Couple pics and a question...

[Kaorte]

What about the humidity part of my question? I added the question as a second post...

Totally forgot about that whoops!

The best option in my opinion would be to buy a piece of plexi glass and cut it so there is a 2-4 inch gap on the side (for airflow) and a hole for the heat lamp.
You can buy sheets of plexi at the home depot as well as an acrylic cutter which makes cutting it very easy.

Ideally you don't want to use the heat lamp but if your room gets too cold then you might need it. The lamp is what will lower your humidity the most. Are you using a UTH or any other kind of heating other than the lamp?

[RickyRebel]

Are you using a UTH or any other kind of heating other than the lamp?

Nope...I'm not.

[Kaorte]

Nope...I'm not.

I would highly suggest going with an under tank heater for your primary source of heat and using the lamp as a secondary source if needed.

I know this is probably frustrating since the people at the petstore told you that you needed all these things that you actually don't need. The best advice I can give you is to not listen to pet store employees. Some of them are actually trying to help but most of them have no idea what they are talking about.


If you want to go with belly heat, you need an Under Tank Heater (UTH) and something to control it with. A reptile thermostat is preferable but it is unlikely that you will be able to find one in a store. A rheostat is a more temporary option. The rheostat I use for temp enclosures is a lutron lamp dimmer from the home depot or lowes. It is like $11 and allows you to adjust the temp of the UTH so you don't burn your snake.

[RockyTop]

Listen to Kaorte. She has a ton of info that has helped me tremendously get a great setup going.

One thing that I read, I haven't tried it yet since I have not had humidity problems, is increasing the water bowl size. Not the depth, but the radius of it. The higher surface area will boost your humidity up a little bit. Also moving it towards your UTH as well. Which, as she mentioned, you do need to get.

I use a the ReptiTemp 500R thermostat on my UTH, and it maintains the warm spot with a hide at 90-92. I have a small 60w Ceramic Heat Emitter for ambient temps since I keep my room cooler. But it is merely for supporting the UTH. CHE is like a lamp, except it produces no light. Lighting is not important for a BP. They don't need the UV lights, etc etc.

Good luck and nice looking snake!

[RickyRebel]

Whoops...I misunderstood...Yes, I use a UTH.

And I run a small golden retriever forum, so I totally understand the pet store issues. That`s why I`m here...

[straydog1980]

Man, I'm really regretting this lamp I bought

I was wondering why all of a sudden I was having such a hard time getting my humidity right and it's because of this stupid lamp. I've had to mist my tank 4-5 times a day to keep it from being a desert in there. As soon as I turn the lamp off, the moisture stops getting sucked out so quick. What a waste of $40

[zantedeschia]

Couple things if you don't want to spend more money. I have a setup similar to yours with an overhead lamp on two tanks. I have a combination of plastic wrap and foil taped on top with packing tape with a space large enough for the lamp. My humidity in both tanks hover around 50% with no fiddling. The weather here tends to be humid when it's warm. But on colder, dry days, I'll have to mist once or twice. Another thing you can do is set in a dish of damp spagnum moss. I do have a zoo med UTH slapped on the end (not bottom) of both tanks for additional heat. (sorry, I don't trust thermostats)

One of my tanks is a 29gallon tall (it was given to me, I'll eventually replace it). I tossed in some cypress mulch on 1/3 of the tank floor (empty space, cause it's still too big) and whoa, the humidity jumped to 87%. So you might want to try cypress. But it can have bugs in it so either bake it or treat it with provent-a-mite.

Also with your fuzzies, if your snake will take more than one, you can feed 2 or 3 at a feeding, you don't need to waste those either.

Just another POV if you want to continue working with what you have. It is doable.

Edit: looks like I responded to more than one post.

[ls1goat04]

i cardboarded off 3 sides of my tank and did aluminum foil for the screen. with that plus using aspen and spagnom moss i can get around 45% where i live its very dry in the winter(at least in my house with the heatin pumpin) so i use a humidifier on low just to get it around 55% or so. i also filled my tank with logs and such to make my future snake feel more secure. i dont know if it works but it looks alot better.

also went from a 75 watt light bulb to a 100 watt red bulb and have the dimmer turned way down to get jussst enough heat that i need, helped with the humidity as well.

humidity was around 20% in the before pic btw

before



after

[Moofins07]

Wow, two fuzzies? That guy looks bigger than my little one and she can easily take two adults, if not two adults and a hopper on top of that. She did today. actually.

Definitely increase prey size, and invest in either a cave hide, or cheap plastic bowls, as Kaorte suggested.

Humidity will vary greatly on what kind of heat you are using as well. Are you using heat bulbs? I used to have a 150 watt infrared, which almost kept it too warm and had my humidity at 40%, max 50% with misting. It bust, and I was stuck with only a 75 watt, which she managed to get by on until I bought a 100 watt. In the meantime, her humidity sky-rocketed to 70%, and after misting, a whopping 85%.

[RickyRebel]

Wow, two fuzzies? That guy looks bigger than my little one and she can easily take two adults, if not two adults and a hopper on top of that. She did today. actually.

Yeah...that's what I get for listening to the pet store. I'm definitely gonna bump the prey up. I figure I'll just finish off the small...with mediums...for a couple feedings. Then at least go to the large.

Definitely increase prey size, and invest in either a cave hide, or cheap plastic bowls, as Kaorte suggested.

I'm thinking I'm gonna keep using the log...but I'm gonna block off the back of it with a rock and some decorative drift wood chunks I bought last night. Then a rock in the front. Slash seems to like hide...but I'm sure he'll enjoy it more if I block off a lot of the openings.

He burrows a lot in the bark...so I may also add a bit more under the log.