humidity and temperature....ugh

I know heat lamps drain humidity but i'm still having trouble getting the temperature about 83ish in both tanks. They are both ten gallons (for now) and even with the heat lamp and a UTH the temp is still too low. I don't know what to do. My house stays at roughly 74 degrees and i don't have fans or anything in the room they are in. I'm afraid thats why they may not be eating, is that possible?

THANKS!!!!

Yes that is very possible. How are you measuring these temps and humidity?

the normal dials that you put on the side of the tank. I need to get one of the probe ones but I just haven't had the time right now to go get one or where to get one of good quality

Well whatever temps and humidity you are reading, they are 100% wrong. Is your UTH connected to a thermostat? My small Zoomed one was over 130 degrees when not attached to one, and with the lighting? Your temps are too high. The humidity is probably very low because of the lights. Walmart has the Acurite digital thermometers...Home Depot...or online
http://www.amazon.com/Chaney-Instrum...6276475&sr=8-3

I bought mine at Lowes.... It measures temp and humidity, and was only like 10 dollars....Acu-rite brand I think.....:gj:

Have you covered part of the screen tops?

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Originally Posted by dragonboy4578

I bought mine at Lowes.... It measures temp and humidity, and was only like 10 dollars....Acu-rite brand I think.....:gj:

Have you covered part of the screen tops?

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I think if she covers the screen at all with the lights and UTH on full blast she's going to cook her snakes. I agree she should do it after she gets a thermostat and digital thermometer though.

I agree 100%. I was thinking if she covered the top she would be able to do away with the heat lamp.... Just my though....:D

okay well i'll keep the lights off until I get one of those just to be safe. I had no idea that were that inaccurate.

I just finished talking to someone in a thread that posted yesterday. He got a digital thermometer/hygrometer today and wanted to update that his temps needed adjusting and his humidity was actually fine, whereas his analog (the ones you have) were showing the humidity below 35% and his temps were too high. They are painfully inaccurate. I never knew how inaccurate until I switched about 2 days after getting my first ball python.

As stated, the stick on gauges are not too great.
How are you regulating your UTH?
Also, how long have you had them set up?
My cool sides are usually 77 to 80 degrees with A/C on 74.

Definitely do yourself a favor and get the better thermometer/hygrometer and a thermostat ASAP. It will make your life so much easier.

How much of the tank is taken up by the UTH? If it's too small or too large, it can also contribute to problems maintaining temps.

The cheap dial type are quite bad there are good dial types but none of them say reptile on them, and some of them are not cheap. Enough has been said on that the first worry is temps, the humidly is not nearly critical as temps.

Which out accurate temps this is much harder but with cool room temps there is a lot of heat loss to the air. Ambient temps are very important as snakes have large lungs and air temp regulates core temps.

I'd suggest until you get better temp reading try to add insulation to the tank to slow the cooling of the enclosure. The easiest is to place a blanked to heavy towel around the sides and back you can't place it over the lamps to don't. Try that and see if it helps the temps come up some. If it does then we can work on a better solution.

i agree with everyone.stick on therms are way inaccurate.i have two of those zilla digital probe therms and they are more accurate.i tested them against my friends infrared temp gun.i would suggest one of those.i wish i bought one of those instead of two tird analog therms and two digital probes.they enable you to check the temps anywhere in your tank by just pointing the gun.i didnt read all the posts so i dont know if anyone already mentioned the temp gun.i battled the temps and humidity when i first set up my 20gl.i was using an infrared heat lamp at 50watts it got a decent heat but coupled with the uth pushed it too hot and the heat lamp just dried everything.i wouldve probably had a snake jerky:tears:.
what works for me is cypress mulch mixed with some sphagnum moss with moss placed strategically in places throughout the tank,around the water dish,around the tree,clumps on the bridge.a humidity hide helps as well if your tank dries out alot or if your snakie wants that extra humid hiding spot.my tank has a screen top and that totally messed with me.i did the towel trick,the foil,the saran wrap.foil and saran didnt work for me or the humidity and looked tacky.so i went to lowes and got two pieces of plexi glass cut to the same size,taped em together and put glow in the dark stars in between the two pieces.then i put two little shelf holding things on the side of the screen to prop up the plexi glass so theres not so much heat and humidity escaping while allowing air flow.if its a hot day ill slide the plexi to expose more of the screen or cold ill close it more.thats just what worked for Marley and me.hope i helped some.im no expert but i could write a novel in a post so sorry for that.:oops:

oh oh oh i almost forgot i have two uths on the hot side not over lapping just side by side long ways.they take up about 1/3 of the tanks bottom.both are hooked up to a rheostat which ill be changing out with a thermostat soon.im getting sick of adjusting the knob every once in awhile. i know i shouldnt have to use two uths but one heat source wasnt cutting it.heat lamp and uth too hot.one uth alone too cold.i didnt understand it since my room temps are generally in between 75-84.
Good day

UTH's are more about belly heat, which means they'll heat up the floor your snake is on to heat him up. So you wont be able to measure the temperature your UTH is providing unless you have them actually on the floor of the enclosure. But I'd say the least you should do is get a thermometer with a probe, one because analog are very inaccurate and two because its really hard to have floor temp readings with those. The temps inside the warm hide would also be much warmer than those outside too. Also make sure you didnt make the same mistake I did and use a whole thick layer of bedding.

My humidity is generally good with all my snakes, but temps fluxuate because of the temps here..one day it's over 80 F with 80% humidity, then it drops at night to 50 F with 10% humidity...all over the board when I am...seems to really effect the snake room. I have a humidifier in the room and water in all the enclosures, i keep my house thermostat at 69 degrees, but some days it feels cool and dry in the snake room, other days it's super hot and humid...seems i'm constantly adjusting the dimmer switches on the lamps...humidity seems pretty stable though...thanks to a spray bottle.