temp and humidity

[steelsack]

Will be picking up my bp soon, trying to get the tank ready before he gets here. Having trouble with temp and humidty, tho. The tank is a 30 gallon glass tank with a screen top, overhead light, and uth under the water dish and part of the cool side to keep it comfy. Problem is, if I dont use a 100 watt bulb, the hot/basking side wont hit 90. The cool side stays about 71 and the humidity is way low.........like 30 or 25 if I dont mist. If I mist, the humidity shoots up to 60 and then gradually falls over 2 hours to 30 again. The water bowl has a lid with an access hole cut into it for a soak/hide. If I provide a soak/hide do I really need to worry about the overall humidity? I have plastic over most of the screen top and it still holds heat poorly and the light bulb seems to want to eat up the humidity. The uth doesn't seem to do much but heat the glass under the astroturf that I have as substrate (granted it's meant as a radiating belly warmer).
I was thinking that a piece of driftwood nice and damp would throw some humidity, or a humid hide on each side. Up here in northern michigan the winters just gobble the humidity out of the air, house is dry, etc, and I'm going nuts trying to provide a favorable environment.
Any suggestions? Have read just about every post on the site and still stumped
Also, when talking about red bulbs left on 24/7, are these just simple red colored bulbs or the expensive pet store uv or red bulbs? Flood? Spot?
Right now just using standard 100w.
Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!

[Wizill]

here is my suggestion, as i am using the exact same tank that you are for the moment. get rid of the lamp, and buy 2 human heating pads. one on each end of the tank, put one on medium and the other on low... put the water over the medium side, and then cover that side of the top with cling wrap.


perfect temps, perfect humidity. works for me.

[Jesús]

I have my bp in a tank just like the one you have, and to keep my humidity up I bought the Tropic-Aire humidifier and air exchanger and since then I don't have any problem with the humidity. For the temperature try one of the petshop's bulb because I have one 75watt and a small uth on the warm side that I bought on petco and is working fine for me.
Hope that this can help you
Jesús

[Jesús]

I almost forgot, what kind of substrate you use??
repti bark can help alot with the humidity you just have to spray a few times is the week and that's usually enough. I start with that, but change to repti-carpet because forme is easier to clean.
Jesús

[Pythagoras]

I saw you're using a 30 gal tank...just out of curiosity is that a 30 gal breeder tank (36x18x12) or a regular 30 gallon? I use a 40 gal breeder with a screen top for one of my snakes and also live in very low humidity indoors, so I'll just tell you how I do it and what I've experienced with some of the things you said you're doing.

I use a UTH under about 1/3 of the floor area of the tank. This is plugged into a rheostat (dimmier switch) in order to control the temp. I put several layers of newspaper directly over the UTH for extra insurance against burning him. I use a brick of shredded coconut fiber with a layer of aspen on top as a substrate. 1 brick of this stuff holds about 4 quarts of water and is not sopping wet...the aspen is more attractive looking but its main purpose is to keep my snake off of the damp substrate so that belly rot won't occur. I also use a 100 watt red heat lamp plugged into a thermostat that I can adjust to maintain whatever temperature I want. Because any type of bulb you use for heating will completely dry out the air in the tank, I covered the entire screen top with duct tape, except for a circle just a little larger than the lamp hood. With this setup I am able to create any temperature gradient I want from 95 hot side/79 cool side to about 82 hot/72 cool. I am able to maintain 80% humidity for a whole week before it drops below 70%, and I can keep it above 50% for a month. An alternative, as you mentioned would be to create humid hides. This will work for you because really your bp will spend 95% of the time in its hide anyway so why even worry about trying to keep the entire enclosure humid, right? Sometimes I do this when my snakes shed, but be careful that your snake is not constantly lying on damp substrate because it can cause skin blisters on its belly.

Anyhoo....my advice is to ditch the astroturf or whatever that was, because although it is an okay substrate to use most of the time, if you're trying to raise humidity then it's not going to help you at all. I tried the saran wrap thing too and it didn't work very well and looked pretty bad, so I recommend you ditch that too and just use duct tape...it still doesn't look that great but it works as good as a lid on a rubbermaid.

I'm sure you already know what your temps/hum should be at but just in case you don't know:

87-90 hot side
72-80 cool side
Ball pythons do not require a drop in temperature at night time, but if you wish to cycle your animals for breeding purposes just don't let the temps drop below 70...EVER.

I keep my humidity at about 60% unless one of my snakes is shedding then I will raise it to about 80% and maybe add a humid hide.

Well, sorry I rambled on, but I'm bored.....hope this helps a lil!

Jeremy

[steelsack]

Thanks for all the input! Feel free to ramble.....all info gleaned from other people's experiences are always welcome.
Tried this, seems to be helping......took some tin foil and affixed it to the bottom of the screen so I wouldn't have to look at it (shiny side facing down into tank, of course) over about three quarters.....pretty much left enough room for the light. Took my driftwood piece that I've had on my shelf as decor for about three years (dry!) and got it good and wet. Placed it in the middle of tank half in and half out of the direct light as it shines down. Humidity now holds at around fifty or so for quite a few hours.....better. Still have the small rubbermaid water dish with access hole over half of the UTH. This is keeping the water temp in the bowl at about 78. Too hot? Too cool? Just right? I thought it's probably fine, but can raise or lower the temp by either cutting a peice of turf the same diameter as the bowl and letting it rest on the glass bottom of the tank to make it warmer or slip a few layers of newspaper under turf to make it cooler, or just moving it around-half on half off..........
Here's where I got technical.......
I took a digital theremometer and layed it on the side of the tank with the UTH. Folded turf over tip and took a reading-99.3. A little too hot? I keep the UTH under the cold side to sort of keep the belly warm, but at that temp it's not much of a cold side anymore, is it? Should the cold side be left completey unheated even underneath? If I ditch the bulb and go with heat pads on each side, is there no concern for air temp? I was thinking that a bulb on one side which keeps it about 97 for the toasty side would be good, followed by the water hide in the middle where the UTH begins, followed by a hide area at the unlit end where the floor is kept nice and warm by the last half of the UTH not covered by the water bowl. That's the way it is now, with the driftwood sort of in the middle half in and out of the light's direct beam. The driftwood is also shaped so that it can be climbed on for any basking that may or may not happen, or hid underneath for a shadowy "air warmed" hide.
Temps are holding at: 97 hot lighted side
86 middle of tank
73 cool end with the astroturf floor surface temp of 99
78 water temp
humidity at cool end is 50 and holding nicely
Again thanks for helping a newbie! As I'm sure you can relate, I just want to make sure I'm dottin the I's and crossing the t's.
oh yeah the measurements on the tank are 30 x 19.5 X 13, pythagoras

[Tigergenesis]

I have a 50 gallon breeder with sliding screen top. I use Lizard Liner carpet substrate. I cover most of the screen with duct tape also. I use a UTH hooked up to a rheostat on one half of the tank (warm side), on the cool side I use a 100 watt infrared heat lamp (160 watt in winter). I also use the Tropic-Aire humidifier w/ air pump to increase humidity. No misting needed unless I want to up humidity while in shed (I also add a humid hide but my BP never uses it) - or I add a wet towel on the top.

Warm side: 90 during day, 88 at night
Cool side: 80 during day, 78 at night
Humidity: 60% (I mist and/or cover top with wet towel while in shed to up)

[BallKingdom]

For heat and humidity.... Well, tanks aren't good at all. So sooner or later you might wanna buy a rubbermaid or a custom built cage...

For now just use humid hides, mist the cage, and cover half of the top. Should work...

[steelsack]

Yeah, have been looking at Precisions. Will purchase one in the spring, no doubt about it. For now, I'm off to the store to buy a red bulb and some duct tape............

[Tigergenesis]

I'll agree that it can be extra work trying to find what works best for you tank (in terms of holding heat and humidity), but you can make it work. It is possible. I personally think it's worth it.

Good luck!