Humidity/Temperature Assistance please.

Alright so, I've got a bit of a problem.

My husband and I live in a big 2 bedroom trailer home.

-Lights a Cigarette.-

So anyways, I'm being super worried and paranoid lately about equal temperatures in the house.

I live in Kansas so, we have very HOT summers, and very COLD winters.

Our house at this time is not insulated very well. Our windows and doors need to be replaced!

Really trying to push our Land Manager to fix these current problems and she's still waiting on word back from our out of state landlord.

Our living room and hallway are almost always cold, or hot in the summer. We haven't lived here long.

Our two bedrooms hold heat a little better, but the problem is, with the heat turned on, the temperatures in the snake tanks rises beyond 90!

When the heat isn't on it's either just above or below 80 degrees. I'll give you a little info about my snakes tanks, and I do need kind and caring info to make things better.

Sampson my male ball is in a 20gal tall, we will be moving him into a 20gal long before long. His tank has a screen locking top. We taped foil to the top of all lids, with one square cut out for heat lamps and a smaller one on the opposite side for ventilation. We were/are having problems keeping humidity up. All have screen tops.

Anastasia is in a 20gal long, with a red bulbed lamp and her heating area in her hide.

Kaa is in a 10gal with a heating pad in his hide, and his lamp above it also. His heating pad is also so hot, I had to slide a piece of paper towel over it so he didn't burn himself. Which seems to be working for the time being until we can get a thermostat to turn it down.

I mist them, because if not, they're completely dry due to our uncontrolled temperature changes.

What can I do to try and keep their temperatures and humidity where they need to be? I'm finding myself spraying them every morning to keep their bark moist, otherwise it just dries out. :\ It doesn't hold moisture for long, yet when I got the bark it was already moist inside the bag. Because of this I'm afraid of scale rot.

If you need anymore information, please ask, I'll try to answer, but I do need some advice. Thanks guys. <3

Putting paper on an unregulated UTH is an extreme fire hazard. If the UTH were to short out the paper would most likely burn and who knows what would happen from there. Until you get a thermostat I would suggest that you just unplug the UTH. They are simply too dangerous (to your snake and you) to run unregulated.

Your winter problems can be solved with higher wattage infrared heat bulbs and either thermostats or lamp dimmers. You want a heat lamp that has more than enough power to heat the cage during the coldest nights, but can be turned down when it's warmer. A thermostat would be best as it can constantly adjust the heat output, but lamp dimmers would work as well but you would have to constantly adjust them.

As for humidity how low does it get? I would recommend that you use humidity cycles instead of trying to keep it up 24/7 if you are worried about scale rot.

By humidity cycles I mean heavily misting the cage so it gets up to 70%-80% then letting it fall to 30%-40% before misting again. This way the cage has a chance to dry out before you rewet it.

Another option is humid hides

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

Putting paper on an unregulated UTH is an extreme fire hazard. If the UTH were to short out the paper would most likely burn and who knows what would happen from there. Until you get a thermostat I would suggest that you just unplug the UTH. They are simply too dangerous (to your snake and you) to run unregulated.

Your winter problems can be solved with higher wattage infrared heat bulbs and either thermostats or lamp dimmers. You want a heat lamp that has more than enough power to heat the cage during the coldest nights, but can be turned down when it's warmer. A thermostat would be best as it can constantly adjust the heat output, but lamp dimmers would work as well but you would have to constantly adjust them.

As for humidity how low does it get? I would recommend that you use humidity cycles instead of trying to keep it up 24/7 if you are worried about scale rot.

By humidity cycles I mean heavily misting the cage so it gets up to 70%-80% then letting it fall to 30%-40% before misting again. This way the cage has a chance to dry out before you rewet it.

Another option is humid hides

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Right, Towel removed and UTH unplugged. I was just really concerned about belly heat, he ate yesterday night. D:

We have something that shuts off their lamps for 1 hour and then turns them back on again for 3 hours, but without kaa having some form of UTH I'm afraid he'll get too cold. And without heat, I can't keep his hide humid. D:

Can you go grab a lamp dimmer from home depot until you get a thermostat?

I can go see if they have one, sure. It will have to die us over till we get a thermostat. I want something that tells us what the temperature is.

I use something along these lines. They will work to dial down the UTH until a good thermostat can be purchased.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-Cr...1#.UokcVCfJf5o

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/anu5aqa3.jpg

This is what im using for now. I cut a piece of bottom off an old tub and hot glued a zoo med digital thermometer to the top of it to simulate what the temp of the tub bottoms are. Since most all my snakes burrow into the substrate. Then I use the dimmer to adjust the temp. This is just temp but does work.
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Speechless right now,lol

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Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

Speechless right now,lol

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Why?

Because obviously we don't have common sense ;)
I think the dimmers on the lights is a good option ( although you'll have to adjust them accordingly.
Humidity I would change you're substrate to Eco Earth or other coconut husk substrate... I saved my sanity with dealing with the humidity in the tank

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I ordered a helix and it's coming but like most I had to save up to buy it. The dimmer has been working fine. Temps stay between 92 and 94 degree's. I never try to push for someone to use a dimmer permanently, but they are better than nothing and will work temporarily until better stuff can be acquired.

I have a friend living in Kansas, he has not run into these problems since he switched most of his collection to tubs and custom plastic/wood cages. Apply the laws of negative feedback until you get the proper equipment....Excess heat? Increase ventilation, Lack of humidity? Apply moisture, I saturate my substrate weekly, in your case I suggest you mist vigorously in the evening or early morning. I do not use thermostats for smaller undertank heaters and low watt heat cables; however, I am slowly introducing them to my set ups using higher out put mats for the sake of energy efficiency...still hate the damn things though.

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

I have a friend living in Kansas, he has not run into these problems since he switched most of his collection to tubs and custom plastic/wood cages. Apply the laws of negative feedback until you get the proper equipment....Excess heat? Increase ventilation, Lack of humidity? Apply moisture, I saturate my substrate weekly, in your case I suggest you mist vigorously in the evening or early morning. I do not use thermostats for smaller undertank heaters and low watt heat cables; however, I am slowly introducing them to my set ups using higher out put mats for the sake of energy efficiency...still hate the damn things though.

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What I've been doing is, every morning when I wake up, I will take the snakes out, or wrap them around my neck while I mist down their bedding/bark to where it is damp through most of the day. It's dried out quickly. I mix the bark around with my hand, and spray it, until it has the the moisture it did when it was in the bag still. Give them clean water. When I mist them like this, I fear I may be over doing it, and don't know if it would do more harm to them then good. Jeremy and I are looking in to getting an IR Thermometer and also a thermostat as soon as we can. In the mean time I've turned our house heat down to about 50 degrees or so.

Ugh I love this house, yet I hate it so much.

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Originally Posted by KayleighBrown

What I've been doing is, every morning when I wake up, I will take the snakes out, or wrap them around my neck while I mist down their bedding/bark to where it is damp through most of the day. It's dried out quickly. I mix the bark around with my hand, and spray it, until it has the the moisture it did when it was in the bag still. Give them clean water. When I mist them like this, I fear I may be over doing it, and don't know if it would do more harm to them then good. Jeremy and I are looking in to getting an IR Thermometer and also a thermostat as soon as we can. In the mean time I've turned our house heat down to about 50 degrees or so.

Ugh I love this house, yet I hate it so much.

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Sound good, I would just pour the water evenly though, it will spread quite evenly on its own. I would seriously think about switching to tubs later on.

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Originally Posted by Physician&Snakes

Sound good, I would just pour the water evenly though, it will spread quite evenly on its own. I would seriously think about switching to tubs later on.

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I don't know all that much about tubs.

I cannot use watt tape as I don't know how to cut or use cords compatible for it as a belly heat source.

Can UTH pads be used with sterlite tubs instead of watt tape?

And is that the only heat that's needed for them in a tub?

I'm very interested in learning more about tub use and what I can do to keep my snakes warm, cool, happy and healthy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KayleighBrown

I don't know all that much about tubs.

I cannot use watt tape as I don't know how to cut or use cords compatible for it as a belly heat source.

Can UTH pads be used with sterlite tubs instead of watt tape?

And is that the only heat that's needed for them in a tub?

I'm very interested in learning more about tub use and what I can do to keep my snakes warm, cool, happy and healthy.

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A uth can be used on a tub... but MUST be controlled. Tubs are awesome for humidity but ambient room temp must stay at a constant 77-82. As you can not add a supplemental heat source

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