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  1. #1
    Registered User KayleighBrown's Avatar
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    Humidity/Temperature Assistance please.

    Alright so, I've got a bit of a problem.

    My husband and I live in a big 2 bedroom trailer home.

    -Lights a Cigarette.-

    So anyways, I'm being super worried and paranoid lately about equal temperatures in the house.

    I live in Kansas so, we have very HOT summers, and very COLD winters.

    Our house at this time is not insulated very well. Our windows and doors need to be replaced!

    Really trying to push our Land Manager to fix these current problems and she's still waiting on word back from our out of state landlord.

    Our living room and hallway are almost always cold, or hot in the summer. We haven't lived here long.

    Our two bedrooms hold heat a little better, but the problem is, with the heat turned on, the temperatures in the snake tanks rises beyond 90!

    When the heat isn't on it's either just above or below 80 degrees. I'll give you a little info about my snakes tanks, and I do need kind and caring info to make things better.

    Sampson my male ball is in a 20gal tall, we will be moving him into a 20gal long before long. His tank has a screen locking top. We taped foil to the top of all lids, with one square cut out for heat lamps and a smaller one on the opposite side for ventilation. We were/are having problems keeping humidity up. All have screen tops.

    Anastasia is in a 20gal long, with a red bulbed lamp and her heating area in her hide.

    Kaa is in a 10gal with a heating pad in his hide, and his lamp above it also. His heating pad is also so hot, I had to slide a piece of paper towel over it so he didn't burn himself. Which seems to be working for the time being until we can get a thermostat to turn it down.

    I mist them, because if not, they're completely dry due to our uncontrolled temperature changes.

    What can I do to try and keep their temperatures and humidity where they need to be? I'm finding myself spraying them every morning to keep their bark moist, otherwise it just dries out. :\ It doesn't hold moisture for long, yet when I got the bark it was already moist inside the bag. Because of this I'm afraid of scale rot.

    If you need anymore information, please ask, I'll try to answer, but I do need some advice. Thanks guys. <3
    Last edited by KayleighBrown; 11-17-2013 at 02:33 PM.

  2. #2
    BPnet Veteran The Serpent Merchant's Avatar
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    Putting paper on an unregulated UTH is an extreme fire hazard. If the UTH were to short out the paper would most likely burn and who knows what would happen from there. Until you get a thermostat I would suggest that you just unplug the UTH. They are simply too dangerous (to your snake and you) to run unregulated.

    Your winter problems can be solved with higher wattage infrared heat bulbs and either thermostats or lamp dimmers. You want a heat lamp that has more than enough power to heat the cage during the coldest nights, but can be turned down when it's warmer. A thermostat would be best as it can constantly adjust the heat output, but lamp dimmers would work as well but you would have to constantly adjust them.

    As for humidity how low does it get? I would recommend that you use humidity cycles instead of trying to keep it up 24/7 if you are worried about scale rot.

    By humidity cycles I mean heavily misting the cage so it gets up to 70%-80% then letting it fall to 30%-40% before misting again. This way the cage has a chance to dry out before you rewet it.

    Another option is humid hides
    Last edited by The Serpent Merchant; 11-17-2013 at 02:56 PM.
    ~Aaron

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  3. #3
    Registered User KayleighBrown's Avatar
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    Re: Humidity/Temperature Assistance please.

    Quote Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant View Post
    Putting paper on an unregulated UTH is an extreme fire hazard. If the UTH were to short out the paper would most likely burn and who knows what would happen from there. Until you get a thermostat I would suggest that you just unplug the UTH. They are simply too dangerous (to your snake and you) to run unregulated.

    Your winter problems can be solved with higher wattage infrared heat bulbs and either thermostats or lamp dimmers. You want a heat lamp that has more than enough power to heat the cage during the coldest nights, but can be turned down when it's warmer. A thermostat would be best as it can constantly adjust the heat output, but lamp dimmers would work as well but you would have to constantly adjust them.

    As for humidity how low does it get? I would recommend that you use humidity cycles instead of trying to keep it up 24/7 if you are worried about scale rot.

    By humidity cycles I mean heavily misting the cage so it gets up to 70%-80% then letting it fall to 30%-40% before misting again. This way the cage has a chance to dry out before you rewet it.

    Another option is humid hides
    Right, Towel removed and UTH unplugged. I was just really concerned about belly heat, he ate yesterday night. D:

    We have something that shuts off their lamps for 1 hour and then turns them back on again for 3 hours, but without kaa having some form of UTH I'm afraid he'll get too cold. And without heat, I can't keep his hide humid. D:

  4. #4
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    Can you go grab a lamp dimmer from home depot until you get a thermostat?

  5. #5
    Registered User KayleighBrown's Avatar
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    Sure

    I can go see if they have one, sure. It will have to die us over till we get a thermostat. I want something that tells us what the temperature is.

  6. #6
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    I use something along these lines. They will work to dial down the UTH until a good thermostat can be purchased.

    http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-Cr...1#.UokcVCfJf5o

  7. #7
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    Humidity/Temperature Assistance please.



    This is what im using for now. I cut a piece of bottom off an old tub and hot glued a zoo med digital thermometer to the top of it to simulate what the temp of the tub bottoms are. Since most all my snakes burrow into the substrate. Then I use the dimmer to adjust the temp. This is just temp but does work.
    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Last edited by led-zep; 11-17-2013 at 03:49 PM.

  8. #8
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    Speechless right now,lol

  9. #9
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    Re: Humidity/Temperature Assistance please.

    Quote Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899 View Post
    Speechless right now,lol
    Why?

  10. #10
    Registered User Crazymonkee's Avatar
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    Because obviously we don't have common sense
    I think the dimmers on the lights is a good option ( although you'll have to adjust them accordingly.
    Humidity I would change you're substrate to Eco Earth or other coconut husk substrate... I saved my sanity with dealing with the humidity in the tank

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