Stagnant air and proper ventilation

[blackpastelball]

I have a 20 gallon long glass terrarium with a screen top set up for my ball python. He is going into his first shed and I am trying to keep the humidity up by misting the enclosure and covering half of the screen top. The problem is that I have the CHE (ceramic heating element) on the other half of the screen which doesn't leave much space for ventilation (about 4"x12" open screen) I was wondering if there are any tricks to preventing stagnant air in a glass terrarium while maintaining proper humidity levels. Thanks!

[KMG]

That may be fine how you have it. If you have a fan in the room it probably is.

If you think you need more you could add another open part in the screen on the other side from the current hole.

[blackpastelball]

Okay, thank you. it's just that I keep reading how important it is to have proper ventilation to prevent stagnant air which one source said could lead to ammonia and mold buildup in the tank and on the substrate, if it were plastic I would put a few small holes near the base of the tank to get some cross ventilation but you can't do that with glass...

[scalrtn]

My solution was to use a piece of cardboard with holes cut to accommodate the ceramic heat lamp that sits over the screen top (I have a dual-domed lamp to better control ambient temps cage-wide with independent dimmer switches, but it doesn't matter), as well as holes cut on one side of the top for ventilation. The heat lamps act as ventilation "motors" as they draw air up through the 3/4" inch border around their cut-out hole. Air gets "sucked in" through the ventilation holes on the left side in the process. I've had it in use for over a year, and my bp is doing great. The cardboard top is wrapped in heat tape. The concept was suggested by someone else in the forum, who had a piece of lexan machine-cut at a plastics shop for the holes. It was a bit of work, but well worth it

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[blackpastelball]

My solution was to use a piece of cardboard with holes cut to accommodate the ceramic heat lamp that sits over the screen top (I have a dual-domed lamp to better control ambient temps cage-wide with independent dimmer switches, but it doesn't matter), as well as holes cut on one side of the top for ventilation. The heat lamps act as ventilation "motors" as they draw air up through the 3/4" inch border around their cut-out hole. Air gets "sucked in" through the ventilation holes on the left side in the process. I've had it in use for over a year, and my bp is doing great. The cardboard top is wrapped in heat tape. The concept was suggested by someone else in the forum, who had a piece of lexan machine-cut at a plastics shop for the holes. It was a bit of work, but well worth it

[/IMG]

That is an excellent idea! I covered half my screen top with tin foil, but that is a great idea to cover the majority and strategically place vents to get air circulation. I will try this, thanks!