Setup Review - 1 month in

Hi guys just wanted to get some feedback about the month into my first month of ownership of our new BP.


We have the Exo Terra 24 x 18 x 12 terrarium with Ecoearth substrate.


I use an ultratherm UTH with thermostat for warm side and CHE with Lutron dimmer for cool side with digital thermometer with humidity gauge built in.


My piebald has eaten like a champ taking the F/T rat pups fast every time, every week. I document everything just to keep record of his progress and how we are doing as owners. He weighed in at 245g about two weeks ago. He stays in his cool hide about 95% of the time every now and then I will catch them out in the middle of the night and a lot of times he's just poking his cute little head out looking around but stays in his little pyramid almost all the time.


His temps stay good at 90° / 80° pretty regularly but his humidity goes from 45% to maybe 50%. He had his first shed recently with one semi-big piece and a few small pieces and didn't quite shed completely all the way off and I tried to help him with soaking then a wet bag and it was a complete debacle he was stressed and it didn't help. So I put him back in the tank two days ago and went to feed him and he ate again great and I decided to let him be for a couple days.


I have aluminum foil almost completely covering the top but clearly my CHE is sucking all the moisture out of the tank. I can missed the area down like crazy substrate hide everything and the humidity will go up for an hour or so then come back down.


I feel like I'm doing a few things right but clearly his humidity is not high enough… I'm just not sure I want to turn around and drop another 300 on an animal plastics enclosure and heat set up just yet…Anything obvious I can do right off the bat to help him?




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I would try putting his water bowl under the CHE and give it a good mist, take your humidity and come back.

Can you put the CHE on a dimmer, or use some other less harsh ambient heat source? The water bowl under the lamp is a good idea, just make sure it doesn't dry the bowl out and leave him with no H2O!

I would not move the Che over the water dish. What I would do is put damp towels over most of the top where the foil is. The Che over the water dish makes the water to warm thereby creating the skim on the water faster as well. Even with changing it daily. It will be trial and error until you hit that sweet spot with glass tanks lol.

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Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

I would not move the Che over the water dish. What I would do is put damp towels over most of the top where the foil is. The Che over the water dish makes the water to warm thereby creating the skim on the water faster as well. Even with changing it daily. It will be trial and error until you hit that sweet spot with glass tanks lol.

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I guess it works for me so well because my enclosure is 24" tall. :P

The simplest solutions that I've found (and I still use) are:
1. Get a slightly bigger waterdish to put under the CHE, and make sure it's never completely empty.
2. Try to spray/mist the enclosure on a regular basis. I spray it every few hours. Also, the amount you spray depends onhe tank size, and try to spray evenly.
3. Put some "dampeners" in there near the CHE as Sunnieskys said, usually people just use a damp cloth/towel.

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CHE surfaces get over 300 degrees. Add in a black metal dome and you have a focused air dryer. A dimmer is an excellent idea to cut the power to the CHE and reduce some of that massive heat output.

The also get some sphagnum moss put it in a dish with some water and put it in your tank. Several places if needed.

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Originally Posted by Tonald Drump

The simplest solutions that I've found (and I still use) are:
1. Get a slightly bigger waterdish to put under the CHE, and make sure it's never completely empty.

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I can attest to this. I was having high humidity issues (90%) using one of those wide exoterra water bowls. Barely had any water in it. It was suggested I get a smaller water dish which I fill to the brim and now I'm lucky to get in the low 70s.

I do have the CHE on a dimmer and Have it just set it so that the cool side is always at 80°… I almost feel like this Tank is a little small because I have a medium-size log hide then I have the little pyramid hide and a water dish in the middle and nothing else fits at all in the tank but I was always told that a bigger tank is not any better but this one just seems really cramped! I'm not sure I could go with any bigger water dish to be honest in the spot that - just no extra space...the CHE has to be exactly where it is there because this screen top has a crossbar down the middle and across the side.

I know there are some sales going on with animal plastics but I really like being able to reach in from the top - reaching in from the front in a small tank he always seems really defensive and coiled whereas from the top I can scoop him out pretty easily and I know with those PVC enclosures you can only go in from the front just not sure how I feel about that Since we like to handle him 2 to 3X a week...

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Originally Posted by ckuhn003

I can attest to this. I was having high humidity issues (90%) using one of those wide exoterra water bowls. Barely had any water in it. It was suggested I get a smaller water dish which I fill to the brim and now I'm lucky to get in the low 70s.

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Yeah, you're right, I probably should've specified how much I fill it. Currently I'm just using a small waterbowl filled 2/3rds of the way.

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Looks like you have a little guy in the Viv :)https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3264fcc24d.jpg


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Originally Posted by The Night King

I know there are some sales going on with animal plastics but I really like being able to reach in from the top - reaching in from the front in a small tank he always seems really defensive and coiled whereas from the top I can scoop him out pretty easily and I know with those PVC enclosures you can only go in from the front just not sure how I feel about that Since we like to handle him 2 to 3X a week...

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You may like reaching in from the top but trust me as someone who had glass for years, the difference in having conditions just right and stressing about keeping them right make a PVC enclosure worth it. With time and training you can easily get your snake to be comfortable with any direction you come in to handle them.

So ask yourself this: Is it more important for you to have an easy time to scoop my snake out or is it better for your snake to have perfect conditions?

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Originally Posted by SDA

You may like reaching in from the top but trust me as someone who had glass for years, the difference in having conditions just right and stressing about keeping them right make a PVC enclosure worth it. With time and training you can easily get your snake to be comfortable with any direction you come in to handle them.

So ask yourself this: Is it more important for you to have an easy time to scoop my snake out or is it better for your snake to have perfect conditions?

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Perfct conditions of course! Hopefully we can figure out to make that happen with learning to help the little fella feel comfortable, happy and trusting of us :)

I may try some sphagnum moss around the tank in a bowl of water.....I was helping him shed last night with a wet warm rage rubbing him gently on his areas of skin that didn't quite come off. I got a lot of it off but not quite all. He was very calm during it...that made me me happy!

Couple pics:




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Originally Posted by The Night King

I was helping him shed last night with a wet warm rage rubbing him gently on his areas of skin that didn't quite come off. I got a lot of it off but not quite all. He was very calm during it...that made me me happy!

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Yeah .... Having them slither continually in your hands through a wet , rough textured towel works great .


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It seems like I have read to try and get some moisture in his hide when I see him start to shed (eyes get cloudy). How do I do that exactly? It's such an enclosed area, I'd have to shove a semi wet rag or moss, etc in there while he's in it right?

Or maybe just put the sphagnum moss in a little bowl near the front of his hide? Where do you get sphagnum moss anyway?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Night King

It seems like I have read to try and get some moisture in his hide when I see him start to shed (eyes get cloudy). How do I do that exactly? It's such an enclosed area, I'd have to shove a semi wet rag or moss, etc in there while he's in it right?

Or maybe just put the sphagnum moss in a little bowl near the front of his hide? Where do you get sphagnum moss anyway?

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Pet store or online.

Just put moss near the hide and make sure to mist the enclosure daily during shed.

Had the same exo-terra cage and struggled to keep humidity above 50% with 3/4 of the top covered (uth and heat lamps); however, I had 3 successful/full sheds by adding damp sphagnum and misting lightly during the shed cycle... I piled it atop and around the hide and it brought humidity up to ~60-65%.

Ok so after reading the PVC setup thread over and I over I decided to go ahead and take the plunge to a AP Cage. I ordered the T10 today from Ali at AP Cages....or at least got the order in line. 10-12 week wait for the cage.


So the plan is this:

T10 Cage
Herpstat 2
PP RHP - not sure of size or wattage (will talk to Bob @ PP) but I'm guessing 80W.
Led lighting (multi color from Lowes, etc)
THG heat tape from RBI.


Initial questions:

• Currently my little fella stays in his cool side hide about 90% of the time, sometimes all the way in, other times poking his little head out. I rarely, rarely see him on hot side. I've also noticed when I take his hide off to be able to take him out for handling, he has burrowed down right next to the tank floor. The cool side (right side of current setup) has a CHE and stays about 80-81 degrees consistently. Hot side (left side) is Ultratherm UTH.

The room where the new T10 cage will be is our main living room and stays 68-72 consistently year round. We are in N. Atlanta so some change of seasons here, but nothing crazy.

Im hoping the RHP alone will get the cage where it needs to be but will have the THG tape also just in case. Here's my question....what does the above behavior (staying in cool hide all the time) mean, if anything?

With the new setup should I have the RHP on the LEFT side since that will now be the hot side, and assuming he'll stay on cool side / left side of tank?


is there anything about the setup plans that stands out or needs to be re-evaluated?

Thanks 🙂