I need Temp/hunidity help

* 3 ft male BP
* 55 gallon (tall) aquarium
* 2 UTH's set to 80 on cool side and 90 on warm side
* Sani chips as substrate (tried Eco-Earth for humidity increase with little change and a lot of mess, so I'm sticking to stuff that's not messy)
* Inside ambient stays around 70F
* Inside Humidity stays between 40%-45%, I spray & it goes up for 60% and within an hour its back down to 45%
* I tried a plastic cup with water above the UTC on the hot side to increase humidity with a 3% increase
* I tried a towel on top with a 2% increase

Problem 1- I need to increase the ambient temp, want to try ceramic heater overhead to heat the whole aquarium. will 60 watts do it?

Problem 2- When I add the ceramic heater its going to kill what little humidity I have so I was thinking about the Zoo Med Reti Fogger w/ Hygrotherm controller. But I am reading that it's going to have problems keeping a tank that size humidified and I will wear the thing out real quickly. Any one have experience with these? (Don't suggest I buy two, because one is technically more than I wanted to spend).

Any other solutions other than these?

Buy a tub..........end of story. You can buy HUGE tubs that are the same size as these glass tanks but are plastic with a lid. I promise for every glass tank that a BP would need I can find a plastic tub any height and length for 1/4 of the cost and look exactly the same.

Everything in my sig is in a tub

Yeah. You can try switching to a tub, they're a lot more utilitarian, or you can try a different bedding. I hear cypress works well for holding humidity, and it looks pretty nice too.

Yes, but even with a tub I'm still going to have to have to buy things to get the humidity and ambient temps up. I'm trying to spend as little and efficiently as possible.

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Originally Posted by kyleax1

Yes, but even with a tub I'm still going to have to have to buy things to get the humidity and ambient temps up. I'm trying to spend as little and efficiently as possible.

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In my Blues cage it is a 120 gallon tub with reptibark on the floor and a water bowl. It has about 24 holes drilled in it and it stays at a constant 70-80% humidity.
If you can afford a tub, flower pot and a tupper ware bowl you can afford to have proper humidity.
You can ditch the fogger, heat lamp and all that other stuff. All you need is a UTH, water bowl and a few hides with bedding of choice.

How do you keep your ambient temps up in it?

Can you post a few pics of the setup?

As was said above, you wouldn't believe how much higher the humidity is in a tub. It's crazy.

Also, The UTH'ers say that once you put it in place it can not be removed. I can't switch to a tub if I can't take those off and put them on a tub. I just put out over $80 on them a week ago.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kyleax1

Also, The UTH'ers say that once you put it in place it can not be removed. I can't switch to a tub if I can't take those off and put them on a tub. I just put out over $80 on them a week ago.

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Yeah, they stick pretty damn well... Can't help you on that one, you might have to get new ones to switch. You could maybe look into getting heat cable or heat tape, in the long run it'll be cheaper than UTH's, or you could get them at Reptile Basics, I hear they're half the price of pet stores.

Trick: Get some aluminum tape from the hardware store, and cover the sticky side of the UTH with the tape, shiny side out, so that you can tape the heater on with a couple pieces of aluminum tape on each edge of the heater, and then un-tape them when you need to replace them.

As far as just spraying to increase the humidity, how often is acceptable? And should I be spraying the sides of the aquarium or the substrate or both? I've red about belly rot and want to avoid that possibly happening.

I would prefer work with what I already have since I have already spent around $350 in the aquarium setup.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kyleax1

As far as just spraying to increase the humidity, how often is acceptable? And should I be spraying the sides of the aquarium or the substrate or both? I've red about belly rot and want to avoid that possibly happening.

I would prefer work with what I already have since I have already spent around $350 in the aquarium setup.

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You can spray as long as you aren't making condensation on the glass or anything, because that's what will really cause an RI for your snake. As for the belly rot, when you start misting, just check how damp the substrate is every now and then. It can be a little moist, but you don't want it too moist because, as you know, you'll get belly rot. It's all about going by ear.

Here is how to set up single tubs not in racks.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ubsetup001.jpg
Add Holes as you see fit. Start with less and add as needed.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ubsetup002.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ubsetup004.jpg
Tape the UTH to the tub dont Stick it as they are a PITA to remove.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ubsetup005.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ubsetup006.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...ubsetup008.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14.../rextub002.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14.../rextub001.jpg

Thanks for all the pics

Here are my pics of a 16 qt that is in my rack and my blue beauty cages to show different sizes of tubs.
Set up is the same as above.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...6/DSC00155.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...6/DSC00156.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kyleax1

How do you keep your ambient temps up in it?

Can you post a few pics of the setup?

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Room is at 76 so the uth brings it up. But a uth on the top of the cool side or on the cool side floor will do.

I feel your pain on spending a butt-load on a tank and having to ditch it for a tub... But believe me, the extra cost is well worth losing the headache that trying to maintain stable heat/temps in an aquarium brings on! Besides, it's barely more $ anyways. My extra costs were:

20-30g Heat pad (stuck my first one directly to the tank as well...) - $26 (pet store price.. blah...)

26 quart tub (about 6.5"H x 15.5"W x 23"H) - $8

Reused the water dish, hides, temp/humidity monitor, and herpstat from the tank, plus newspaper for substrate (still have a lot of aspen left, but newspaper is just easier...)

So for $30-$40 you'll have a perfect tub setup! Then just put an ad on craigslist for your tank and make some of that money back!! ;)

Yeah i had a hard time at first with the heat and humidity, tub is soo much easier, Im using a rheostat and had an issue with even on low being 96 deg, but lifted tank a hair up to give it airflow between pad and tub and temps leveled out in hide to 92 deg, give or take and hum at 50% give or take.