How to Setup a Glass Tank (20 long) With Pictures!

[tttaylorrr]

This is actually my first post on this forum, although I've been poking around for the last two weeks or so. I've already encountered a tremendous amount of helpful information while perusing the shared experiences on this site. I used this guide to help set up my ball python's home. He's my first bp, I've always kept corns before. I'm encountering a problem keeping up the humidity in his enclosure though. I live in the desert, the ambient humidity in our house is about 15%. His enclosure has an UTH w/thermostat, dimming switch heating lamp (w/zoomed infrared 75watt), somewhat large waterbowl located directly beneath it and foil covering 2/3 of the top of the tank, most of the space that isn't dedicated to the lamp. The foil covers both the basking side, and cooler side. Beside that he's got the usual reptibark substrate. two hides, some plastic leaves he seems to like more than the hide and two thermometers, one for each side of the cage.


The lamp seems to actually be drying the air our rather than encouraging the water from the bowl to evaporate and raise the humidity. Before I got the lamp the humidity seemed to hang around 45% (when i wasn't home to spritz the cage, if I'm home I can maintain the 50% -60% ideal). Today was the first time I left the lamp on while I wasn't home and I checked on it on my lunch break and in the 4hrs I was at work the humidity had dropped from 58% when I left in the morning, post spritz, to 35%. However, if I turn off the lamp, the cool side drops to about 78 degrees. I'm not sure what I can do to promote both a steady temperature and steady humidity in the appropriate range. Is there a way for me to keep the lamp on and still get the humidity to rise? Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated as he was already in shed when I brought him home a few days ago and I really want to make sure he can get the last of it off successfully/comfortably.

welcome to the forum! try soaking a hand towel in water, ring it out so it's not dripping but still damp, and laying it over a hide. that will boost your humidity pretty good.