Hi, I have a full grown BP in a 40 gallon glass enclosure with a screen top. I have a UTH on a thermostat on the hot side at 90 degrees F. In the summer I had about 2/3 of the top covered with acrylic and since the cage is located pretty close to the swamp cooler, this kept humidity at proper levels. Ambient/cool side temps fluctuated quite a bit during summertime but my BP still moved around pretty regularly. Since winter started and I live in an old drafty single wide with bad insulation, the furnace is coming on all the time and causing humidity levels to go down. I remedied this by covering more of the top. There is still decent airflow because 1/8 (just the locking door) of the top is uncovered. Humidity is now stabilized once again at ~50%.

Since my room temps fluctuate quite a lot in my home, I've acquired a UTH to put under her hide on the cool side and ordered another Helix thermostat to control it. I will keep it at 80 degrees F.

Now here's my problem: I need a way to control ambient temperature without drying out the air. I tried a ceramic heat emitter (I think it was 75 watts) but it dried out the cage ridiculously fast. Went down from like 60% to 18% in just a few hours (that was with 2/3 of the top covered). It also didn't quite heat up the cool side surface temp enough either. Which is why I decided to use a second UTH.

Here's my two questions: Does an infrared bulb dry out the cage as badly as a ceramic heat emitter? And if I go with an infrared bulb, what wattage would work well for ambient temps in a 40 gallon glass enclosure? I already have a dimmer I can use with it, so I'd like to get a bulb that's powerful enough to leave me some headroom for adjustment.

Thanks I advance for your help...