Maintaining temp/hum. with starter kit..??!

[obsidiantalon]

Hi all! Sorry that my first post here is such a newbie question. I've read a lot about ball pythons lately, and having just moved into a new apartment with my fiancee, was overcome with excitement and committed a cardinal sin! I BOUGHT THE SNAKE on a spur of the moment type whim. I also bought the "Zilla" snake starter kit which comes with 2 heat lamps (1 black bulb, 1 regular/white bulb), a hide, a water dish, and I bought aspen bedding...

Well, I have the poor thing in the enclosure, but am not sure if I should do something else with her... I can't seem to bring the humidity up in there.. It's sitting at 30% according to the hygrometer/thermometer that came with the kit. The ambient temperature is just now around 90F...

I have the water dish full of water of course, and both heat lamps on (Had to leave them on overnight, and crank the heat in the apartment to get the temp over 75)

I feel really bad that the poor thing is paying for my ignorance, but the people at the store I bought from said that the snake is very resilient and wouldn't mind the transition period too much.

Any tips are WELCOME!!! Don't hesitate to yell/flame/tell me I'm doing it wrong, I'd much rather know that way than not at all!

Thanks in advance!
~David

[obsidiantalon]

Oh, also! I have a warm mist humidifier near the enclosure, hoping to ramp up humidity, and I've been misting the substrate under the heat lamp with the mist that came in the starter kit, that it recommended you use on the reptile/bedding.. Is there anything else I need to be doing? I know 30% is WAY too low!


*worried new parent*

[obsidiantalon]

Update:

I put a larger dish of water in the enclosure as well, the humidity has come up to 45% or so since I did so, it appears to be rising slowly.. But the temperature is still fluctuating between 84F - 90F ... Is this normal..? O.o

[dsirkle]

It is really best not to use a light as a heat source. You can buy an under the tank (UTH) heater of some type. Your pet store should sell them. You will also need a thermostat to regulate the UTH. This starter kit that you bought is for general reptile use and is not specifically designed for snakes. It is hard to regulate humidity in a glass tank although you can do so by covering the top of the tank with aluminum foil or something if if has a screen top. You would have done better in my opinion to have bought a Sterelite plastic tub at Target instead of the glass tank. My first reptile was a leopard gecko and the pet store where I bought her sold me an expensive inappropriate set up t go with it.There are caresheets on this site to help you and people will be glad to answer any questions that you may have. You will have to no doubt fiddle with your enclosure until you get it right. Keep posting as you go.

[obsidiantalon]

Hmm... So basically I have entirely the wrong setup? I read a lot of things saying not to use UTH to regulate temperature, since it has the potential to burn the snake.. And at $60/pad they're a bit daunting a prospect, especially if they may be harmful.. I guess I'll shop around on eBay.. It needs to have a thermostat, is that it?

The humidity has come up a bit.. I'm working to get it to 60% with an ambient temp of at least 85F.. Is it ok for him/her (I don't know yet! :-O) to be in there while I'm doing all of this? S/he's been pretty stationary, and at first would tend to stay under the heat lamp.. I had the lamp over the water dish, and the night-lamp over the hide.. But I changed this, and s/he went into the hide and curled up.. I picked it up to check on her this morning, making sure the night went ok, and she seems bright eyed and bushy tailed.. But if I should have her in an alternate enclosure.. Or soaking, to compensate for low humid. or something? Yeah..

Thanks so much for the response on the weekend!!

[grim reaper in NY]

I have found that keeping approximately half of the screen top covered in a double layer of aluminum foil and then placing a saturated hand towel in the middle of the top helps ALOT in maintaining humidity in your tank. I have had great success with this method so far and my humidity stays steady at 55-65%. I simply saturate the towel once in the morning and once at night when I turn their night lights on and all is good. Of course you will still need the bowl of water in the aquarium as well.
I will be upgrading in the next couple of weeks to fully enclosed habitats to further help in the minute controls of temps and humidity in my tanks.

[obsidiantalon]

When covering the top with foil, I assume you only have room for one light.. So which side should the light go on? hide or bowl? And you just switch to the black light at night? Do you also use a UTH? I was afraid to turn the day-light off last night, for fear of the temp getting too low.

Thanks for your help!!!!

[Ponthieux]

When covering the top with foil, I assume you only have room for one light.. So which side should the light go on? hide or bowl? And you just switch to the black light at night? Do you also use a UTH? I was afraid to turn the day-light off last night, for fear of the temp getting too low.

Thanks for your help!!!!

Welcome to bp.net!!

ideally, you should have an two identical hides, snug and tight fitting for your snake. one on the warm side and one on the cool side. they should be identical so that your snake does not have to choose between feeling secure and thermoregulating. if you are using a uth, you shouldn't (depending on the temps in your home) need a light for heat. the lights and the screen top of the cage are what's killing your humidity. also, i'd be willing to bet that the hygrometer that came with the starter kit is of the crappy, stick on, analog variety. these are inaccurate and useless. walmart sells a nice thermometer/hygrometer combo for like 20 bucks. you'd also really be doing yourself a favor to CAREFULLY read the ball python care sheet found on this forum. the folks here also are an invaluable source of information on care and keeping. keep your head up, and keep working at it and you'll nail it soon! keep us posted.

[grim reaper in NY]

I keep my water bowl more in the middle of the tank. Simba loves his cocnut huts for hides, but believe it or not, Sheba loves wrapping herself in the fake vegetation she has in her viv. She absolutely loves hanging from the plastic vines we put in there for her. Go figure....
I also have UTH's for both tanks with thermostats and supplement with LOW HEAT bulbs to assist in maintaining temps and humidity. Again, make sure you have a "hot" side and a "cool" side for your pet. This is the only way they can thermoregulate their bodyheat.

[dsirkle]

Hmm... So basically I have entirely the wrong setup? I read a lot of things saying not to use UTH to regulate temperature, since it has the potential to burn the snake.. And at $60/pad they're a bit daunting a prospect, especially if they may be harmful.. I guess I'll shop around on eBay.. It needs to have a thermostat, is that it?

The humidity has come up a bit.. I'm working to get it to 60% with an ambient temp of at least 85F.. Is it ok for him/her (I don't know yet! :-O) to be in there while I'm doing all of this? S/he's been pretty stationary, and at first would tend to stay under the heat lamp.. I had the lamp over the water dish, and the night-lamp over the hide.. But I changed this, and s/he went into the hide and curled up.. I picked it up to check on her this morning, making sure the night went ok, and she seems bright eyed and bushy tailed.. But if I should have her in an alternate enclosure.. Or soaking, to compensate for low humid. or something? Yeah..

Thanks so much for the response on the weekend!!

I have never seen advice not to buy a UTH. You may be thinking about hotrocks. A UTH should only cost between $15-$20, however many find the cost of a good thermostat to be daunting. Look for used Ranco 111-000 thermostats on ebay.Do a seqrch for "temperature controls"' Nobody likes to hear this but the petshops make more money on the habitat than the snake and profit is their motive.They typically sell you the wrong setup. Most petshops sell imported or captive hatched snakes and there are often feeding problems. Hopefully your snake will eat for you. I don't want to discourage you, I am just trying to make you aware of common pitfalls that people run in to.