What Watt Moonlight Bulb?

I have posted this in various threads over the past few months, so I apologize if everyone has already seen this. I had humidity probs at first until I got this. Now my humidity with almost no work is 50-60 percent and with only a little work 70 for shed.

1) glass tank 20gal with sliding and locking screen top. I use a 40watt daylight bulb (on a dimmer) during the day timed for 1.5-2 hrs on and 1 hour off depending on the day (I have my tank in a windowed room with the blinds shut 24/7). I also have a 40 watt moon light bulb on during the night at about the same timed schedule. I also use a 20-30gal sized desert UTH on a hydrofarm thermostat. Aspen chip substrate.

2) I have foil wrapped cardboard (5 or 6) panels that I lay on top of the screened cover between the two lamps. They get slid and adjusted as needed to raise/lower humidity. Usually I leave them alone.

3) I have a Fluker's mini dripper in the tank dripping slowly into a ramiken filled with spahgnum moss. It gets changed weekly.

4) I have 2 plastic plants and a piece of mopani wood in the tank for decoration that I mist once daily.

5) I mave bits of eco-terra jungle moss spread on top of the aspen which gets dampened when needed.

6) When shedding I spray the walls/plants about 3-4 times daily, dampen the moss in the tank, and add spahgnum to once of the hides (He has never used it but it makes me feel better in case he wants to use it). I also turn off my day light to help keep the humidity in when I am not home during the day.

Hope this helps or at least gives you ideas. The forum has a great search option that should also steer you in the right direction. When I first was setting up my tank, a local breeder told me that there wasn't much diff. between a moon bulb and red bulb for the snake, so I went with the blue. Not sure how the same wattage would compare between the two, but I imagine a light is a light and both will affect the humidity to some degree.

BPQueen

How think should I spread the substrate if I go back to using that? The substrate temp on the hot side was around 15 degrees cooler than the glass under it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joelolly

Are the heat emitters better for humidity than lights?

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No. The heat emitters also kill humidity.

This is what I do to my tank for humidity - zero need for spray in my case. My house humidity sometimes go to 10% during winter. I can keep the glass tank at 50-60% humidity during winter with this set-up.

I got a 30gal long tank.

1.) I have 2 heat lamps that are on during winter - a dayglo and a nightglo bulb - both 75W with a dimmer to keep ambient temps at 80. They are on a timer - dayglo on for 12 hours, nightglo on for the next 12 hours. I could use just one red light to be on 24 hours but I like the look of the daytime/nightime lights - my glass tank is for decorative display.
2.) I wrap 3 sides of my tank with thick cork board.
3.) I put plexiglass wrapped in tin-foil on top of the screen that covers all the way to where the lamps sit - it covers about 80% of the tank.
4.) I use the XL Zoomed ReptiRock water bowl (I used the Exo-Terra water dish before and that doesn't work for humidity, the Reptirock is made of plastic so it is more sensitive to heat) and put it halfway on top of the UTH right on top of the glass (not sitting on substrate).
5.) I use cypress substrate in the tank about an inch to 2 inches thick.
6.) My hides have bottoms on them, so the warm side hide sits right on top of the glass. I put a thin layer of cypress inside. The temperature probe sits inside the hide under the substrate to read at 90.
7.) I supplement with damp sphagnum moss in small plastic container without lid right underneath the lamps during shed cycle.

That's it.

http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/l.../sunshine1.jpg

The stores have one that plugs into lamps so no wiring needed for about 10$. From there you can use a standard thermoter or go to a pet store and they carry the probed ones for about 30$.

I almost have it ideal! Without the light, ambient temps stay around 75-78. Is this acceptable? With the light, I can bring them up without a problem, but then run into problems with humidity. All I need to know is are these ambient temps accetable?

it might change at night and in winter u might need it

I got it! All it took was a bigger/more shallow water bowl. Ran into a problem though: mites!!!! Gonna look around here to see what I need to do about that...

GREAT, except for the mites gud luck with that

Thank you very much. You have been a TON of help and I am very greatful for that!

Get Provent-A-Mite. It's the best for mites. You can find it on ebay or just do some googling for an online source.
PAM