Green Tree Setup. What do you think?

Picked up a 11 month old Sorong GTP at repticon this weekend. Right now we have him/her set up in a mini exoterra until he/she gets a little bigger.

Using a CHE on a dimmer for heat, with the screen top covered with plexiglass. Temps are between 80-83 on the top perch and 76 ambient.

I've seen a lot of mixed information on humidity though. Some say to keep the little ones at 80-90% humidity all the time, some say to let it dry out and spike to 90% once a day. What do you guys do with your babies? I'm going to mist a couple of times a day because the CHE does dry out the enclosure a little bit, but the plexi does seem to help trap the moisture better.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7254/7...42834932_b.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8022/7...0baf1929_b.jpg

Nobody? :(

Beautiful setup, everything sounds pretty good, but I'm no expert. Hope somebody more experienced will chime in!

When my GTP was younger I kept the humidity at a constant 50% with spikes by misting once a day. Now that he's a bit older I only mist every other day. With this I've had perfect sheds, strong feed response and zero other problems.

However, I personally know people who just keep a constant relative humidity of about 65% with no problems.

The main problem that I think most people have with young GTPs is keeping it too hot. I've found 83-84 degrees F is good for a younger snake, and 86-88 degrees F for an older animal. I also do about an 8 degree drop in temps at night.

Just keep an eye on him for signs of dehydration, and adjust the temperature/humidity accordingly.

That's a fine setup as long as you can consistently and regularly monitor temps. I use CHEs on dimmers for carpet pythons, but I specifically want them to have changes in temperature with night drops, and seasonally as well. Various types of heat lamps play an important role in the history of chondro keeping techniques, and have had their successes.

If you feel that your ambient humidity a few hours after a mist is too low for your snake, your exo-terra is more than capable of handling a thick layer of substrate that can be kept moist (NOT wet, but similar to a good moisture content in garden soil). My geckos are in planted vivariums, and their substrate provides enough moisture content to keep their humidity a good 40% above room ambient.

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Originally Posted by Dabonus

When my GTP was younger I kept the humidity at a constant 50% with spikes by misting once a day. Now that he's a bit older I only mist every other day. With this I've had perfect sheds, strong feed response and zero other problems.

However, I personally know people who just keep a constant relative humidity of about 65% with no problems.

The main problem that I think most people have with young GTPs is keeping it too hot. I've found 83-84 degrees F is good for a younger snake, and 86-88 degrees F for an older animal. I also do about an 8 degree drop in temps at night.

Just keep an eye on him for signs of dehydration, and adjust the temperature/humidity accordingly.

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Thanks! There is just so much conflicting information about the humidity. I've been keeping the hot spot between 83-85. Should I just turn off the CHE completely at night? The ambient temps stay around 77*.

I've never night dropped any of my animals (ball pythons and a boa). I've heard that the night drop isn't always necessary. But I suppose in their natural environment there would be a night drop.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

That's a fine setup as long as you can consistently and regularly monitor temps. I use CHEs on dimmers for carpet pythons, but I specifically want them to have changes in temperature with night drops, and seasonally as well. Various types of heat lamps play an important role in the history of chondro keeping techniques, and have had their successes.

If you feel that your ambient humidity a few hours after a mist is too low for your snake, your exo-terra is more than capable of handling a thick layer of substrate that can be kept moist (NOT wet, but similar to a good moisture content in garden soil). My geckos are in planted vivariums, and their substrate provides enough moisture content to keep their humidity a good 40% above room ambient.

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I haven't seen the humidity drop below 60% yet. Right now I am using damp paper towels for substrate. Keeping the CHE dimmed down seems to help the humidity not disappear so quickly.

Beautiful snake!

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Originally Posted by Satana

Beautiful snake!

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Thanks! I need to post pictures of its parents. They are stunners for sure!