Getting Humidity up to spec.

currently i only have 35% humidity according to the AcuRite.

underneat the "hide" i have 93F and on the far left side i have 82F looking good so far.

i am using a heat lamp, and a reptile pad underneath the glass, but not attached to the glass.

any suggestions on getting humidity to spec? i have a bowl of water half full, and a folder sitting over half of it, with the heat lamp directly on the screen trapping more air in so about 1/5th of the screen is open.

is it just a virtue of time to get humidity up??

or any othe suggestions?

the ball python is still at the pet store, were picking it up tomorrow

The first problem is the heat lamp. Heat lamps dry out the enclosure and make it very difficult to maintain proper humidity. Combine that with a glass tank with a screen top and it becomes even more difficult. Let me ask you, what is the reason for the heat lamp? Is the room particularly cold? If not, you should be able to get those proper temps with just the UTH. Where are you measuring temps? You should be doing it where the snakes belly touches. Hope this helps!

Jamie

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Originally Posted by jglass38

The first problem is the heat lamp. Heat lamps dry out the enclosure and make it very difficult to maintain proper humidity. Combine that with a glass tank with a screen top and it becomes even more difficult. Let me ask you, what is the reason for the heat lamp? Is the room particularly cold? If not, you should be able to get those proper temps with just the UTH. Where are you measuring temps? You should be doing it where the snakes belly touches. Hope this helps!

Jamie

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i have the one measurement probe attatched to the hide, since it wont be removed, and is just a set down hid.

the other temp guage is just the acurite thing sitting on the paper towels.


i have a small reptile heating pad, which is ment for 5 gallon tanks as thats what the lady reccomended. should i attatch it to the glass? or keep it well below the glass???

there are two layers of paper towels between the glass and where the belly would lay.

Well did you get a thermostat? Normally you would put them on the glass but with no tstat I wouldnt chance it.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Well did you get a thermostat? Normally you would put them on the glass but with no tstat I wouldnt chance it.

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no tstat, my GF's roomie became scared of making my GF's father pay to much... i dont know why... he would pay anything to make sure his daughter is happy.

right now the hide is 94.5 middle 90 and left side, near the water bowl is about 83.

i didnt think a heatlamp was a good idea, but the lady sold it to us, as i knew what they do, but i didnt know they dried out the air.. its a red ligh, the night light, not the other light.

ok, so im about to try turning off the heatlamp, and propping the heating pad up against the glass to get the radiant hear. i wont be "gluing" it by removving the sticky pad, but rather just putting something small under it so it fully touches the glass, and i will see what it does to the temperature, as tis currently obvious that the heat lamp is doing nothing but making the temps go really high, and humidity low.

If you don't want to go with a t-stat, I would recommend a rheostat instead. You can get one from any decent hardware store..just look in the lamp/lighting section. With that, you can turn the heat on the pad down so that it is not going to risk burning while up against the glass. If I remember right, I got mine for about $15. Maybe less.

yep I use dimmers just like this one- http://www.mgreptiles.com/TABLEDIMMER.html

ok so currently, we have the hide sitting at about a constant 88.3, im not sure on glass temp, but inside the hide itself is 88, so the glass is prolly a lil to hot.

on the cold side we have 79F

also on the cold side is 44% humidity.

for the humidity, i have devised a way of taking the heat lamp, keeping it off, and putting a damp paper towel under it, but on top of the screen so the snake cant just stay on it all day, it seems to be keeping humidity at 44%, and thats been constant for about 45 minutes, not sure if it will stay or not.

as for one other question my GF had...

are hanging in the cage, and the acurite thermometer sitting inside the tank on the floor, okay for the snake and wont kill him or anything? it seems as if it could possibly tip... but im not sure if that would hurt the snake or not, she is just wondering.

tomorrow i may post a pic of the setup as it is currently

i dont think if the acurtie tipped it would kill your snake, shouldnt do too mucn dmg, but I have mine velcrod to the glass wall on the cool side, with the bottom of it touching the substrate

what size tank do you have? I have a 20L and I put waxpaper on top of the screen, and cut a circle outta the paper a little bigger than the lamp. i dont usually keep the lamp on, and when its off humid about 55%, and when its on usually 45%

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Originally Posted by mm91187

i dont think if the acurtie tipped it would kill your snake, shouldnt do too mucn dmg, but I have mine velcrod to the glass wall on the cool side, with the bottom of it touching the substrate

what size tank do you have? I have a 20L and I put waxpaper on top of the screen, and cut a circle outta the paper a little bigger than the lamp. i dont usually keep the lamp on, and when its off humid about 55%, and when its on usually 45%

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its a 10 gallon tank.

i might try and get some velcro to completely affix it to the side.

my temps dropped over night to around 87 and 77 so i need to affix the UTH to the glass now, instead of just letting it sit barely touching it.

that should fix the heat issues, and a Tstat should completely solve them.


my humidity trick worked it seemed with 50% humidity.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Nourdmrolnmt1/IMG_0128.jpg
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Nourdmrolnmt1/IMG_0129.jpg
(copy and paste, else you will get a bad refferrer image... i didnt have time to resize either.)


they are large, i didnt have time to resize.

any thing i should change in that? heatlamp is very very rarely on now, temps should rise, i attatched the UTH to the glass now...
should be getting a TSTAT today

You need 2 hides, one on the hot side one on the cool side. I would get rid of the big black hide you have and get something much smaller, try to find something about the same thickness of the snake tall... granola box, other small cardboard boxes work great. Terra cotta saucers at Wal Mart work great with a chink out of them for them to get in. even a low small plastic bowl. How old/big is the snake?

Other than that it looks good. Thermostat + 1 small hide on the cool + 1 small hide on the hot side and you should be there as soon as your temps get up to low 90's and low 80's

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Originally Posted by SnakeySnakeSnake

You need 2 hides, one on the hot side one on the cool side. I would get rid of the big black hide you have and get something much smaller, try to find something about the same thickness of the snake tall... granola box, other small cardboard boxes work great. Terra cotta saucers at Wal Mart work great with a chink out of them for them to get in. even a low small plastic bowl. How old/big is the snake?

Other than that it looks good. Thermostat + 1 small hide on the cool + 1 small hide on the hot side and you should be there as soon as your temps get up to low 90's and low 80's

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the only problem im having is getting temps right.

the heat lamp makes it TO hot. but just the small 5 gallon reptile heater gets only about 89 and 79F sorta varying.

what i really want to do, is get another 5 gallon reptile pad, and 2 Tstats. get the other reptile pad in the middle of the tank, and set the Tstat in the middle to about 93F, the one on the far right to 98. which should keep glass temp right there, but top of newspaper tank slightly lower, and then the cool side should just be about 85... does this sound like a plan?

her mother will be purchasing this stuff tomorrow.

You can snag a lamp dimmer in wal-mart for 11 bucks. just FYI. they work great if your using one of the cheapie zoomed pads.

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Originally Posted by AustimusMaximus

You can snag a lamp dimmer in wal-mart for 11 bucks. just FYI. they work great if your using one of the cheapie zoomed pads.

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or you can buy a rheostat, an extension cord, and a blue box, and build one for $5 ;)

Nothing good comes from dimmers...They should be kept for use in an emergency.