Is my setup ok?

I've got my bp in a 55 gallon glass tank. A uth on one side and a lamp on the other. The temperature are 90 on the warm side, 80 on the cool. 2 identical hides, a water bowl and a climbing tree inside. Is it too big for an adult bp? Any help would be great. :)

no way I think that sounds like a very nice enclosure. Especially considering a great deal of ball pythons are kept in tiny tubs :(

Sounds good to me as long as you can maintain the humidity in that large of a tank and has a secure top, main thing is that the snake is/stays healthy (eating/shedding etc)

I agree, it sounds good as long as you can maintain a temp/humidity balance in a tank that large. I find that my larger tank (around 45g) is tricky, in order to get the temps up high enough, the humidity begins to suffer.

I am having some difficulty with the humidity. Any suggestions?

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Originally Posted by Addicted2BP

no way I think that sounds like a very nice enclosure. Especially considering a great deal of ball pythons are kept in tiny tubs :(

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Originally Posted by psychopyro1885

I am having some difficulty with the humidity. Any suggestions?

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I am having humidity problems as well..I think some sphagnum moss will help and a wet rag placed along top of the screen and just mist as often asu can.. I try to atleast 2-3 times a day. Maybe even look into so,e sort of humidifier,was looking at them today

my work schedule don't make it easy,but so far,so good...

From what I have read is some people secure plastic sheathing on the OUTSIDE... I repeat THE OUTSIDE of the screen top. Across a large portion of it to help maintain the humidity and the heat. I am intrigued to see what you find for a solution I am getting ready to possibly rebuild my 55 lid. That I just got.

Eco earth worked well for me for keeping humidity up

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I think that sounds great! I would just make sure your actual substrate temp is between 88 and 92 and your ambient temp is somewhere around 80 - 90. 55 Gal are tricky to get things right, but make amazing terrariums for adult BPs if done right :)

You could even make a vivarium out of it if you want to get fancy. Just don't put anything aquatic in it or your snake will probably eat it...or it may die of fear hahah

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

I am having humidity problems as well..I think some sphagnum moss will help and a wet rag placed along top of the screen and just mist as often asu can.. I try to atleast 2-3 times a day. Maybe even look into so,e sort of humidifier,was looking at them today

my work schedule don't make it easy,but so far,so good...

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So I was having humidity issues as well, and living in Utah where it is super dry, makes it even harder. If you have some money I would strongly advise in getting a Monsoon misting system. Here is my setup:

-Coconut Husk Eco Earth Substrate
-Sphagnum moss
-Water bowl closer to warm side
-Pretty damp towel covering half of lid, with dry towel on top of that
-Monsoon Misting System - Set on intervals of 1 hour with 8 second mists
-Keep heating lamp at least 6 inches above lid of terrarium (This maintains my ambient heat around 86 degrees with a 100 watt red bulb)
-UTH on warm side, with water bowl slightly over to help with evaporation

I re-damp the towel in the morning before work, and before I go to bed. My humidity never drops below 40 percent. Usually sits around 50 - 60 percent.

Hope this info helps ya out! :)

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Originally Posted by BloodStar

So I was having humidity issues as well, and living in Utah where it is super dry, makes it even harder. If you have some money I would strongly advise in getting a Monsoon misting system. Here is my setup:

-Coconut Husk Eco Earth Substrate
-Sphagnum moss
-Water bowl closer to warm side
-Pretty damp towel covering half of lid, with dry towel on top of that
-Monsoon Misting System - Set on intervals of 1 hour with 8 second mists
-Keep heating lamp at least 6 inches above lid of terrarium (This maintains my ambient heat around 86 degrees with a 100 watt red bulb)
-UTH on warm side, with water bowl slightly over to help with evaporation

I re-damp the towel in the morning before work, and before I go to bed. My humidity never drops below 40 percent. Usually sits around 50 - 60 percent.

Hope this info helps ya out! :)

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money isn't an issue,I make a fairly nice living :)....i do the exact same,wet the rag right before work and I mist,same when I Get home,re most tank right away and re wet the rag. Yeah I may pic up some Eco earth or coconut husk as well. I'm using aspen now...I'm cleaning my tank fully again in about a week or two,so I will switch up substrate,I also have some new thermostats and hygrometers in the mail today that I want to set up as well.

thnx bro

Thermostat on the UTH?

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Originally Posted by cory9oh4

Thermostat on the UTH?

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Yes, I have the thermostat probe in between the uthand the tank.

I was having some humidity issues in my viv and I found that adding an extra water bowl and keeping one at either side of the viv helped to boost it a bit, that combined with misting and my humidity went from the 20%'s into the proper range, I know you said that the money is no object but I managed to fix my humidity problem by spending under £3 :) Just in case you want to try the poor man's option first ;)

yeah I use repti bark to keep humidity in. I love aspen bedding but it doesnt seem to retain even close to as much moisture

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Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

money isn't an issue,I make a fairly nice living :)....i do the exact same,wet the rag right before work and I mist,same when I Get home,re most tank right away and re wet the rag. Yeah I may pic up some Eco earth or coconut husk as well. I'm using aspen now...I'm cleaning my tank fully again in about a week or two,so I will switch up substrate,I also have some new thermostats and hygrometers in the mail today that I want to set up as well.

thnx bro

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Do NOT go with a monsoon as mentioned above unless you keep it on a separate timer! The mechanics of the timers frequently fail and mine dumped its whole contents into my enclosure one day. I came home and found my poor girl beached on a high branch with about 2'' of water below her.

If money is not an issue the best possible thing you can do is buy a mistkings system and control it with a herpstat. Both of these products are absolutely amazing, and used in conjunction will definitely solve your problems. You can set the herpstat to go off whenever humidity hits a certain point (as I do) or on a timer, or on a timer that only goes off if humidity is low enough. And you can control almost every detail down to the % of humidity it should drop below your level before it activates. Great, great products.

I used to have a 55gal but I had to ditch it because it was too much to maintain. So, I moved them to 30Ls.

Here are things I learned:
1.) A 55gal viv = super awesome to look at
2.) A big viv with lots of bare "sky" spaces = stressed out snake.
3.) Lots of clutter (branches, silk leaves, even crumpled newspaper) = happier snake but a pain in the butt on cleaning day.
4.) Ceramic heat lamps = sucks humidity right out.
5.) Damp towel = bacteria and mold.
6.) Aspen = can't retain any moisture
7.) Cypress = much better at retaining moisture
8.) Ginormous waterbowl on the hot side = good humidity but great for bacteria. Has to be cleaned twice a day. And I got a snake that just loves to crap in it.
9.) aluminum foil wrapped tank lid = improves humidity.
10.) A viv that requires too much effort to maintain = can't have more snakes.

Anyway, besides temp and humidity, another very important quality of a 55 gallon is security. The viv needs to be really cluttered. Multiple hides is needed. And all these clutter needs to be cleaned out pretty good.

Now, I've had rainforest vivs with waterfalls and stuff. I had them to display my orchids. This was much easier to maintain because nobody is crapping in it and no heavy-bodied anything is trampling over the plants and equipment.