Misting & Cracking Heated Glass?

[Patricia]

Hello, I got my first BP yesterday and have a question about the under-tank heating pad.

Instructions that came with it caution against getting the glass its attached to wet in case the heated glass cracks. I have the water dish on the other end of the tank, away from the heating pad, but will misting the tank cause the water to reach that part of the glass and then crack it? Or does misting produce too little water to be of concern?

[Qetu]

the temps on the pad should be kept at 90-92 degrees, you wont have a problem. without the rheostat\thermostat, it can get up to 115 degrees, then you would have cracked glass and an injured/dead snake.

[MarkS]

If your glass gets too hot it can happen, one of the best ways to help prevent this is to raise the aquarium so that there is air flow underneath. The trapped air can get very hot, it needs to be able to get out somehow so it doesn't overheat.

[Patricia]

without the rheostat\thermostat, it can get up to 115 degrees, then you would have cracked glass and an injured/dead snake.

What??? We have the ZooMed under tank heating pad, and nowhere on it does it indicate what temperature it would produce, only something like 10 degrees warmer than room temperature. We've lined the bottom of the terrarium with newspaper and then ReptiBark on top. I've put my hand on it, immediately above the heating mat area, and it feels only warm, not at all "hot".

I've been misting the terrarium several times today.

[frankykeno]

Could you describe this glass enclosure please. Does it have a fully meshed lid? Dimensions? Having to mist several times a day is a bit of a hassle for you and we should be able to suggest ideas that will help you avoid having to do that.

Judging heat with the human hand isn't a good idea. You should be monitoring temps and humidity with a digital device. There are a number of options out there and most are very reasonably priced. Most aren't specifically made for the pet trade but we snakekeepers are a tricky lot that like to get the best bang for our buck so have long ago figured out how to use non-reptile items for different uses.

A lot of us use Acu-Rites. These are sold by Walmart (Lowe's and Home Depot and Target sell other brand names). A simple indoor/outdoor digital thermometer/hygrometer where the unit itself measures the inside temps and overall humidity and the probe on it's long thin cord measurs the outside temps. We simply use these instead to measure cool and warm side temps in a snake enclosure and that all important humidity factor. These can normally be purchased for around $10.00.

Acu-Rite........



Simple setup for one of these handy devices.....



Note the unit itself on the cool side (left side in the picture). The probe cord in this case runs out of the tub and then back into the tub on warm side (right side of the picture). The probe itself is tucked just under the edge of the warm side hide and doesn't bother the snake at all.

[Patricia]

Could you describe this glass enclosure please. Does it have a fully meshed lid? Dimensions? Having to mist several times a day is a bit of a hassle for you and we should be able to suggest ideas that will help you avoid having to do that.

Here's a picture of it:


I bought the entire thing (snake, tank and accessories, with a lot of ReptiBark still left in the original bag) from its prior owner a couple of days ago. She, in turn, said she bought it as a kit from Petco two months ago. Since it's a kit, I'm surprised it's not the proper terrarium with the screen cover that slides and latches into place. This one is more like a fish tank with a standard 10 gallon loose screen cover. It's 20"x10"x12".

The hygrometer at the bottom is reading 50% in the photo, but that's only because it was misted a few minutes ago. Misting brings it up to 60%, then it's back to its normal 30% in about half an hour. Since we're less than half a mile away from the coast and it's often foggy here, I don't understand the low humidity reading, unless the hygrometer isn't accurate. We have been putting a towel (dry) on top of the cover, up to about an inch away from the heat lamp, to help keep humidity in. Yesterday I must have misted half a dozen times. I don't mind doing that, but have read that wet substrate might lead to belly rot. Yikes!

The UTH is under the tree. That's where don't mist much so as not to have water reach the glass itself. For the time being, the tank is on the floor, but I'd like to set it up on a terrarium stand or something. It does have the rubber feet that come with the UTH to provide enough space so that the power cord isn't pinched.

Thanks for the Acu-Rite info. I'm open to anything else that I should be aware of.

[Sarin]

Your setup looks great but it does need a little tweaking.

1. You need two identical, tight fitting hides. One on each side. The water dish can be kept in the middle.

2. Like Joanna said, you'll need a digital Thermometer and Hygrometer to moniter the Humidity and Temperatures. Gauges like that are usually off by a good 10 units.

3. I suggest getting rid of the lamp, BP's don't need them unless your room temperatures are below 75* F. This is most likely the case for your low humidity, as well as the Hygromter gauge (they are usually off by a good 10 units anyway.)

4. You must have a thermostat to regulate your U.T.H or else your snake may get burned. My 10-20 gallon Zoomed U.T.H went to 140* F unregulated when I tested it out. A really cheap one is the Reptitemp 500R, I use it without a problem. (http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=75)


Here is a picture of my setup for my 250 gram male Pastel. It's a 20 gallon Long terrarium with two rock hides (both are the same color now), water dish, foilage, drift wood (for shedding), with aspen as a substrate. 3 walls are insulated with foam board and I use a ZooMed 30-40 Gallon U.T.H regulated by the Repti-Temp 500r Thermostat. I use a National Geographic Digital Thermometer/Hygrometer. ($20 at Walmart)




I hope this helped!

[Patricia]

I hope this helped!

It most certainly did, THANK YOU! I went to WalMart last night and bought that Acu-Rite that is talked about here, and set it up immediately. Yup, the difference between the dial hygrometer that came with the tank and the Acu-Rite was about 30%! Thankfully, the mistake was towards the humid side, as it was actually around 60% humidity. Makes sense, since we're so close to the coast and it's not dry around here.

Thanks again! We'll make other adjustments over the next few days.