National Geographic Terrarium - Finally holding humidity!

[lafasta]

I purchased a National Geographic Terrarium for my new baby ball python and wanted to make a quick post for anyone who may also have this terrarium and is struggling to keep humidity in.

I attached 2 pics below of the terrarium and my setup.





I chose this terrarium because it was a 20 gal long and it also had 2 doors on the front that swing open to access the inside, as well as the removable screen top. I'm only 5'2 so reaching through the top can be awkward, lol. It also has a small screen panel on one side.

Immediately I realized keeping the humidity levels high enough would be a problem, because of all the openings and screens. Also because the enclosure was not an aquarium, the glass panels were not air tight sealed to the frame allowing air to escape here as well. To top it off I live just outside Toronto Canada so it's very cold and dry here in the winter.

I use two heat lamps on a dimmer/timer to keep the temps correct, but the humidity would not stay above 25% even with damp moss. The moss would be bone dry before the day was over.

So here's what I did:

1. Cut a piece of clear vinyl to cover the top screen with 2 circle cutouts for the lamps to sit in. I duct taped all around the edges of the vinyl and screen to help seal the edges.

This helped a bit but because of the screen side panel and unsealed glass panels the humidity was still escaping.

2. Next I went to Home Depot and bought a clear vinyl painters floor tarp and a roll of "Gorilla Clear Repair" tape (see picture).

This is heavy duty tape that I know would hold even when used in humid conditions, and it's clear so it wouldn't look horrible either.

3. I cut the vinyl floor tarp into 3 pieces, each one to the same dimensions as the sides of the terrarium. I used the Gorilla tape to attach the pieces to the sides and to seal around all the edges of the glass panels and the screen side panel.

Once I completed all the taping, I moved the water bowl directly under the middle heat lamp and voila! The humidity has been going up already. After a few hours it's already at 50% without even misting!

I still have damp moss in both hot and cold hides for an extra boost for shedding, but I feel like I solved the humidity dilemma with this terrarium.

Hopefully this helps anyone who also has this terrarium or a similar design. Keeping humidity up in Canada can be such a pain!

If anyone has any tips that they can add or sees something that I should change I'm all ears for constructive criticism. This is my first baby BP so I'll take any helpful info I can get.

All of you on this site have helped me so much already! This is where I spend all my free time now, lol. I will post a pic of my baby girl once she surfaces from digesting her dinner

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[SKO]

Good job getting your set up to hold humidity. One thing i can think to tell you is that Ceramic heat emitters don't dry out the air as much as bulbs.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

Great ideas. One other thing that may help you is humid hides. Put moss in the hides and the construction of the hide should allow moisture to be trapped rather easily within. So basically it may be 25% outside of the hide but the inside with the damp moss could be a nice 60%.

[lafasta]

Thanks for the tips both of you. I already have damp moss in both hides and I will definitely try switching to ceramic bulbs as well.

Do you know if the heat to wattage ratio for ceramic is equivalent to the bulbs heat produced by the same wattage?

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