Successful Humidity levels in a glass tank!

Gah! I've seen this argument many times and its never ending. Yet I seem to keep getting drawn to it over and over again, sigh. Just use what ever you want to keep your snakes in. As long as you can give them the right temps and humidity and security, that is all that matters! Peace out :bored: :relax:

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Originally Posted by iceman25

Just use what ever you want to keep your snakes in. As long as you can give them the right temps and humidity and security, that is all that matters! Peace out :bored: :relax:

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AGREED!

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Originally Posted by iceman25

Gah! I've seen this argument many times and its never ending. Yet I seem to keep getting drawn to it over and over again, sigh. Just use what ever you want to keep your snakes in. As long as you can give them the right temps and humidity and security, that is all that matters! Peace out :bored: :relax:

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I'm sorry if you thought I was arguing the merits of glass tanks vs plastic tubs. I agree completely that people should use whatever they want AS LONG AS the animal's needs are being met. I was trying to understand your statement that plastic is a better insulator than glass, etc, it was contrary to what I have been told, so I wanted to see if you knew something I didn't. I didn't mean to be combative, I apologize if what I said was taken that way.

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Originally Posted by iceman25

Gah! I've seen this argument many times and its never ending. Yet I seem to keep getting drawn to it over and over again, sigh. Just use what ever you want to keep your snakes in. As long as you can give them the right temps and humidity and security, that is all that matters! Peace out :bored: :relax:

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Precisely! The kind of housing you use for your animals is a very personal thing. Given that you are able to maintain the right environment (temps, humidity, space, airflow, etc) the important thing is to be able to do it in such a way that it is easiest for YOU to maintain and also offers the kinds of rewards you are looking for as a pet owner. At this point in my "career" as a snake owner, plastic tubs would not provide that reward of seeing my snakes in an attractive and "fun" looking environment and watching them interact with it. But that's just me. It doesn't matter to me if plastic is easier to maintain because I don't mind the extra effort to keep glass.

But for some people, if they must mist daily or do other "inconvenient" things to maintain a glass enclosure (for instance) then they may be more likely to procrastinate and put it off and eventually neglect the animal all together...so simpler plastic tubs would be a much better solution for them. (I am NOT implying that folks who use plastic would otherwise neglect their animals! LOL)

Ah heck...I don't even know why I'm writing this...except that this was "my" thread and I feel like I need to defend the reason I wrote it...which is downright silly! No matter how big my collection gets in the future, I will always have a few animals in beautiful display cages....and I'll always be on the lookout for helpful tips on efficiently maintaining their environments. :)

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Originally Posted by monkeywrench133

I was trying to understand your statement that plastic is a better insulator than glass, etc, it was contrary to what I have been told, so I wanted to see if you knew something I didn't. I didn't mean to be combative, I apologize if what I said was taken that way.

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I've kept my animals both in tanks and tubs. I could not control the humidity nor regulate the temps properly when I was a newbie and had to resort to tubs to get everything right :) So you could say that I was sold on it based on this as well as the fact that most reputable breeders keep theirs in tubs to boot. So hence my strong feelings that plastic is better when it comes to housing reptiles :D I doubt there is research out there that would give the reptile community a definite answer. The only thing I can say is see if you can give tubs a shot as well, so in that sense you have something to measure up tanks against :) And no need to apologize as all the debate is what makes life interesting :D

Greetings from Lurkerville...

This is an issue that I've been dealing w/for a while. I've got Severus in a 30-gallon glass tank, & there isn't much room in the tank for anything else besides his house & large water dish (however, he's got plenty of room to move around).

I've noticed a few "flake"-like spots on the top of his head, & thought that they might be mites (which would totally skeeve me out; I keep his tank very clean & don't let him crawl around on the floor or the ground outside when it's warm out). But, after noticing him soaking in his dish (& as far as I can tell, he's not due to shed ), the "spots" are gone.

I'm guessing that these mysterious spots are dry skin, as the humidity in his tank is (& I'm ashamed to admit this) low & the skin around his snout is a wee bit wrinkly. I've tried to combat the loss of humidity in his tank by taping plastic wrap to the removable cage top, but it doesn't seem to help any.

With humble apologies to JLC for blabbing on about my issues (even if they sort of go along w/the main topic of this thread), are there any additional tips to help raise humidity in a 30 gallon glass tank? I saw some of the tips posted earlier in this thread, & they seem to be good ones, but I'm not interested in using bark as substrate. I use newspaper, & it's been working out really well.

Thanks in advance,
LC

1)You could try and bring up the humidity of the room by using some kind of commercial humidifier.

2)Provide a humid hide made out of small rubbermaid container and damp sphagnum moss.

3)If you are using a CHE, you could place it directly above the tank over the water bowl. This is providing you have the top covered off and a section cut off for the CHE. Also it would be advisable to control the element with a proportional thermostat.

4)Mist the tank several times a day.

Also, you could try putting a wider water bowl in his tank. Wider bowl=more surface area=more evaporation.

If you are using a UTH, put a second water bowl on the hot side so that the UTH will raise the water's temp, again, more evaporation.

You could also build a tank humidifier as outlined in the DIY section of this site.

Or, if you'd like to "beautify" your tank some, get one of those Exo-terra waterfalls and put it in the tank. I used one of those for quite a while in a 20 long, kept the humidity right at 60%.

Great trick, Judy! I may have to try that! Although eventually I'd like to switch over to boaphile/vision type cages that open from the front and be in a less try climate, but that's all filed under someday. For now half the snakes in tubs, half in tanks, cuz that's what I got!

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Originally Posted by monkeywrench133

I don't rinse out the tank, just wipe it down. I DO rinse the water bowls after spraying them with ChlorHex, but I probably don't NEED to.

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However, that's cleaning the tanks, not disinfecting them, as I understand it. I believe that Adam addressed this in a post a few months ago. Cleaning and disinfecting are very different. Disinfecting involves soaking, not just spraying and wiping down or letting dry.

So, when you disinfect all your enclosures (which I believe is recommended 2-4 times a year), not just clean them, isn't it a pain to lug all those tanks around?