Temps/Humidity question

So the ongoing struggle continues to get a situation where the temp & humidity levels stay where i want them to. At this point, the warm side is right where i think Hissy likes it. It stays between 89 & 94 degrees. The humidity on the warm side, at least under the heating lamp, stays around 35 or 40%. On the other side of the tank though, the temp stays around the 76 degree mark & the humidity lingers in the 60% range. Would all of you snake enthusiasts say that this is going to be suitable for the little lady??

PS: I caught her takin a nice long drink today for the first time! That was great!!! She looked so damn cute! Damn me for not havin film in the camera!

More humidity on the warm side would be good - do you have your water bowl over on the warm side? If you can't up the humidty on that side you might want to consider making your lil lady a humid hide.

Place a small water bowl on the hot side. Or what Smulkin said. Is that your Tank in the Avatar? If so is the screen top duct taped? That works wonders for me. I'm waiting till she out grows the tank before I get me self a large rubbermaid.

Yeah, that is my tank in the avatar. The duct tape thing did not work all that well for me but towels have seemed to work really nicely. Certainly though, had I known about how much easier a rubbermaid set up would have been, i would have absolutely gone that route instead. Just like you ice, i am gunna wait til my little angel outgrows the tank she has now before i move her to a rubbermaid set-up where the whole humidity thing should be easier.

Outside of the humidity on the warm side, is that temp range good??

I would not let it go above 90. Try increasing the amount of substrate to see if that would help. Another idea is to see if you can keep the temp of the room at a constant.

90-94 is ok on the warm side, but not any hotter. You should up the temps on the cool side a bit though. 80 is better.

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Originally Posted by JLC

90-94 is ok on the warm side, but not any hotter. You should up the temps on the cool side a bit though. 80 is better.

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Judy do you know the max temp that a BP can tolerate without getting burned?

FWIW, the BP Manual recommends a basking area of 90-95, so I'm fairly certain that 94 is entirely tolerable.

Thank you Marla :D

You're welcome, Raj. Also, to the original question, if it's a large tank then I don't see a problem with the coolest part being 76 because that should indicate a wide selection of choices for thermoregulation. However, Judy's right that 80 or so is preferable, because a bp who spends too much time in too-cool temps (because of a favored hide, for example) is more susceptible to respiratory infections. I just switched which hide is on which side of Snyder's enclosure last night for that very reason, because she's started to prefer the cooler hide and was spending all her time in it. As soon as I put her back in, she went straight for that hide though it had moved to the warm side.

Raj, I don't know the max temp before burning would occur, but I imagine it would not be anywhere near your goal temps. In other words, if you aim for a hot-spot of 94, then the occassional swing upward to 95 or 96 won't hurt your snake. But you'll always want to keep a close eye on the temps and equipment used to maintain those temps. I've seen and heard too many tragic stories because a thermostat went bad or some other similar failure.

I think that i will be alright. The cool side is at 76 but it is a 20 gallon tank & there is not a hide on the cool side. I just have her main water dish & a humidity pad on the cool side. There is a hide in the middle, where the temp is around 80 or 81 & then her favorite on the warm side. I have been watchin her & we hung out for a half an hour or so today. I re-arranged her stuff today cuz i cleaned the tank after we hung out & she seems really really happy. I think that things are going well. Do any of you think that re-arranging upsets them? Does it make them feel like they are almost in a new place again???

I'm very curious as to how you manage to have a temperature gradient of almost 20 degrees in just a 20 gallon tank. How and where are you measuring the temps?

I've got Shaggy in a 20gal long, and his basking spot is ~110 with a cool spot at the far side of the tank at 76...so a 20 degree spread doesn't seem that bad to me. Although, Eddie's tank looks like a 20 tall, rather than a 20 long...not as much floor space. It could be a misleading picture though.

As for rearranging the stuff...it can stress them out and throw them off feed for awhile. I've heard enough anecdotes about that to convince me it is so. But I'm also sure it depends on the "snake-onality" (as Randy once put it!) of your snake. Some are way more laid back than others and rearranging may not bother them at all.

Ya know what Marla, i have been trying to figure that out forever myself!! Like Judy observed, it is definately a 20 gallon tall, not wide. Initially i was using the acu-rite deal with the single probe & I became concerned that perhaps the probe was not working properly. So, I went out yesterday & bought another acu-rite digitial & put the unit near where i had the probe before & sure enough, the temp range is HUGE! I can't explain it! Right now, with a digital on both sides of the tank, the warm side is 95 degrees on the nose with 44% humidity & the cool side is 76.8 with 78% humidity!! I have no clue how my temps & humidity levels very so greatly over a span of about two feet of space but they do. And yes, I tried switching the units to make sure that they are both working & both had the same readings! Very curious indeed!!

That is very curious Eddie. What is your room temp? Maybe you keep it cool enough that it can easily draw your heat out. If that's the case, you should be able to stabilize it somewhat by insulating the tank. This is easy enough to do -- you can just cover the back and sides with cardboard, and if you want it to look nice, put an aquarium background between the cardboard and glass.