Humidity Problems

I'm having difficulty maintaining humidity, can anyone help me out with some tips? My terrarium currently has cypress mulch. I also saran wrapped the cool side since its a screen top. I spray the terrarium when I wake up in the morning (the hygrometer reads about 54-60) when I get back from school and then before I go to bed. But when I come home it's usually at like a ridiculously low of 20-15. I'm not sure if my hygrometer is too high off the bottom of the tank.

You're probably going to have a hard time maintaining humidity because of your location.

You could try running a humidifier in the room the cage is in. (I would suggest a warm mist style unit)

What are you using to heat the cage? What is the temperature of the room that the cage is in? What is the lowest temperature the room gets during an average year?

What side of the cage is your hygrometer on? (hot side/cool side)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

You're probably going to have a hard time maintaining humidity because of your location.

You could try running a humidifier in the room the cage is in. (I would suggest a warm mist style unit)

What are you using to heat the cage? What is the temperature of the room that the cage is in? What is the lowest temperature the room gets during an average year?

What side of the cage is your hygrometer on? (hot side/cool side)

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Yeah definitely, in arizona our A/C is blasting. But I would say the room temperature is about 77. And I use a 75 watt basking bulb to heat the hot side, and the hygrometer is kind of in the middle, but leaning more towards the cool side. It's under the Saran wrapped area and where I spray all the furnishings.

I live in Phoenix, AZ and I was able to do a couple things to maintain humidity in a glass tank without the drastic drops you are experiencing.

1) Switch to Eco-Earth as your substrate, does a wonderful job holding humidity.

2) Insulate your tank. I used the stuff below, I only put it on the bottom of the enclosure. With this same material, I also cut out a cardboard box that would fit perfectly on the cool side of the tank, then took two pieces of insulation on each side of the cut out, and tapped it with foil tape.

3) Make sure you have an accurate hydrometer. I recommend the below along with a test kit to calibrate the meter if need be. Don't use the adhesive attachment though that comes with it, use a glue gun to adhere it.

4) Make sure if your using a heat lamp, put it on a dimmer or a thermostat if you can. I ran a Herpstat 2, one probe for my UTH and another probe for my lamp. This will prevent your lamp from running full power 24/7.

http://amzn.com/B00BDN2ILC
http://amzn.com/B000A3UBLA

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/...pse2e1c55f.jpg

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/...ps61ad0047.jpg

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/1000208...5#.UgxI8qa9LCQ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EntertheWutang

Yeah definitely, in arizona our A/C is blasting. But I would say the room temperature is about 77. And I use a 75 watt basking bulb to heat the hot side, and the hygrometer is kind of in the middle, but leaning more towards the cool side. It's under the Saran wrapped area and where I spray all the furnishings.

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If the room temperature doesn't drop below 75 F you can ditch the heat lamp and use a Under Tank Heater. (UTH) Heat bulbs are bad for humidity. UTH's don't effect humidity, but require a thermostat to control them and probed thermometers to monitor them.

Here is a thread that goes over this stuff in detail, and has links to recommended products: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by martin82531

I live in Phoenix, AZ and I was able to do a couple things to maintain humidity in a glass tank without the drastic drops you are experiencing.

1) Switch to Eco-Earth as your substrate, does a wonderful job holding humidity.

2) Insulate your tank. I used the stuff below, I only put it on the bottom of the enclosure. With this same material, I also cut out a cardboard box that would fit perfectly on the cool side of the tank, then took two pieces of insulation on each side of the cut out, and tapped it with foil tape.

3) Make sure you have an accurate hydrometer. I recommend the below along with a test kit to calibrate the meter if need be. Don't use the adhesive attachment though that comes with it, use a glue gun to adhere it.

4) Make sure if your using a heat lamp, put it on a dimmer or a thermostat if you can. I ran a Herpstat 2, one probe for my UTH and another probe for my lamp. This will prevent your lamp from running full power 24/7.

http://amzn.com/B00BDN2ILC
http://amzn.com/B000A3UBLA

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/...pse2e1c55f.jpg

http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/...ps61ad0047.jpg

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/1000208...5#.UgxI8qa9LCQ

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Wow that's really smart, thank you. That affects the humidity?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

If the room temperature doesn't drop below 75 F you can ditch the heat lamp and use a Under Tank Heater. (UTH) Heat bulbs are bad for humidity. UTH's don't effect humidity, but require a thermostat to control them and probed thermometers to monitor them.

Here is a thread that goes over this stuff in detail, and has links to recommended products: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

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That had some really useful information, I just learned a lot from that! But if UTH's just heat the bottom of the tank, isn't ambient temperature what you're shooting for when creating a hot side for your python?

It helped me, I only had to re-hydrate the Eco-Earth maybe once a week to keep up humidity. I also had a decent size water dish.

One thing I did do was remove the cover I made for about an hour when I got home from work - just to make sure fresh air got inside the enclosure.

http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=1898

Quote:

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Originally Posted by martin82531

It helped me, I only had to re-hydrate the Eco-Earth maybe once a week to keep up humidity. I also had a decent size water dish.

One thing I did do was remove the cover I made for about an hour when I got home from work - just to make sure fresh air got inside the enclosure.

http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=1898

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So you essentially made your screen top tank into a temporary screen top?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EntertheWutang

That had some really useful information, I just learned a lot from that! But if UTH's just heat the bottom of the tank, isn't ambient temperature what you're shooting for when creating a hot side for your python?

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No, the air in the cage can stay around 80 on both sides, (75 at the lowest) and just have a hot spot on the floor of the cage around 90.