How to Setup a Glass Tank (20 long) With Pictures!

Hahaha, good point... :oops:

First post here.
Thanks for the write up. I just got my first BP (a Cinnamon morph) and was thinking I screwed up getting an Exoterra enclosure.

Just ordered a Herpstat 2 for bulb and UTH control and will foil off some of the screen top as well.

Cool setup, when i get 20 gallon tank im going to set it up like this.

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Originally Posted by RANZ

Cool setup, when i get 20 gallon tank im going to set it up like this.

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might stick with something smaller. I've heard its a pain trying to find poop in a 20 gallon tank.

Hey great post, answered all my questions about glass tanks, except for one: When I keep the probe between the heat pad and glass, what temp should I be setting the thermostat to ? It's a VE-100 so it's an on/off, the heat pad is Zoo Med, and I'm using paper towel as substrate.

Sidequestion: how many layers of paper towel should I be using ?

Thanks. Again, this is an awesome post.

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Originally Posted by speedycat222

Hey great post, answered all my questions about glass tanks, except for one: When I keep the probe between the heat pad and glass, what temp should I be setting the thermostat to ? It's a VE-100 so it's an on/off, the heat pad is Zoo Med, and I'm using paper towel as substrate.

Sidequestion: how many layers of paper towel should I be using ?

Thanks. Again, this is an awesome post.

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Just 1 layer of paper towels.

You need to set the thermostat to whatever temperature that makes the probed thermometer inside your cage read between 88-92 F. Chances are that will be somewhere between 92-96 F, but everybody's setup is different.

Great job man this will definitely help people.

So I followed these instructions and have my tank set up but I'm having a lot of problems with keeping the humidity level up. Any suggestions?

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Originally Posted by Hailey_A

So I followed these instructions and have my tank set up but I'm having a lot of problems with keeping the humidity level up. Any suggestions?

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Hey can you post a pic of your setup? Is the top of your enclosure some sort of screen lid and did you cover that with something such as tin foil? Besides that you may need to increase the size of your water bowl so you have more surface area of water to increase evaporation. That will help raise the humidity if you are using a heat lamp that sits on top of the screen lid.

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Originally Posted by Firemaniv

Hey can you post a pic of your setup? Is the top of your enclosure some sort of screen lid and did you cover that with something such as tin foil? Besides that you may need to increase the size of your water bowl so you have more surface area of water to increase evaporation. That will help raise the humidity if you are using a heat lamp that sits on top of the screen lid.

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http://thishaileysays.tumblr.com/post/96127906314
There are a couple pictures. I have a good sized bowl of water and the top covered by foil. I've been spraying it multiple times a day which brings the humidity up to between 60% and 70% for a little while but it goes back down to like %35 in under 2 hours.

Ok from the what i can tell of the picture, it seems that your water bowl is on the opposite side of the heat lamp. You need to move it to the middle and you need a bigger water bowl. Once in the middle, let you humidity settle then adjust the water bowl towards to raise humidity And away from the heat lamp to lower. Also what watt size heat bulb do you have in the heat lamp? You would probably would not want to go any higher that a 50 watt ans really,may need a 25 watt.
Here is a pic of my old 46 gal bow front aquarium that my pb was in. I work a 48 hour shift and so i had to figure out how to keep the humidity up without having to mist. To do so i got the big corner water bowl and it worked. I did however lose space as the bigger water bowl took up about a 3rd of the tank. I have a hide on the cold side and the hot side.

Also if you have a lowes or home depot near by, they have ir temp guns that you can use to check your temps. Last if you can see it in the pic, i have a acurite thermomter from walmart. It has a probe. Probe goes on hot side and the unit goes on cold side. It will give you the temp on each side and it also does humidity. $12 @ walmart.
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...683e9e846e.jpg

I have two water bowls, the little rock looking one and a much larger one in the middle. The one in the middle is just a little bit to the left of the lamp. Would getting a red bulb help at all or does that not make a difference.

This is a better picture of what's on the bottom.
http://thishaileysays.tumblr.com/post/96155843509

I would say get rid of the 2 bowls and get one bigger one. Also a hide for the cold side. As for the bulb, what are you using now? You need a red infrared bulb for the heat lamp. A light bulb on 24 hours will stress your snake. They need a dark period of time. Regular lighting is for us to see them but they can be stressed out with it left on for long periods of time i believe.
What gallon size is your tank? You probably only need a 25 watt red bulb.
Oh if you can tell in my pic, i took black construction paper and double sided tape and taped 3 sides on the outside of the tank. This helps the snake feel more secure especially if the tank is in a high traffic area of the house.

Do you have/use a under tank heater (uht)?

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Originally Posted by Firemaniv

I would say get rid of the 2 bowls and get one bigger one. Also a hide for the cold side. As for the bulb, what are you using now? You need a red infrared bulb for the heat lamp. A light bulb on 24 hours will stress your snake. They need a dark period of time. Regular lighting is for us to see them but they can be stressed out with it left on for long periods of time i believe.
What gallon size is your tank? You probably only need a 25 watt red bulb.
Oh if you can tell in my pic, i took black construction paper and double sided tape and taped 3 sides on the outside of the tank. This helps the snake feel more secure especially if the tank is in a high traffic area of the house.

Do you have/use a under tank heater (uht)?

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Hm, ok. And I have a hide on the cool side. The bulb I have now is a 50 watt but it's white. I'll get a red one.
The construction paper sounds like a good idea.
And yes, I have an under the tank heater.

Let me know on how the red bulb works when you get it.

Do you have any kind of thermostat controlling your uth?

Will do.

Yeah it's a hydrofoam something thermostat. It's sitting at about 91.

Great info thanks for the price scale especially. :)

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

Thanks.

It's not really required for most snakes.

That said I light all of my cages with 18" ZooMed Nature Sun 2.0 full spectrum linear fluorescent bulbs. I decided not to include it in this thread as it is meant to just cover the basics.

I run my lights 12 hours a day during the summer, and as short as 8 hours a day during the winter

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I have the info-red heat lamp and run it 24/7. SHould I be Turing it off for periods of time? Maybe on a timer? Any info would be so appreciated! 1st time owner here :)

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Originally Posted by Tiffanie

I have the info-red heat lamp and run it 24/7. SHould I be Turing it off for periods of time? Maybe on a timer? Any info would be so appreciated! 1st time owner here :)

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Depends on how you keep your home heated/cooled. More than likely you will need to keep it on 24/7. The enclosure needs a hot and cold side. Check out the care sheet thread for the temp ranges.

First time owner trying to setup tank properly before I pickup my new girl in 2 weeks, I have uth under one side hide over it fairly big size water bowl under light on opposite side getting a thermostat this week to really control temps but so far everything is good except humidity it's fluxuates from 55% at night with just uth going and during day with light on it's dropping to 15% I put foil across 95% of lid and it's helping but still drops to like 25-30% would a red infrared or a ceramic heat emitter be better to heat up water for humidity? Right now it's just a white daylight bulb because that's what pet store said I needed ( before I really started doing my homework) and it's a 10gallon tank as I'm getting a baby just hatched few weeks ago and breeder said that was good size for couple months then I need to go bigger. Am gone for like 10-12 hours a day during week so need humidity to hold steady as I can't mist often etc. any ideas or tips would be appreciated thx everyone

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Originally Posted by lurch9

First time owner trying to setup tank properly before I pickup my new girl in 2 weeks, I have uth under one side hide over it fairly big size water bowl under light on opposite side getting a thermostat this week to really control temps but so far everything is good except humidity it's fluxuates from 55% at night with just uth going and during day with light on it's dropping to 15% I put foil across 95% of lid and it's helping but still drops to like 25-30% would a red infrared or a ceramic heat emitter be better to heat up water for humidity? Right now it's just a white daylight bulb because that's what pet store said I needed ( before I really started doing my homework) and it's a 10gallon tank as I'm getting a baby just hatched few weeks ago and breeder said that was good size for couple months then I need to go bigger. Am gone for like 10-12 hours a day during week so need humidity to hold steady as I can't mist often etc. any ideas or tips would be appreciated thx everyone

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Look at my pic on post #61 of this thread. You need a big water bowl. The corner style in the pic holds half a gallon. Volume of water only matters if you are gone for long periods of time. You want a water bowl that makes the water have a large surface area for evaporation. You do need to get the infrared heat bulb. They tend to dry out a glass style enclosure but having the large water bowl off sets that. Also the python does need a day/ night cycle so if you leave a regular light on 24/7, it will stress you snake. Since you have a small tank right now, you may need to have the heat lamp on a lamp stand and not directly on the top becuase unless you can find lowe watt bulbs, the pet store will only likely have 50 watt as the smallest. 50 watts may be too much. That will have to be something you experiment with. So go to lowes as well and get their heat ir temp gun so you can check your temps. Also go to walmart and get the acurite thermometer/hydrometer dor around $12. Put the probe under you substrate over the uth and the unit on the cold side.


http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...7878345068.jpg

Yes picking up thermostat and that accurite thermometer, I have a pretty large water bowl now not sure I can go much larger without losing my whole bottom between the two hides and water dish. Also I need a infared as well as a daytime light? That will destroy my humidity as just the daylight bulb does now

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Originally Posted by lurch9

Yes picking up thermostat and that accurite thermometer, I have a pretty large water bowl now not sure I can go much larger without losing my whole bottom between the two hides and water dish. Also I need a infared as well as a daytime light? That will destroy my humidity as just the daylight bulb does now

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You don't need both the infared and the regular bulb, just the infrared. but since you have a 10gal tank it may be too much for it and you could not get a big enough water bowl in there to create the humidty. I forgot to mention that you place the water bowl more towards the cold side and then move it towards the warm side while monitoring the humidty. Once you get the humidity at the correct level you then stop moving the water bowl. When the snake goes into shed you do the same to raise the humidty for shedding and move it back when the snake is done.
If you have a room in your home that has a constant warm temp, you may want to locate the tank into there. Then create and use a shed box for when the bp goes into shed. You can find threads on how to do a shed box. I would not worry about the bottom space because if you are getting a pretty young bp, it will want to hide alot anyway.
If you want or need a light for viewing, get a LED from lowes and have it on a timer. Oh and cover 3 of the sides of the tank as well. I put construction paper on the outside with double sided tape. That helps the bp feel more secure.

Alot of this is trial and error until you find what will work with the tank you have and how cool/warm you keep your home. I started my bp off in a 46 gal bow front aquarium and at first had a time getting everything correct. I had to do so without misting because i work a 48 hour shift and would not be home to do so. Here is how the 46gal is set up now for my king snake. He does not need the higher humidity so i did not need a larger water bowl to create more/ as much evaporation.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=212994

Yeah grabbing infared and thermometer and ordering thermostat this weekend will take a pic to see what you guys think and any more tips thx guys

Ok so got thermometer and cool side temp is holding steady at 81-82 and humidity is 60-70% so the guage I had was very inaccurate [emoji21] new problem is probe on thermometer is on glass above uth is ready 112• so def need thermometer or dimmer til it arrives. Also what is best way to make cords for probe and thermometer clean can't get them to stay on glass http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...dbad1783a5.jpg

Are you wanting to know how to secure the probe from the acurite so it will not move from over the uth? Hot glue gun, place a small amount where you need it. Let it cool off a sec or two and the stick the probe in it but you do not want the glue to cover the entire probe. The one i do have glued down has the glue more towards the back and on the probe cord.

Yea you need a thermostat or a dimmer. 112 is alittle toastie!
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...7461008323.jpg

Ok so hide is now 120 and holding, also ambient tempt doesn't drop below 80 even with light off and light off humidity is 70 as well so everything great just need to control uth lol

Humidity is high or just right for shedding. Makes some vents in the foil by cuting 3 sides and making a flap that you can open and close as needed . with a 10 gal tank, start with 1 or 2 vents about 3-6 inches.

Oh and lets see some pics!

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...5274528ed7.jpg

I know hide is a lil big still might trade it in and get two smaller ones just love that hide its my style lol, so humidity is too high as well? No not probe to glass it secured itself wanting to know about cords going up out of tank. Ok and would dimmer work for now til I order a decent thermometer to accurately control it? Thx man for all tips really really appreciate it

You did not happen to keep the twist tie for the probe cord? Wind up the excess cord and bury it under the substrate. No need to run the cord out and back into the tank. Lets also do some more trial and error, move the heat lamp over the hide side and unplug the uth. With the tank being a 10 gal i think the heat lamp will be all you need. See what happens with the temp and humidity. Then same with both on, see what happens.

Ok will unplug uth and move light over hide and also run cord under substrate, and again thx for tips bro

So with just daylight bulb on over hide temps are 85 under hide 80 cold side and with a slit in foil humidity is 56%

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Originally Posted by lurch9

So with just daylight bulb on over hide temps are 85 under hide 80 cold side and with a slit in foil humidity is 56%

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Awesome you are there! The hot side is good but ideal is around 90. The cold side is perfect. You humidity is perfect too.
This will work but you need to test the temps with the daylight bulb off for about 12 hours because the bp will need a day/ night cycle so leaving a daytime lightbon will stress the snake. On possiblity is to have a timer have the daytime bulb on in the day and the uth( on a dimmer or thermostat too) on at night and see what that does.

Yeah think I either need to lose the daylight bulb for now until I get bigger setup and swap for infared heat bulb to bump up to 90, or get a dimmer/thermometer for uth

Got a dimmer and now to just dial in the 91ish degrees I need lol and I should be good to go

I know I've hijacked this thread so sorry for that haha, but now I've dialed it in I believe under hide over uth is 91 and cool side is 82 and humidity is 56% is that good?

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Originally Posted by lurch9

I know I've hijacked this thread so sorry for that haha, but now I've dialed it in I believe under hide over uth is 91 and cool side is 82 and humidity is 56% is that good?

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Very good. With the 10 gal you though you will need to keep a constant watch on your temps since the tank is small. You do not want the heat to become off balanced and get to hot inbthe whole tank. Do you have any plans as to how you want to upgrade because the bp will grow out of the 10 gal pretty quickly?

Was going to ask that question soon I know I got to upgrade fairly quickly in a couple months but what should I be upgrading to? I don't wanna buy tanks every month lol

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Originally Posted by lurch9

Was going to ask that question soon I know I got to upgrade fairly quickly in a couple months but what should I be upgrading to? I don't wanna buy tanks every month lol

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You have about 3 options. Buy a pvc style, built your own, or buy a 55-75 gal tank. Pvc style is something like an animal plastics enclosure with many choosing a t8 size that you can insert a divider to divide the cage in half until the snake is larger. There is a thread on those.

You can build your own which is what i did. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=210213

Last is a larger tank. All of this is dependant on your budget, whether you want the enclouse to be a display in a room, and what ever else that you may have/ want to do with it in your home.

A 4th option is a rack setup. Racks are good for having lots of snakes house in a smaller over all foot print. I think though a rack has to be dedicated to the same species or snakes with really close care requirements. So one rack would be for all ball pythons. I have seen pics of a 2 tub rack on here that was pretty small and i think would work with the tubs/bins that an adult could live in. Search the diy threads on racks though cuz i have never messed with one yet

Was probably going to look into something like t8, your setup is sick tho

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Originally Posted by Firemaniv

Also go to walmart and get the acurite thermometer/hydrometer dor around $12.

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I live dead center in CA and this isn't carried in store by any Walmart, Target, Lowes, or Home Depot anywhere near me. You can order it, but if you're like me you hate giving money to people without a product in hand. Closest thing is smaller than a credit card and made by zoo med or exoterra for almost $30. Same goes for thermostats. No pet store OR hardware OR general department store carries them anywhere near me but every reptile keeper wants them. I had to search for months to find a hydroponics store for mine.


0.1 normal 100% het pied (Nayo)
0.1 Mojave (Zillo)

Please disregard my previous post. It would seem my local stores only stopped carrying that for a small period to change model seasons. Shoe leather sux and I stuck my foot right in there huh? Lol

0.1 normal 100% het pied (Nayo)
0.1 Mojave (Zillo)

Yep...I feel like a braying @$$ now. Just finished placing that thermo/hydrometer. I really need to have that surgery to have my feet stop shoving their way into my throat.

0.1 normal 100% het pied (Nayo)
0.1 Mojave (Zillo)

I was able to make a video to help with setting up a glass tank. Hopefully this will help piece it all together. Let me know if anything need to be added.
http://youtu.be/f4zpIxNDGPs

Great video thanks for sharing, wish my lamp dimmer held temperatures better I went out bought a thermostat today and now it's all perfect just in time to pick up my girl this Saturday

Just wanted to say thx for all the help and tips to get my setup perfect! Picked up my new baby girl yesterday and so far she seems to love it :)

Ok an issue seems to be happening every since I've put her in temps and humidity have been fine but last two nights humidity has been rising like crazy at night this morning it was 80% and I have removed all foil from screen it's completely open

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Originally Posted by lurch9

Ok an issue seems to be happening every since I've put her in temps and humidity have been fine but last two nights humidity has been rising like crazy at night this morning it was 80% and I have removed all foil from screen it's completely open

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Unless you're seeing moisture/fog build up on the glass, then don't worry about it. It's far worse to have humidity too low than humidity that's a little high.

funny about 10pm starts climbing morning about 630 it's 80 and then drops down oh well she just ate and seems to be ok so not gunna stress too much don't really know what to do other than a dehumidifier at night

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Originally Posted by lurch9

funny about 10pm starts climbing morning about 630 it's 80 and then drops down oh well she just ate and seems to be ok so not gunna stress too much don't really know what to do other than a dehumidifier at night

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You relax and don't do anything. :) 80 is perfectly fine as long as there's not a moisture buildup anywhere.