Controlling Humidity -- Help!

[Stewy]

I just set up my new tank for my 2 year old, 2 foot long Ball Python, Slithers. However, I live in a naturally humid area, where the interior humidity rests around 50%. When I raised the temperature in my plastic tank to 75, the humidity inside the tank shot up to 80-90%. I used the soldering iron trick to make 1/8 inch holes every 2 inches on the length of the tank, but I'm guessing it doesn't let enough of the humidity out.

I'm worried about making more holes in the enclosure, because the interior of my house is around 68 degrees, and the tank does not seem like that good of insulator. I have a larger water dish that is big enough for the snake to soak in, and keep it around an inch deep.

Any suggestions on regulating the moisture content?

-Matthew

[JLC]

Start off by getting a smaller water dish. The snake doesn't need to soak at all. Make sure the water is on the cool side of the enclosure. Also, a fan circulating the air nearby will help a lot, too. And then if those things don't bring it down to more manageable levels, you may have to put more holes.

[Stewy]

I don't really have a 'cool side' to my tank. On one side of my tank I have the 84 degree heating pad + enclosure, and on the other side I have my 92 degree heating pad + enclosure. In the middle of the tank I have the water bowl.

You say that the snake does not need to be able to soak in the water bowl.. Would a water bowl that is pretty small, so that the snake can't even fit inside of it -- work?

[sidhe]

I had the same problem and had to use a smaller water dish. My humidity now stays in the 57-60 range. I also have a fan around for when the humidity is ridiculously high (80-100 outside) it helps maintain proper levels.

[Smulkin]

In the summer we have to have a fan running nearby our enclosures to avoid the same.

We do not have air conditioning and the summers here can be surprisingly swampy - if you have enough air moving around the tanks you should be able to manage fine - it doesnt have to be a wind tunnel or anything - a little box or ceilign fan on low did the trick for us.

Do you have any holes in your lids as you do on your sides? Adding a few more of those should have some impact as well.

[hoo-t]

I don't really have a 'cool side' to my tank. On one side of my tank I have the 84 degree heating pad + enclosure, and on the other side I have my 92 degree heating pad + enclosure. In the middle of the tank I have the water bowl.

You say that the snake does not need to be able to soak in the water bowl.. Would a water bowl that is pretty small, so that the snake can't even fit inside of it -- work?

The biggest water bowl that I use is 16oz, about the size of a cereal bowl. I use these for all my snakes over around 750 grams. The smaller snakes have smaller water dishes. My littlest ones get 4oz bowls.

As long as the humidity in the enclosure is good, there's no need for a water bowl any bigger than necessary for drinking.

Steve

[Stewy]

Well, when I came home yesterday one of my roommates had taken it upon himself to add some more holes to the top of my tub thinking it would help regulate the humidity, since the relative humity was close to 100%.

However, this hasn't done anything... When I woke up this morning, my AccuRite therometer read "HI" as the humidity. Any recommendations on a small fan that I could use to move some air through the cage? I was thinking of mounting a small computer fan to the cage, but those run on DC. Any idea of a small fan that runs on AC that I could use? I really don't want to run a huge fan on the snake cage -- I don't have enough space in my house for that!

[kavmon]

i run a fan, all year long. it's at the ceiling height,helps to even out temps and humidity.

a few questions, what are the room temps, what is the room humidity? i personally wouldn't want a fan running air inside the setup, too drafty. if the tub is a tall one, you might want to do 2 rows of holes. i space my 1/4" holes about an inch apart. for tall tubs one row down low and one row up high might work better.


vaughn

[JLC]

Did you ever try the small water bowl? And when I suggested making sure it's on the "cool" side...I simply mean wherever the coolest spot in the enclosure is...I know it's not really "cool" by human standards. Still, it will make a huge difference if the bowl is sitting on top of a 92* heat pad, or sitting in a 82* corner.

Also...what kind of substrate are you using? If its that coconut stuff you have to soak before using, that can cause really high humidity readings for quite awhile until it dries out completely. Or if water gets spilled or sloshed on the unit...that'll screw up your readings, too. Are you getting condensation building up inside the tub? That's a good sign you don't have enough air circulating.

Whenever I suggest a fan to someone, I never mean to put it inside the tub...or even blow directly on the tub from the outside....just sitting someplace nearby and moving air around the room. A standard box fan set a few feet away from my tub and blowing away from it will drop the humidity by more than 10% very quickly.

[Stewy]

Yes, yesterday on my way home from work I stopped by Petco and picked up this smaller water dish: http://www.petco.com/Shop/petco_Prod...yID_12459.aspx

To anwser your other questions, the room that the cage is in is around 67 - 72 degrees, and around 50% humid. I use newspaper as a substrate, so that's not going to trap any water. I have the bowl situated between the two UTA's I have, so that it is not residing on either of them.

I'll try the fan thing this evening, but I'm going to need a lot more than 10% drop in humidity. For reference, I am using the 1886 tub from this site: http://sterilite.com/Category.html?S...uctCategory=37

I have holes drilled ever two inches in the sides, and around 12 holes in the top of the container. I'm worried about drilling more holes, because I will start to loose the heat that is trapped in the tank. Right now the ambient temperature is around 76 degrees inside the tank.