My Cage setup

[Mindibun]

In theory, they increase humidity overall. But it could work either way. I have one snake that wraps himself around it, I guess to be close to the humidity. I've seen him sit in it once. But my other snake doesn't have any interest in it, and her tub's humidity is at about 50% all the time. (Give or take).

Mine is just a variation of the one with a door cut out. To me, since the humidity is going to evaporate upwards, it makes more sense to have the hole in the top. Not to mention, that way the water doesn't leak out. I only have holes in the sides of my tubs so when the water evaporates up, it hits the top and collects. Humidity then goes up.

(I feel so scientific... )

[chetman7]

thanks for the help,

To reply to your other post, no I do not feed my snake in the viv, and the Block a beast stuff was the only thing i could find, this stuff should suffice until I find better stuff online. btw its non toxic, so if he does decide to taste it, prob own't ge sick

[West Coast Jungle]

A humid hide is generally used when a snake is nearing shed or has had a retained shed. I use sphagnum moss and like mentioned earlier you can just stick it in the current hide. I would not recommend keeping one in there permenently because you could run into mold or scale rot.

Ambient humidity is much better controled by a humidifier or wider or multiple water bowls over heat source. The overhead heating devices tend to bake the moisture out of the air which causes more problems. Heating the room is better than baking the tank.

[chetman7]

Here's the humid hide that I did.



It's just cheap-o tupperware available at publix or the dollar store or wherever. You can use any old container lying around the house. I have a soldering wand for my tubs, and I just used that to carve out the top. If you dont have a soldering wand, you can just use scissors to cut out a hole, and use an emory board (nail file) to smooth out the edges.

It's not at all difficult. As for the bed a beast, that stuff is a pain. You have to make a ton of it and then find a way to store it. It takes ages to dry out enough to use it, and if you feed in the tank it could be digested by the snake. Just my opinion.

i did exactly this, but with bed A beast. It doesn't seem to working, and u r right, it is a pain to store..I have no idea what I'm gonna do with the extra, its just sitting in my shower in a bucket. Humidity right now is at 40. bringing up humidity and maitaining it is driving me crazy,

[Mindibun]

Try what Raul suggested - a wider water bowl. Keep the humid hide in there, and add a larger water bowl. Just don't place it directly under the lamp or it'll dry up very quickly.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Don't get me wrong... there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with having a branch in the tank. If you like it, by all means go for it!

I just find that the traditional setup... two identical hides, and a water bowl is what works for me.

I am telling you... all you have to do to fix the humidity is put the foil / tape on your top. cover the whole top except where the CHE hangs.... then experiment with water bowl sizes and location. If humidity is still too low, switch the aspen out for some news paper. Try it. Total investment if it doesn't work is 30 minutes of your time, and and 2 dollars worth of tape and foil.... and quater for the news paper! With my setup humidity is always 50 - 65 percent. I never have to mist. When they are in shead I place one damp wash cloth on top of one of the hides... that quickly raises it to 80%.

Mike

[Mindibun]

I thought the OP already had foil on the top of the tank. If not, then a lot of trouble can be saved by doing that before anything else.

[chetman7]

yea I'mma give it a try. If that doens't work..I'm gonna look into a humidifier or switcing off aspen to like eco earth.

For some reason people are always saying have the UTH thermostates b/c it can hit 100 degrees easily. I unplugged my CHE from the thermostat to see if I can hit 92 degrees with just the UTH so Ican geet rid of the air drying CHE. but it wouldn't budge over 84.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

I have four ball python tanks set up. all identical, all perfect. I have the UTH on the hot side, set to a constant 94 degrees with a simple 10 dollar lamp dimmer from home depot. it covers approx half of the tank. I have the CHE Off center towards the cold side. I have it hooked up to a $20 500R thermostat. the thermostat probe is on the floor of the tank, in the back corner of the cold side. It is set to 82 degrees. Water bowl in the middle... 2 identical hides. for a 20 gallon long you should be using a 60 watt CHE. For a 30 gallon long you should be using a 100watt CHE. put foam board on sides and back of the tank. Cover the top with foil, then duct tape, leaving only a hole for the CHE. Your origional pic looks like the acutal CHE lamp is too big. you may be able to use it... but the whole in the foil may be too big. ( you may need to get a smaller lamp)

You must have the CHE on a thermostat. a 60 watt CHE at full power is about 130 degrees an inch below the bulb.

[chetman7]

I"m using a 50 watt CHE. The lamp housing is pretty big, they didn't have any smaller ones at the store, so i bought one just cause I needed one.

Yes I am running a thermostat..my room is cold so i have UTh's on both sides...One is running on a rheostat set at 82, and the hot side is regulated by a herbstat set at 92. Herbstat was the best thing I have bought for my enclosure, so easy and efficient


Edit- I have now also tapes down tin foil on top.