7. I adopted a ball python about three weeks ago, and I've got him in a modified storage tub with a locking lid and a metal tank screen glued to about half of it, to allow for circulation and so the heat lamp doesn't damage the plastic.

Maintaining temperature and humidity has been mostly trial and error, with a 75 watt day lamp (which I might be downgrading slightly soon, because I switched him from the half log he came with to a set of plastic enclosed hides, and the heat is moving a lot quicker through plastic than wood) and a 40 watt night lamp combined with a bottom heat pad during the night. I've got an infrared thermometer ($25 on amazon, its great) and this setup looks like it's working pretty well, keeping the hot side at 75-90 degrees pretty consistently.

For humidity I moved the humidifier I'd already been using for my own comfort over next to the tub, because the spritzer I had was doing nothing and the heat lamp dried out the coconut fiber substrate I've got him on way too fast. What I'm wondering here is how high is too high with humidity? I know snakes can be prone to respiratory infections, and humidity can increase the likelihood of those, and I'm not sure what I can do to reduce the chances of my snake getting sick. Also, is there anything in my heat setup that's a red flag to anyone more experienced? I've read around online and it seems like I'm doing okay, but it'd be good to have confirmation that there's nothing I'm missing.

[DennisM]

A 15 degree swing on the hot side is not consistent. Read these threads.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...Husbandry-FAQs
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

[ja88er]

Duly noted! I'll start checking the temp more often and try to get it warmer and more even.

[Regius_049]

Maintaining temperature and humidity has been mostly trial and error, with a 75 watt day lamp (which I might be downgrading slightly soon, because I switched him from the half log he came with to a set of plastic enclosed hides, and the heat is moving a lot quicker through plastic than wood) and a 40 watt night lamp combined with a bottom heat pad during the night. I've got an infrared thermometer ($25 on amazon, its great) and this setup looks like it's working pretty well, keeping the hot side at 75-90 degrees pretty consistently.

As the previous poster mentioned, 75-90 is not consistent. To give you an idea, 75 degrees is typically considered around the lowest safe minimum for the cool side. Ideally, your "hot spot" should be around 88-92 degrees F. Your cool side should be (ideally) 77-80. If that range corresponds to "day time" and "night time", 75 is still pretty cool for night temperatures. Heat bulbs are, in short, not good for humidity dependent species. They kill humidity extremely rapidly and I only use them with low humidity species. You do not mention your humidity %, but I suspect it is not ideal or you would not have had to move your humidifier. Misting will result in a period of high humidity levels, then eventually reach ambient humidity in the room.

However, if you need to use what you have for monetary reasons, depending on your room ambient temperature, the following will work in a pinch:

Close off your screen or at least most of it. If it is your only ventilation source, leave a little bit exposed (but it is better to have a small amount of ventilation at opposite ends of your tub). Use your UTH to get a "Hot spot" of around 99-92 degrees F. Now position your heat lamp above your tub with a spacing of around 8-12". This will heat the plastic, but with sufficient distance, not melt it. Heating the tub will allow it to give off heat to the environment (i.e. give heat to your enclosure) and raise the ambient temperature, similar to how a RHP works. This will raise the ambient temperature 3-5 degrees depending on a variety of conditions. If this is insufficient, you may have to other means.

For humidity I moved the humidifier I'd already been using for my own comfort over next to the tub, because the spritzer I had was doing nothing and the heat lamp dried out the coconut fiber substrate I've got him on way too fast. What I'm wondering here is how high is too high with humidity? I know snakes can be prone to respiratory infections, and humidity can increase the likelihood of those, and I'm not sure what I can do to reduce the chances of my snake getting sick. Also, is there anything in my heat setup that's a red flag to anyone more experienced? I've read around online and it seems like I'm doing okay, but it'd be good to have confirmation that there's nothing I'm missing.

If your humidity is high with the humidifier in place, you can go relatively high in my experience with no ill effect. You are far more likely (with ball pythons) to run into RI issues with low humidity. Slightly contrary to conventional wisdom, which typically recommends a humidity level of 55-65%, I think higher is better. Anything from 65-85% should do just fine. Ball pythons native habitat in Africa has decently large distribution, but for example, humidity levels in Ghana normally range anywhere from 70-90%.