Silly questions

Ok so i have done what i thought was plenty of homework on ball pythons and went ahead and bought my little Taboo. The tempatures are where they need to be but i have a question. I read the care sheet and it said basking spot 90 degrees so i have a basking spot thats reading 91, great! but i've been reading this form and alot of people say you can use either a heat pad or basking light. I have both, the heatpad's tempature is at 92, so they are all in the good range, but is it ok to have both? he loves basking and he also uses his warm hide alot. Also the ambient tempature is at 80

Also on humidity, i have to keep spraying the tank to get it to over 50% it likes to drop down to about 45% after a few hours. I have saran wrap on half of the lid but it doesn't seem to work that great? does the saran wrap have to be really tight? Im using cypress btw. or any other ideas would be appreciated!

Welcome to BP.net!

Many tank users have both a UTH and an heat lamp, but as you are finding out, the heat lamp makes it very hard to maintain the humidity. Tanks are bad for keeping humidity in the first place, and the lamp makes it almost impossible with out substrate that can hold a lot of moisture.

Is your UTH on a thermostat?

It is perfectly fine to use both a heating pad and lamp as long as one or both are controlled by a reliable thermostat. Heat lamps and bulbs do tend to suck the humidity right out of the tank though, so misting or placing the lamp above the water bowl should help a bit. I would try covering a 1/4 to 1/2 the top of the enclousure with a damp towel or cloth to help lock in the moisture. Also adding some damp sphagnum moss or paper towel to one of its hides can help with humidity alot and give your animal the option to choose the humid hide or non humid hide. The Ball Python knows what it needs, you just need to provide it for him.

Wow very fast response! so should i just ditch the light then? and yes i do have a rheostat and a thermostat ( its the one thats $12 from walmart, cant think of the brand)

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Originally Posted by mallowolf

its the one thats $12 from walmart, cant think of the brand

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I think you may be refering to a thermometer, not a thermostat :D

oh geez yeah thats what i meant xD hehe

also i did try using 2 damp wash clothes over the lid, maybe a towel would probably work better then? Or should i just ditch the heat lamp? Taboo just ate his first meal (with me) :D *does dance*

I struggled with humidity in a tank as well. Sphagnum moss....a fairly wide water bowl will help too, but sphagnum moss....thats the stuff

Ok so something like this? http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=3678493 How much should i put in the tank? and should i just put some all throughout the cage?

Put it in a little dish with some water. I also found tin foil with a towel over it to work better than saran wrap.

Ok i'll give it a try! thanks for all of the advice! :)

A good idea is to make a humid hide using sphagnum moss, that way your snake has humidity when it needs it. 45% humidity isnt the end of the world, its not the best but it wont kill him either. Also give your subtrate a good soak, not a puddle though, once you get that base moisture, its easier to maintain. And watch for dents in the eye, it can happen when their dehydrated.

Another way to raise the humidity is to use a larger water bowl, and place it under the heat lamp. And to go even further, get a bubbler for a fish tank and put it in the bowl.

And if you post pics of your setup we can help even more:gj:

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Originally Posted by cmack91

Also give your subtrate a good soak, not a puddle though, once you get that base moisture, its easier to maintain.

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Wouldn't soaking the substrate increase the risk of mold as well as scale rot....unnecessarily? I am no snake master but it seems to me that would be a risky move when the problem can be remedied in other ways.

There are a few options to increase humidity. Some were already great suggestions.
1) cover the tank lid w/ tin foil, plexiglass, or a damp towel
2) you can mist manually with a spray bottle
3) get a larger water dish
4) put the water dish on the hot side of the enclosure to promote evaporation.

And a thermostat is a must have when using a heating pad. You can't have a heating pad w/o a thermostat. A heating pad can exceed 130+ degrees when unregulated and can burn your snake.

Here are a some good thermostat recommendations:
The Herpstats are top notch. They are very accurate, safe, and reliable. They are expensive, but they do their jobs very well. The base model starts off at $99
http://spyderrobotics.com/index.html

If you're on a budget, the $27 Hydrofarm from Amazon(w/ free shipping) is one of the better lower end thermostats. Better than any petstore thermostat in my opinion. It's not as reliable or accurate as a herpstat, but it works fine.
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...7876947&sr=1-1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by satomi325

There are a few options to increase humidity. Some were already great suggestions.
1) cover the tank lid w/ tin foil, plexiglass, or a damp towel
2) you can mist manually with a spray bottle
3) get a larger water dish
4) put the water dish on the hot side of the enclosure to promote evaporation.

And a thermostat is a must have when using a heating pad. You can't have a heating pad w/o a thermostat. A heating pad can exceed 130+ degrees when unregulated and can burn your snake.

Here are a some good thermostat recommendations:
The Herpstats are top notch. They are very accurate, safe, and reliable. They are expensive, but they do their jobs very well. The base model starts off at $99
http://spyderrobotics.com/index.html

If you're on a budget, the $27 Hydrofarm from Amazon(w/ free shipping) is one of the better lower end thermostats. Better than any petstore thermostat in my opinion. It's not as reliable or accurate as a herpstat, but it works fine.
http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...7876947&sr=1-1

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But isnt that basically the same thing as a Reostat? I plug the heat pad into the reostat and set the tempature?
Also good news about the humidity, i put a damp towel over the saran wrap last night, the humidity was at 64 and only dropped to 59 for almost 12 hours. So I think the problem is solved! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mallowolf

But isnt that basically the same thing as a Reostat? I plug the heat pad into the reostat and set the tempature?
Also good news about the humidity, i put a damp towel over the saran wrap last night, the humidity was at 64 and only dropped to 59 for almost 12 hours. So I think the problem is solved! :)

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While rheostats do regulate temps, they're not reliable. They tend to fail easily or incorrectly regulate the temp.

Rheostats work fine w/ some people. But I personally wouldn't risk my own snakes w/ one.

The thermostats were just a suggestion. In the end, its really up to you.

Ok I was just alittle confused. I think i'll keep the rheostat for right now and save up alittle extra cash for a thermostat. I really appreciate the help! I'm sure taboo will be happier now that the humidity is good! :banana:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by beefsupreme

Wouldn't soaking the substrate increase the risk of mold as well as scale rot....unnecessarily? I am no snake master but it seems to me that would be a risky move when the problem can be remedied in other ways.

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Sorry, ive always had a problem finding the right words for what I mean.

Let me try to reword it, I dont mean literally soaking, but more of a good spray. Not to where water is seeping out or puddling up, just kind of moist. Thats what I did when I used coco im my tank, and I just left the dirt under the hides dry, and I never had a problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cmack91

Sorry, ive always had a problem finding the right words for what I mean.

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http://i.imgur.com/LRE5v.jpg

The problem with rheostats vs thermostats is that rheostats lack a probe to actually measure the temperature. As a result, the setting that works perfectly in the winter, burns your snake in the summer (or even A/C on vs A/C off). The rheostat just controls how much electricity is going through(in broad generic non engineer terms). A thermostat turns it on and off based on checking the temperature.

If you have stable house temperatures, a rheostat can probably work just fine, but you have to make sure you monitor the temperature yourself(temp guns are great for that. Get one if you don't have one already).

As for the humidity issue, as a tank owner, I struggled with that for a long time. What I eventually did was get a piece of acrylic plastic from home depot and cut it so that it covers about 2/3 of the lid. I also put the light on a timer so that it wasn't on all the time. Now my humidity is regularly around 70% without misting and can go higher as needed(in shed for example). Aluminum foil helped in the past, but I found it tends to curl up at the edges and let the air(and humidity) out a lot more.