Humidity temperature?

Hey all!

Just picked up my BP today ! Well, I bought my tank first to see how it heated up to the right temperatures and all. I bought the tank, zoo med heat pad, zilla thermostat, and a ceremic emitter. after all the research done i got the temps right I believe. inside the the "cave" with the t-stat I have it set to 88'F. Hot side is around 88-90'F and cold it's 80-85F. but the humidity is is around 40.?? I read couple websites and said to make less air flow and add more water. so I did, I covered the other half where the lamp is at and added another bowl, so then jumped to 50-55 but now it's back at 40. What am I doing wrong? anything I can do?

TIA! Kevin.

Now at 35. :(

Glass tanks just don't hold it well. The trick I use is keeping moss in the hides. I mist it every so often during non shed periods and keep it damp during a shed. Doing this creates a higher humidity level in the hide and since that is where your snake stays most of the time it gets alot from it.

Watch the Zilla tstat. They are not very good and are prone to breaking. I Would check out another tstat and return the Zilla or keep it for a emergency spare.

Check out this thread.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-a-thermostat

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KMG

Check out this thread.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-a-thermostat

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Thanks a lot!! I might just order that. I'm gonna go to a pet store(not petco pet smart or any of those) there's a shop that's been close by for quite some time and Ima see what best product they offer. what ever they offer I'll post up here and search it. thanks!

Any other ways for more humidity will be appreciated.

I covered most of the screen top and added a larger wide water bowl but it still will not stay where you need it. Using the moss I have always had perfect sheds and don't worry about the tank humidity as much. I do still mist the tank but this is more for the live plants. Using cypress mulch will help too. It holds moisture well and turns golden yellow when its dry.

Unlike most people I have no issue at all with glass tanks and humidity.
But, I think I might be spending a bit more on substrate than other people.
I use repti-bark and coconut husk mixed. The cococnut hold moisture and helps boost humidity without going mouldy and can still be spot cleaned.
I have yet to find a product here similar to the Kritters-Krumble cubes of coconut in Canada, hopefully I will have better luck at the Expo on Sunday.
Shredded coconut is not exactly ideal, it is just what I have to work with atm.
I do still have to mist occasionally but, not very often I just check humidity when I do my morning and evening spot-clean checks.

What kind of moss do you use??

http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products...husk_brick.php
That mixed with repti-bark.
Although every single brick I've bought so far has been shredded as opposed to more of a "kibble" type which is what I would prefer.
I don't use moss but, I suppose you could just as easily use peat/sphagnum. But, I would look into what you need to do to prevent other problems like mites/parasites etc if using that unless you can get pre-sterilized moss.

Nice thread! I, too, use a glass tank. At first I tried the bigger water bowl. It helped, but humidity would drop into the low 40% range. Our family loves "collecting" different varieties of house plants we get from a great local greenhouse. It was there I discovered a GREAT solution! Their sphagnum moss is by far the best I have ever seen or used! I've tried the moss from big box stores (Petsmart/Co), but it is pretty skimpy compared to actual greenhouse quality. Thick, full moss with no added filler, like those bare stick things and dried up leaves. With my screen covered 90-95% with glass and a couple handfuls of the GOOD moss, I keep my tank at a steady 60% for days! I have only used Repti-bark for substrate.

Both big box pet stores will have moss (i think zoo med) in a green box. I Just tare off what I need and put it in the hides.

ahh got it. well for now I'm trying the soaked rag, since its a mighty small tank till it grows. it's about 10inches now.
are temps good?

hot side is 85-90F the heat pad under the cave is set at 88F
cold side-around 75-80F.
good? more/less heat?

Seems good. I recommend a temp gun. I love my temp gun for double checking temps. When I got one I found that what I thought to be good numbers were actually off. Stick on thermometers give the air temp which is good but being the snakes crawl on the ground I am more concerned with ground temp. The temp gun gives you the ability to check them. Also setting a tstat to a certain temp does not mean that is what will be felt by the snake. The heat has to penetrate the floor to get to the snake. Some substrates collect the heat making it warmer than wanted and some lose heat making it colder. Example: my tstat is set at 98 but on the surface it is only 90.

Amazon has some cheap IR temp guns.

Makes total sense!! Never crossed my mind, greatly appriciated. Bumping it up right now!
the wet rag seemed to work, it's at 58.
thanks again for all your help. :)

another question. my ceremic emitter is connected straight to the wall. I know it can get hot, but it has a dimmer it's not all the way up. but for for safety reasons, should it be connected to the thermostat? reason I ask is cause the one thermostat I have is connected to the heat pad. so there set at different temps. Should I leave it to the dimmer or be on the "safer" side and connected it to the thermostat? I once already tried leaving It on the t-stat the air temp drop to like 70f.
thanks again.

If your temps dropped that much with the emitter on a thermostat I would look at your probe placement. A thermostat is likely the safest way to go for your snake. You might be okay with the rheostat if it isn't your main heat source and is just taking some of the heating load off of your main heater.
I could be wrong though.

yes, before I bought the heat lamp I tried just the heat pad. but the heat pad NVER passed 65-70F. I had to buy the lamp in order to keep the temp I have now.

It depends. If you run your a/c all the time like I do and keep the house at the same temp constantly plugging it into the wall is fine. If you like to change your a/c temp, like turning it up when you leave the house you should put it on a tstat. Reason being if your room stays at one temp and you set the ceh(ceramic heat emitter) at the proper height and position. The temp will not fluctuate. However, if you turn the a/c up when you leave the house it gets warmer but the power going to the heat source is the same so the cage gets warmer too, usually way to warm. Now if you leave the house and turn up the air and have the heater on a tstat it shuts it off when it reaches your set temp. A rheostat only dims the power but if the temp in the house goes up the rheostat doesn't know and keeps pumping out heat when it needs to be shut off.

The safest thing would be to have a tstat because worst case scenario your a/c breaks then your animals could over heat. That is a long shot and usually you will notice your a/c is broken before anything happens. I use one che and have it directly plugged in and have never had an issue.

Remember a che takes time to warm up and cool down, much more than a bulb.

(note: using a lamp stand is the proper way to use bulbs and che's. This keeps you from jarring and shaking them, making them last longer. Plus they allow you to raise or lower the heater for the correct hot spot and heat coverage.)

Great. my case is connecting it to the wall. why? Cause the rest of the house is really warm. parents like to be hot for some reasons. and MY room is cold as hell. maybe 60-70. I close the my vents and have a small opening. so it's really cold in my room.