Rack Adjustment New Rack

Iris 32 qt 4 tub rack from reptile basics. I just got my new rack from reptile basics today. So i cleaned it really good and have newspaper as substrate. Got water bowls in all four tubs. Right now I have had it plugged into the thermostat set at 95. The temps are going up hot and cold side and the humidity is rising. I havent put no holes in the tubs yet. NO the snakes are not in the tubs yet. If I have to put some holes in it should I start with maybe 3 in the front and back and 6 in the long sides? Right now the top tub is around 88.3 hot side and 77.2 cool side. The tub one up from the bottom tub is nearly the same. Looking good so far. I will have to give it a little while for the temps to get up to where they need to be. How long should this take?

I'd definitely give it 24 hours. And you have the probe taped to the heat tape, correct? I have (counts....13 holes in the front, 8 down each of the sides). I don't currently have holes all around the tub, the 8 down the side are spaced about 2" apart so they don't go all the way back. This way the back stays warmer and the front cooler (an exaggerated heat gradient), but that's just my preference. And it allows me to flip tubs around and keep in more heat/air if need be, rather than a uni-directional tub.

I would recommend using a decent sized soldering iron. The tip of mine is 1/4" in diameter and seems to work perfectly.

Also...VENTILATION! :)

JonV

I have the probe taped to the flexwatt correct. Right now it has no holes in it. The sheet that came with it says i may not need to make any but I will give it till tmrw to see what the numbers are showing.

I originally put the 13+8+8 holes in the tubs with a 1/8" soldering iron...and they did almost nothing. Now using the 1/4" soldering iron I am much much happier. Once I get a decent Nikon D40 I can post some pics.

JonV

ok so now i got 14 holes in the front and 12 on each side. the damn humidity is still going up. I have that unprinted newspaper as substrate. and very small water bowls and they are on the cool side. this is very frustrating

How big are the holes? How big of a water bowl are you using? Use a smaller bowl (surface area) and make sure to keep it on towards the front (cool side). BP's can handle a wide range of humidities, what are yours at?

JonV

The holes are about 1/4 inch, The water bowls are small. maybe 2x3 inchesand i only have like 1/4 inch of water in them. The humidity is always around 70% and above usually. I have added some aspen in there to see if it absorbs the humidity but no luck so far.

They say 50% is ideal, but I think anywhere from 40-70% should be fine. Some people have a small fan circulate air around the racks to help with humidity retention. I love my enclosed racks, but I know they are going to be tough when I get an open top ARS rack which doesn't hold in humidity very well at all. I'll have to raise ambient humidity for them, but keep it low for the enclosed racks.

Try using a fan maybe?

I peeked at my rack right now one tub has 69% humidity one has 53%, I've had no problems thus far.

JonV