Humidity

[NormalBallPythons]

I have a 4' male normal ball python. He is in a 55g tank. Screen top. I have a UTH & I use a red heat lamp. Both are on the hot side. Temps are perfect & humidity is 30%. I covered most of the screen top with 5% increase.

Red light is 125w.

How can I increase humidity?
Also he sheds in one piece so is humidity a big deal?
I mean I know it is but the snake has been fine for over 3yrs.

Do I even need heat lamps? Just use a UTH?
The light is taking humidity away.

[Skittles1101]

IMO, in most places heat lamps are not necessary. I only use one on a dimmer in the winter time, the rest of the year the UTH with a thermostat is sufficient. If you choose to keep the lamp, you can always provide a humid hide.

[NormalBallPythons]

Ok the UTH always on. Do I put the probe on it or above the bedding?

Also my heat lamp doesn't have a dimmer. How can I set this up?

Also the tank is 90 on the hot side 70's on cool side

This is with the heat lamp on 12hrs per day & UTH on 24/7

[Skittles1101]

The probe for what? For a thermostat probe, it should be secured to the UTH itself, a thermometer probe should go on the inside of the tank, directly on the floor of the hot spot under the bedding. The hottest point in the tank should not exceed 92 degrees, which in a tank is the floor. If the snake gets cold it will burrow without burning. You can buy a plug in lamp dimmer for about $10 at Home Depot or the sorts. It will be in the lamps section. 175watts on full power seems very strong, even for a larger tank. I do suggest at least getting the dimmer.

[NormalBallPythons]

Thermometer probe is on the UTH under the bedding. My temps are in the 90's low 90's with the red heat lamp on all day. When I get up in the AM the tank is 70's on cool side & high 70's hot side. The UTH is reading 92.1

What's best for my snake?

[Skittles1101]

The hot spot should always be 90, how are you reading the temps inside the tank is the probe is on the UTH outside the tank?

[NormalBallPythons]

The probe is INSIDE under the bedding where the UTH is. Today I woke up and the cool side is 72 & hot side 85. Those temps are from digital temp probes. Heat pad is 92.

[kitedemon]

Your problem is ambient room temps are dropping a lot over night. You can try to use the heat lamp to help maintain the ideal temps.

80 cool 90 warm and ambient air 78-84ºF. the simplest solution is to increase the room temps to 80 and hold them there. This however is not always an option.

You can likely move the heat lamp away from the hot spot some (maybe not all the way) toward the cool end to help bump up the ambient temps.

Do you have a thermostat?

What kind of UTH do you have is it self regulated?

If your snake is shedding in one piece and your hygrometer is reading 30% I'd say it is faulty. They go sour easily (things like pinching the cable in a lid can. bending ect. they often need to be replaced if the are probed digital ones) You can google a 'salt test' and follow the instructions to check it. But 30% accurate and perfect sheds I have never heard of, 50% yes 30% no.

If you have a thermostat (not a thermometer but a thermostat that you plug your UTH <under tank heater> into and it controls it) personally in variable room temps like what I suspect you have I would recommend placing the probe on the glass inside the enclosure centred on the uth. It will provide much more accuracy.

T-STAT PROBES MUST NOT MOVE!!! With this in mind I highly recommend hot glueing them and making sure they are firmly in place and the snake is unable to move them. I do mean UNABLE to move them well and truly stuck down. I would never use tape inside an enclosure. Hot glue guns are not very expensive and come with enough glue usually to do the job.

If you have a self regulating pad like an ultratherm you may find it does not get warm enough to cope with cool room temps and that an upgrade may be in order... then however you will absolutely need a thermostat.

[NormalBallPythons]

I need a thermostat. My UTH is zoo meds I think. It's always on. Nothing controlling it. Can you send me a link from home depo with this item? Should I leave the heat lamp on all the time? Or get something to control it too? Home depo is closer to me then a pet store. So can I get it there?

[kitedemon]

It is unlikely you will find a thermostat that is appropriate at home depot. I personally would suggest a herpstat or any other proportional t-stat as being the most trouble free. The downside is the price is also quite high as they are all about 105$ or more.

The other types are on/off they will work as well often needing a bit more tinkering but glass tanks are quite well suited to them. Hydrofarm (look on amazon) is a viable one it is about 40$ The others commonly used are Johnsons and ranco but the cost savings there is quite low as they are in the 70-80$ range and to me I'd just bite the bullet and buy better at that point. All of these need to be carefully checks as the temperature you set on them is often not as accurate as many would like.

No body has identical set ups and nobody has the same problems. You may need the heat lamp help hold your cool end temps. They should not be dropping below 75ºF. do what you need to to hold that.

What are your temps now? Hot spot inside the hot hide, and cool end inside the hide, ambient air temps dangled probe in the mid point of the tank and when the probe is directly on the glass over the UTH. If your glass is not getting above 92ºF you are ok for the time being. If it is hotter then I'd try to order a t-stat asap.

It is never a good idea to have anything in the enclosure that is over 94º snakes systems are tuned for average temps not spot temps a snake will burn a part of it self to get its core temps up.