How to set up a PVC cage (AP T8) With Pictures!

[martin82531]

When I was using Eco earth in my T8 I almost had too much humidity, I was getting moisture build up on the glass, I really had to let substrate dry out for a day or two. I recently switched to corrugated wrap to help with this issue. Maybe try changing your substrate?


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[T_Leonard]

I just set this up and hate to have to pull it right back out. I did lower the temp on the Herpstat to 80 for the cool end and will leave the doors cracked to let some humidity out and see how much it dries out for the next few days.

Thanks for the input.

[martin82531]

Without the snake being inside the enclosure, you could try using a hair dryer to speed up getting some of the humidity out, I had to do this a couple times.


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[T_Leonard]

Well, I had reset the temp to 80 degrees before I left and just got back home. The Probes are reading 78.5 / 77.4 at the mulch, but the ambient is reading 90 and the humidity is still reading 88% and moisture on the glass, but only on the doors on the cool end. If I leave the doors slightly open, humidity will drop, but as soon as I close them up, it climbs right back up. Should I just leave the doors open and RHP's on and let mulch dry out for a day or two and then see? Put a fan on low to move some moisture out and then bring heat back up?

[danojeno]

I have a very similar set up, but I don't know the humidity of your room. Mine T8 with bark came down to 40% so I mist every few days and it stays at about 55. I'm having trouble seeing how your herpstat probes are reading ten degrees different from a thermometer that sounds very close. Perhaps the thermometer is being cooked by the RHP, but the probes are out of its "view"? I chose to put the herpstat probes 6" up the wall. Give it a few days, taking readings all around. The lights do add to the ambient quite a bit as I found during a hot spell last week.

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[T_Leonard]

Our humidity is pretty low here. The Herpstat probes are 2" from the floor of the cage and the top of the Xikar units are 2" from the ceiling. Both the probes and the Hygrom's are mounted on the back wall, within 6" of the right side wall. The RHP unit is a 65 Watt unit from Pro Products and is mounted on the left side of ceiling approx 2" from the side and is roughly 18" wide.

I am setting the Herp probe temps for the cool side and now have the temps set at 80 degrees. I am going to leave the doors partially open thru the night and see where my readings are in the am. I think it is going to take a few days to get temps / humidity dialed in. The mulch was pretty moist when I put it in the cages.

I am not sure why the temp difference between the Probes and Xikar units, however, the difference tonight is closer to about a 5 degrees.

I plan to pick up a temp gun tomorrow so I can take some accurate readings on the mulch on both ends of the cage and then I can compare readings from there.

[T_Leonard]

OK, after a few days of messing around with temps and leaving the doors cracked open and closed, here is what is going on. I have the Herpstat set at 75 on each and picked up a IR temp gun from sears. I checked the following locations:

Cool side right outside of the hide - 77
Mid cage - 84
Warm end outside of the hide - 111
Under the hide on Warm end - 92

Ambient temps hovering right around 80 degrees
Humidity is still fluctuating from low 60's to 70%

I turned the mulch to bring some of the wetter mulch to the top in an effort to dry it out a bit. I feel like I am getting closer but am concerned with the temps on the warm end around the hide.

I have also noticed that the top T8's temps / humidity are staying higher than the lower cage - they are stacked together. Any thoughts on that?

[BPGuy]

Aaron, thank you so much for this thread! Right now, I have two BPs, each in a separate 40 gallon glass tank. However, I am seriously considering ditching the glass tanks for one T8 with a divider. The room temperature where the T8 will be located will be 68-72 during the winter and 78-82 during the summer. My question for you (and anybody else who has experience with the T8) is this: If I use RHPs (one for each side), will I still need Flexwatt or some other type of UTH? If you think I will need Flexwatt with the RHPs, would I be able to use Flexwatt without RHP?

[The Serpent Merchant]

You can use RHP's alone. You might even be able to just you flexwatt. Make sure that you get a fluorescent fixture for each side. That will go a long way for increasing air temps.

[BPGuy]

You can use RHP's alone. You might even be able to just you flexwatt. Make sure that you get a fluorescent fixture for each side. That will go a long way for increasing air temps.

To save some money, I was going to try to use some battery-operated LED disc lights that I picked up from Costco a couple of years ago. Do you really think the fluorescents make that much of a difference? If so, I'll invest the money now on them. The RHPs seem really expensive compared to the flexwatt, but I also don't want to end up spending the money on the flexwatt only to discover that they are not sufficient and I still need the RHPs. Any suggestions?