Newbie Here

[L.West]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this site and new to snake ownership. I have had my female Ball for about 6 weeks now and am really enjoying her.

I do have a question though, how do you all keep the humidity levels in your enclosure up to the required 50/60% with fall/winter coming.

I desperately need some advice on different methods everyone uses.

Thanks in advance for your help. I'm sure I will be posting all sorts of questions in the coming weeks.

Just any FYI - my snake is an '07 hatchling which I believe that would make her about a year old. She is about 24 inches long.

Thanks.

[Spaniard]

Before we can offer you advice we need to know the kind of enclosure you are using for your snake; heat element used, thermometer used, thermostat etc. The more information you give the better equiped we are to help.

Edit: Its early in the morning and I forget my manners. Welcome to the site

[L.West]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I am currently keeping my snake in a 30 gallon glass aquarium with a screened lid - I have place plastic over 80% of the screen to hold in some moisture.

I am heating the tank with a UTH plug into a Reptitemp 500R but am looking into buying a Helix because I don't think the Reptitemp is working very well.

I have an AcuRite Thermometer/Hygrometer to measure heat and humidity. I also have a temp gun for measuring temp.

Hope this information helps. Any suggetions about the Helix Thermostat - will it work with my UTH??

Thanks.

[Spaniard]

There are member's here that have some good write up on glass vivs, so I'll let them chime in. One last detail you might want to provide for them are your current hot/cool side temps and humidity.

My initial thought is that 30 gal tank is very large for such a small snake. These snakes like tight spaces and often times run into feeding issues when in a very large enclosure. Not that it can't be done but it takes a lot of extra effort from the keeper. Its also a pain to get the proper temps/ humidity stable in an enclosure that size.

[L.West]

My current temps are about 85/88 on the hot side and about 80 on the cool side.

I have a lot of hides in her tank and it really doesn't seem that big of a space. She has a hide on each side of the tank with some wood for climbing. She has been eating one mouse every Wednesday for me like clock work and no regurgitation yet.

I am iffy about the temps which is why I want to get a Helix Thermostat but wanted to be sure it would work with my UTH before I spend that much money.

Humidity is giving me a problem - I can't get it to stay at a steady number - it drops to 38% and then I mist the tank and put wet moss in there and it comes back up to 60% but then slowly falls again.

[frankykeno]

You can try placing a secondary water dish on the warm side. Pick a flat type of dish, non-tippable but with a larger surface area. The larger terracotta plant pot saucers can work great for this. This being placed on the warm side should allow for more evaporation and help somewhat with your humidity issues (it won't add much though but some).

You can also try substrates that tend to hold humidity in better. Double or triple milled cypress might be a good option in your glass enclosure.

[Jenn]

Welcome to the site. Great advice and some really funny folks here. I started out exactly the same way as you (30 gallon tank). Lots of people do. I found it so much easier to maintain humidity in a twenty long than a thirty. And, the key for me was to cut a piece of plexiglass to fit into the recessed top of the tank, and drill holes in both ends. This makes a tank more like a tub and helps keep in humidity. I have a bunch of different pieces of plexiglass, some with more holes than others. By just changing plexiglass tops I can regulate humidity during shed cycles etc. And the cool part is that the screen cover can just be placed right over the plexiglass.

[L.West]

Great idea. I was thinking of getting a piece of plexiglass but have larger hole cut into it to accommodate my light fixture that I use for my red bulb. It would require maybe a 4 inch by 4 inch opening - do you think that would suffice in regards to holding in humidity but also allowing enough airflow??

Thanks again.

[frankykeno]

A heat bulb....well there's some of your problem right there. Those bulbs while providing heat just suck the enclosure humidity right up. You'll have enough issues with a glass tank, adding in the problems associated with overhead bulb heating is making the problem worse. I'd try to go with just UTH heating if at all possible and ditch that humidity sucking overhead heat lamp.

[L.West]

If I do without the bulb - should I put yet another UTH on the cooler side and will two UTH's hook into the Helix Thermostat that I just ordered???

Or, will one UTH suffice. How cool should the cooler side be.

thanks