Humidity

[cierahailee]

i thank yall again for all the help. ill read these stickies and go from there.

[HypoPita]

I have seen a rheostat at one. If money is an issue there are some cheaper alternatives. Search the posts for thermostats and you can get some opinions.

I didn't read the last page, so sorry if someone already said this. To add to ohyeanow's post, I used a lamp dimmer chord (like an extension chord. Dimmer switch on one end, plug and socket on the other) that I got from the HD for a short time. It was somewhere along the lines of 14 bucks - so it may help you not scorch your snake while you save up a bit.

I really wouldn't advise you to get a rheo if your room temp varies a lot. I had a hell of a time, constantly messing with the thing.

The plexiglass top, as someone already suggested, is great. I used it on both my tanks. It helped TREMENDOUSLY with the humidity levels! If you cut it well, it looks pretty darn awesome, too.

[puma]

You also might want to add a large water bowl to help with your humidity. I have a lamp and a UTH and with my large water bowl the humidity doesn't drop below 50 in a 30 gallon tank. I do mist when its at 50 to get it up around 60-70 during the day when im at work so it doesn't drop below 50. For me adding the large water bowl help out alot with maintaining the high humidity. Hope this helped!

[dsmalex97]

I don't know why you would even use an aquarium with these guys if you could just buy a tub lol. I mean the aquariums are fine and look sweet, but when I found I could go to walmart and spend 5-12 on a tub, I was really happy and did just that. Also Rheostats are a pain! I really wouldn't waste your money on anything like a dimmer or a rheostat, same thing essentially. I actually just got a new snake and I'm using a UTH and a thermo for the snake i have had, and thought that I would be able to run my new one on the thermo as well. WRONG, two different heat devices heat up differently so my one was always hotter (98). So I tried using a rheostat I had laying around, and man what piece of trash. I don't know how you could possibly reliably keep temps stable with that thing. If you use it your going to be constantly adjusting it. I would wait for a thermostat. The one I got was only 30-40 bucks, nothing special but it works. Also look into tubs, they hold humidity perfectly!!! Never had a prob yet. Also I had an aquarium like you, but switched to these, worth looking into! Good luck!!

[starmom]

I don't know why you would even use an aquarium with these guys if you could just buy a tub lol. I mean the aquariums are fine and look sweet, but when I found I could go to walmart and spend 5-12 on a tub, I was really happy and did just that. ... Also look into tubs, they hold humidity perfectly!!! Never had a prob yet. Also I had an aquarium like you, but switched to these, worth looking into! Good luck!!

Yeah, tubs are great but you are running into problems with your tub set up also. The way I see it is this: There is no one solution for every situation and it really depends on a lot of external environmental factors.

My solution, since I live in the high desert where it is always cold and very dry, was to cut my losses and frustration at the get-go and just go right to enclosed racks and reptile cages. When it became apparent that flex watt was not going to be able to raise my ambient temps enough (in the cages) I switched all the cages over to RHP's- problem solved.

In the winter time I need to enclose all racks and cages with rigid pink insulation since we keep our house cool in the day and even cooler at night. The insulation works and solves the winter time problem.

For our terminally low humidity, I keep a bowl of damp long fiber Chilean moss in all of the cages and throw a very small amount of it into each of the tubs in the four racks every week or so- problem solved.

So, it really depends on each keepers unique external environment that will determine the best housing conditions for their snake(s)

[dsmalex97]

deffintely agree, but I can tell you I'm not having humidity problems lol. External factors deffinately have a HUGE effect on enclosure conditions though, and that half the battle.