New BP Owner with Housing Questions

[eckoxblayze]

Hey guys. I got my first ball python a few weeks ago with a lot of stuff including a 20g tall tank. The tank has a mesh metal top and is glass. I am using Coconut Bark substrate as well as some moss sprinkled around for humidity. I have the 1-5 gallon ZooMed UTH under his hide. Also, a 8.5 RepPro reflector lamp with a 100W RepPro Nightlight Bulb. I have 2 thermometers, both digital. 1 is on substrate and other about an inch above the ground on the other side. He has a big rock like hide and a big water tank as well. I also have a hygrometer gauge on the glass. I have a few questions. I've read that glass tanks were hard to deal with and I didn't know that prior to buying it. My house is usually pretty cold around 66 degrees. On the hot side, my tank really only gets to the low 80s or high 70s. The humidity is also usually around 45 but can drop even lower (stays at around 70 for a while after spraying). I know it's too low because he just had his first shed with me and it was bad. I'm wondering what differently I should do to up the temps and the humidity. The UTH was the only size they had at the time so I had to get it. Should I get a bigger UTH? Switch to a tub? New lamp?

The setup looks like this, aside from the hide which is now larger like a cave:



Thanks everyone.

[chintasurf]

Hi there

i am a newbie myself so i'm sure that you will get alot better info from some of the other keepers on here. But i thought i would share with you what i have done.

The UTH does it cover half of your tank floor space?? As this is the ideal size, if it doesn't then i would prob say get a larger one.
What is the temperature on our cool side??

These are the ideal temp ranges for you
Cool side = 82F.
Warm side = 92F.
Ambient air = 78-85F.

If once getting a larger UTH still doesn't give you the ranges then you could try putting a much smaller UTH on the cool side as well just to bump it up abit.

What i have done is I have Two UTH's one on the underneath and one on the side to provide amibent temp as the belly heat was ideal but the overall temp in my set up was around 70.
Here is a pic of my set up - its not the usual shape but the same idea should help you.

I think Tub set ups are meant to me a heck of alot easier especially when it comes to cleaning.

Good Luck!!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...b&id=779909494

[JoshJP7]

Is your UTH hooked up to a thermostat? going off your picture I dont see one and thermostats are a must with UTH... with that said your hot side probe needs to be directly over the UTH. I believe you are measuring the air temps on the warm side and not the temps above the UTH which is why your getting such low readings... If you switch that probe and put it right over the UTH im sure ur going to get temps above 100(if you dont have the UTH on a thermostat)... since you will then have the warm side set up you need to move the heat light to the opposite side and work on getting those temps around 80. The light mixed with the glass will kill your humidity 99.9% of the time. I tried messing with a glass tank when i got my first snake and after about a month of bad temps/humidity I canned it and got a tub and havent looked back since.

[TanyaL]

If I may ask, does that suction cup holding up your foilage have a little hook on it? If so, I strongly suggest removing it. I had one similar and Foster got hung up on it. From the looks of it, and being an uneducated snake caretaker (owned by my son), I thought for sure it had penetrated her belly. When it happened, I was home alone and too afraid to open the enclosure. By the time I got the phone to call for my sister to help (lives next door) she had freed herself and thankfully no harm was done.

[Fenderplayer104]

How is your snake acting in this enviroment has he ate dose he come out at night?

[starmom]

Hi there and welcome! All of the glass will surely stress out the snake. A good way to counter this feeling of exposure is to put dark paper up on 3 sides of the tank. Also, you'll need 2 hides: one for the cool side and one for the warm side. They need to be pushed back against the glass so that the snake feels really hidden and secure.
Like Josh suggested, a thermostat is a must with UTH's and even flex watt tape. There are choices: Helix, Herpstat, etc.
I think that might be a temp strip on the back? Get rid of it~ they are unreliable!
Also, I can't recall what substrate you use, but maybe changing to aspen or cyprus might be helpful as they tend to increase humidity.
Wrapping off the top of your cage, except for where the light is, will increase ambient temps and increase humidity!
Whew! Don't know if we left anything out, but I'm sure others will chime in with what has worked for them. There are different ways of doing things and you only need to figure out what will work in your situation! Good luck!

[eckoxblayze]

Hey guys thanks for all the responses. I'm looking into getting a thermostat now, as well as a bigger UTH for the hot side and maybe moving the tiny one to the middle? I've heard of covering the top of the tank, but with what? I tried foil and it barely helped and got annoying just because it would tear and fold easily. My snake is usually just curled up next to his hide touching both the glass and the hide. However, he's been in his hide almost always lately, i think since he's shedding. I moved the probe for the thermometer directly above the UTH today and the temperature jumped a lot, right now around 90.9. I Should I just lose the lamp if I get another UTH to help keep humidity? Also, should I be using a smaller hide instead of the big one, for example like the one in the picture? Thanks!

[Fenderplayer104]

I think a smaller hide would be apporiate as they like to feel surounded on all sides try taking off the lamp and see what your temps are i gaurntee that it will help with the humidity also what i do to help my humidity is get wash clothes and wet them with warm water and put it on the top on my viv and it drasticly changes the humidty.


also get somthin to cover 3 sides of your viv this will help with him being secure i got black poster board and cut it to the exact deminsions it works really well and is very cheap.

[Sh0rty]

I am a newbie also, and I was having the same problems you are. I had one UTH which was keeping the warm side at 90, but my cool side was very cold, so I threw a heat lamp up there. I quickly realized the heat lamp was SUCKING the humidity up.

Solution: I ditched the mesh top (I had one like you) and I went out and got a 20x10 piece of plexiglass. I cut the mesh out of the metal frame and glued the plexiglass back into the metal frame. Then, I went out and got a small UTH for the cool side, hooked up to a rheostat.

As of now, my temps are great and humidity is just dandy.
PLEASE get rid of the mesh top, they're horrible! You will keep having problems with it.

Oh and that 20x10 piece of plexiglass was only $5.00!

[eckoxblayze]

Sounds good. But if the plexiglass covers it all, will there be enough air to breathe?