How long do you test a new rack for?

Hi guys,

I'm getting my first rack this Thursday, with 4 juvenile bins and 5 sub-adult bins. My question is: how long does it generally take to sort out temperatures and humidity before I can put my balls in it? It's coming completely set up with belly heat and bins.

When I got my rack it took me about a week to figure out where I wanted to place it and get the right amount of holes to get the humidity right. That week includes getting everything right and ensuring they stay steady for about two days or so. I took my time though because my snakes were in a good temp rack until I was sure they got right.

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Originally Posted by RetiredJedi

When I got my rack it took me about a week to figure out where I wanted to place it and get the right amount of holes to get the humidity right. That week includes getting everything right and ensuring they stay steady for about two days or so. I took my time though because my snakes were in a good temp rack until I was sure they got right.

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I believe my bins are coming predrilled as well. I'm really hoping to avoid a week wait.. I'm going away for work Monday-Friday, so won't be around to tinker with it

Once I get a rack I tend to let it acclimate over night on the stat with bedding in it. I check the temps and humidity in the morning, adjust up and down if needed, and then check again the next morning. If it holds, then I trust it at that point, but my reptile room stays a fairly consistent temperature so I don't have to worry about too bad with fluctuations.

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Originally Posted by liv

I believe my bins are coming predrilled as well. I'm really hoping to avoid a week wait.. I'm going away for work Monday-Friday, so won't be around to tinker with it

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Yea, like I said I took my time but I think you should be able to see any adjustments you make after about an hour or so.

I usually figure out temps and the works in a day or so, but I let it sit for a week just to be safe and make sure there are consistencies and that there aren't any weird fluctuation.

So it's sounding like my ~2 day testing period will be sufficient (though not ideal). Hopefully I don't encounter any problems right off the bat. I had an issue with a UTH randomly crapping out on me yesterday morning (thankfully I caught it before hot spot dropped below 86 and fixed it), but it freaked me out and I ordered the rack right after the incident.. I'm paranoid now and want to get my buddies into a more controlled environment as soon as possible.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

I usually figure out temps and the works in a day or so, but I let it sit for a week just to be safe and make sure there are consistencies and that there aren't any weird fluctuation.

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Do you find that weird fluctuations are fairly common? Or is that just an extra precaution you take to ease your mind?

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Originally Posted by liv

Do you find that weird fluctuations are fairly common? Or is that just an extra precaution you take to ease your mind?

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It's not common, but it's good to wait a few days to see if any shelves are different from the rest. (Make sure the humidity is all settled, all the temps are identical w/i 1-2 degrees, no weird temp spikes or drops, etc etc)

I like to run a max temp test run the rack maxed out and see how hot the hottest is, this will determine how critical a failsafe t-stat is. (anything over 100º I personally would say it is critical.) Then I run controlled temp tests to check the variation top to bottom typically a degree or two if the room is properly regulated to the ambient temp (usually 80º) but in unregulated rooms this can be MUCH more. I personally run a rack in a unregulated room it is 1000 times more difficult to get all your temps spot on. If you are trying this (I do NOT suggest this BTW) it can take quite some time to get it right personally it took about 3 weeks and I had the extra thermostats it required (mine took 4 probes to control the rack fully in a cool room of 65-80º)

No two set ups are the same so the time it takes varies greatly. Take your time and get it right before the snakes are housed in the new rack.

about the humidity testing .. it is important to account for the snake "breath evaporation" .. if you only have a water bowl inside and the humidity reads 60% you need to consider that with a snake inside it will be about 10% more .. not to mention the humidity that comes out of pee and poo evaporation .. so the main thing would be not to make too few holes .. as I figured out with my rack - when you think there are enough holes -> double them and you should be good :D
the main thing about humidity and air flow is that it needs to be sufficient .. humidity itself doesn't hurt ball pythons (I heard of people having 80% humidity in their ball python cages and having no problems) .. it's the non-sufficient air flow that causes problems (make sure no "mist" or fungus appears on the side of tubs - that's where the bacteria lives and that's where health problems such as RI come from) .. as long as humidity is above 45% and mostly bellow 80% (with sufficient air flow) you should be fine