Quote Originally Posted by TheSnakeGuy View Post
A 50 gallon is a huge area to try to heat. You'll need to cover about 90% of your mesh screen with plexiglass or damp towels to trap in some heat and humidity. What are you using for a substrate? I recommend cypress chips mixed with some eco-earth coco fiber for such a large tank. Now for heating. Your uth needs to keep your cool side around 80 degrees. I hope that uth is at least 16" long to get the job done. Since your cage is probably 16" tall you're going to need a 150 watt red or blue lamp with a dimmer switch to tune it down if need. You'll need to run that lamp 24 hrs to attain that 90 degree hot side and to keep ambient above 75(minimum). And as always, pics of your setup do help us help you.
It is a huge area. I'm kind of regretting moving out of the 20gal tank, but I wanted to add the cool hid at the other end. I have some of the green terrarium rolled on most of the bottom of the tank. It is a large uth. On top of the pad I have the thermostat, the green terrarium stuff and some aspen. The screened top is covered with foil. At the other end I have coco fiber which I keep moist, there's a large water dish and then the piece of wood. I had the lamp on most of the day but just went in to change the water out and moisten the coco fiber in the cool hid. The humidity is about 50 but runs low when I have the light on. I usually put the light over the middle of the cage.