Going Insane! Please Help me Perfect my Tank!

[Ksouthco]

Good Afternoon everyone! I have a pretty specific question that I haven't been able to find much information on and it is driving me absolutely BONKERS so I figured I would throw this at you guys. I have been driving myself absolutely insane about my girl's husbandry as of late. As you can see, I have a 40 gal glass enclosure and with that came the responsibility of modifying the heck out of it to be able to hold temperature and humidity well. Well, I think I have FINALLY perfected it. I have plexiglass on 3/4 of the top with aluminum foil on the rest, with a hole cut out for her heat source. She also has a UTH which helps a bunch for when the ambients fall (her room can get pretty cold at night, also the room's ambient temps are not high enough to use the UTH as her main source of heat, I've tried. ). According to the 5 thermostats I have in her tank (I am a bit on the OCD side when it comes to her), the temps and humidity are quite perfect.

And then there's this one little issue that I'm having. I am attaching two photos of two of the thermostats that I have in her enclosure.


One that is on the floor on her hot side and one that is just about an inch (hard ish) off the floor affixed to the glass. The one that's on the floor reads 89* and 42% humidity, while the one on the glass reads 80* and 56% humidity. I have double checked both with my temp gun and they both are reading correctly, but is it normal for these temps so close to each other to vary so wildly? Her ambient thermometer is reading between 77-79* with 60-65% humidity. I am awfully confused, am I missing something or...am I just being way, way too paranoid? I really need to stop reading horror stories online about how BPs are dying due to husbandry issues that went unnoticed. She is eating fine and is active at night as per the norm, so she's not acting weirdly or anything.

***Please note that she is on paper towels and her tank is pretty barren (hence husbandry issues in the first dang place) because she is recovering from being ill. I am excited to say that she has come a long, long way since bringing her to the vet and treating her. But now I'm going a little insane.

Please help to either put me at ease or let me know what I am doing wrong.

Sincerely, an OCD BP mom who doesn't sleep at night.

[Ksouthco]

I would also like to add that I am ordering her a T8 from Animal Plastics very soon so I can breathe sometimes.

[JacksReptiles]

I have found that if you can place a bed sheet over the enclosure it holds temperature and humidity a lot better. I see that you have a heat lamp in there and I have heard that a lamp stresses them out. Also if you got rid of the heat lamp it would give you the ability to add the bed sheet over the enclosure. Consider ditching the heat lamp and using a heat pad/heat tape under the enclosure in a spot that does not cover the entire bottom but has enough space to have her entire body comfortably heated if she wants to use the heat spot. I think that you are doing pretty good so far. Hope this helps.

[Bogertophis]

It sounds to me like you're confusing "thermostats" with "thermometers"? A thermometer only gives a reading- it tells you what the temperature actually is.

A thermostat -on the other hand- is a device that heat sources are connected to that controls the amount of power they get so that the temperature (the heat output) is regulated to stay within a close range of what is needed. You can't possibly have 5 thermostats in this tank, but now I'm wondering if you have even one?

[Ksouthco]

Lord help me, lol. I did mean thermometers, thank you. And I do have her UTH and lamp hooked up to inkbird thermostats to regulate them, as well. *facepalm*

[Bogertophis]

Lord help me, lol. I did mean thermometers, thank you. And I do have her UTH and lamp hooked up to inkbird thermostats to regulate them, as well. *facepalm*

If it makes you feel any better, you're not the first one to do this.

Heat lowers the humidity...that's normal for the humidity to vary with the temperatures...is that what's bothering you? Not to worry...

And you might want to consider insulating the back & sides to help hold in the warmth, since the room is chilly. I find the easiest stuff to work with is poster board (the kind that comes in large sheets- Walmart & office-supply stores carry it- comes in black or white, & it has a foam core, a little under .25" thick). But you can use other things for insulation too- just a thought.

Your heat lamp, is that regulated by thermostat? Or rheostat* at the very least? (* aka lamp dimmer) You might want to switch to a CHE (gives off heat overhead, but no light), so she's not in light 24/7.

[Hugsplox]

One that is on the floor on her hot side and one that is just about an inch (hard ish) off the floor affixed to the glass. The one that's on the floor reads 89* and 42% humidity, while the one on the glass reads 80* and 56% humidity. I have double checked both with my temp gun and they both are reading correctly, but is it normal for these temps so close to each other to vary so wildly? Her ambient thermometer is reading between 77-79* with 60-65% humidity. I am awfully confused, am I missing something or...am I just being way, way too paranoid? I really need to stop reading horror stories online about how BPs are dying due to husbandry issues that went unnoticed. She is eating fine and is active at night as per the norm, so she's not acting weirdly or anything.

***Please note that she is on paper towels and her tank is pretty barren (hence husbandry issues in the first dang place) because she is recovering from being ill. I am excited to say that she has come a long, long way since bringing her to the vet and treating her. But now I'm going a little insane.

Please help to either put me at ease or let me know what I am doing wrong.

Sincerely, an OCD BP mom who doesn't sleep at night.

Your issue with the thermometer reading differently is caused by having one directly under that heat lamp. The heat is coming straight down on that one so you're seeing a higher temp and a lower humidity. Think of it this way, if I hold a hot dog next to a campfire it won't cook as quickly has if I hold it over a camp fire. Your thermometer on the wall is catching ambient heat, your one on the ground is getting direct heart.

I have found that if you can place a bed sheet over the enclosure it holds temperature and humidity a lot better. I see that you have a heat lamp in there and I have heard that a lamp stresses them out. Also if you got rid of the heat lamp it would give you the ability to add the bed sheet over the enclosure. Consider ditching the heat lamp and using a heat pad/heat tape under the enclosure in a spot that does not cover the entire bottom but has enough space to have her entire body comfortably heated if she wants to use the heat spot. I think that you are doing pretty good so far. Hope this helps.

I don't entirely agree with this advice. Belly heat, aka heat generated by a UTH or heat tape, does next to nothing for ambient temperatures in the enclosure. I've also never seen anyone using a bedsheet to hold in heat and humidity. Not saying it's not possible, but the duct tape + aluminum foil method has never failed me. Regardless I wouldn't recommend getting rid of the overhead heat when OP said that room gets pretty cold. If you want to do away with the light generating heat lamp, a ceramic heat emitter is a great option, but I think you'll find many keepers here that have kept snakes under some type of nighttime bulb with no issues.

[Ksouthco]

Your issue with the thermometer reading differently is caused by having one directly under that heat lamp. The heat is coming straight down on that one so you're seeing a higher temp and a lower humidity. Think of it this way, if I hold a hot dog next to a campfire it won't cook as quickly has if I hold it over a camp fire. Your thermometer on the wall is catching ambient heat, your one on the ground is getting direct heart.




I don't entirely agree with this advice. Belly heat, aka heat generated by a UTH or heat tape, does next to nothing for ambient temperatures in the enclosure. I've also never seen anyone using a bedsheet to hold in heat and humidity. Not saying it's not possible, but the duct tape + aluminum foil method has never failed me. Regardless I wouldn't recommend getting rid of the overhead heat when OP said that room gets pretty cold. If you want to do away with the light generating heat lamp, a ceramic heat emitter is a great option, but I think you'll find many keepers here that have kept snakes under some type of nighttime bulb with no issues.

Thank you so much! I suppose I should have thought of this but honestly I am totally frazzled.
So, going on from this information, if this is the case then my ambient temps on the warm side are too low when they're sitting at 80*. My issue with this IS I *could* move my heat lamp closer to the enclosure (I have it on a stand hovering quite a bit above the enclosure) and I have tried this, which does raise the ambients, but then my surface temps will get too high (I have a thermometer probe measuring this as well). It is a little bit nerve wracking trying to get a perfect balance with the UTH and heat lamp, but I am determined to do just that until I am able to set her up in a PVC enclosure.
So, my temps on the cold side are normally 77-78, ambient (middle) is 77-79, hot side ambient is 80ish, but her surface temps (hot spot) are constantly 88-91.
Would you happen to have any advice on what I could do here? I'm starting to run out of options in my head.

[Hugsplox]

Thank you so much! I suppose I should have thought of this but honestly I am totally frazzled.
So, going on from this information, if this is the case then my ambient temps on the warm side are too low when they're sitting at 80*. My issue with this IS I *could* move my heat lamp closer to the enclosure (I have it on a stand hovering quite a bit above the enclosure) and I have tried this, which does raise the ambients, but then my surface temps will get too high (I have a thermometer probe measuring this as well). It is a little bit nerve wracking trying to get a perfect balance with the UTH and heat lamp, but I am determined to do just that until I am able to set her up in a PVC enclosure.
So, my temps on the cold side are normally 77-78, ambient (middle) is 77-79, hot side ambient is 80ish, but her surface temps (hot spot) are constantly 88-91.
Would you happen to have any advice on what I could do here? I'm starting to run out of options in my head.

A lot of the issues you're describing can be fixed by experimenting, and that's best done without your animal in the enclosure. This is typically why it's recommended to set everything up and let it run for a week or so before you bring your new snake home. Obviously your animal is already in there, so my recommendation would be to make very small adjustments and check those temps religiously to make sure nothing gets too out of whack, or that your snake is in any danger of overheating or being burnt.

I don't want to recommend you make any major changes, I think you may be able to solve some of your issues just moving some things around, I would just again, recommend that you do all of that a little at time.

[jmcrook]

So, my temps on the cold side are normally 77-78, ambient (middle) is 77-79, hot side ambient is 80ish, but her surface temps (hot spot) are constantly 88-91.

Those temps sound fine to me honestly


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