How do you guys keep temperature in your tanks?

[arke95]

Somebody please help. I don't know if I should keep the top screen. I don't want my snake to feel stressed or get hurt

[thejennabird]

That plexiglass top is super neat! I would say try it with that many holes and if the humidity gets too high or you notice condensation issues (or you get paranoid, haha) you can drill more. Personally - just my opinion - it's always easier to drill too many holes and cover some of them up with cardboard then it is to drill not enough holes and have to add more later.

As for the screen, it's probably fine. Many owners have screen tops. And unless you notice her rubbing or injuring herself on the mesh, I see no reason to change it.

[earthwormjim]

I was having the same problem. I cut a piece of cardboard to fit my screen top with a hole big enough for my light and some ventilation, then wrapped it in aluminum foil It helped a lot for ambient temp as well as humidity. I also switched to a red bulb that is on a dimmer switch for room temp fluctuation. Made a huge improvement. I just set it on top of the screen and it is held in place by the screen locks.

[earthwormjim]

Hope that helps.

[earthwormjim]

Here is a pic,
It isn't an air tight seal and I have small holes all over it for more ventilation. Looks kind of assy but gets the job done until you find a better solution.

[Sauzo]

I have my BP tank set up like earthwormjim but I have my CHE set in the middle. Basically I just cut a single piece of thick cardboard to fit over the whole top of the screen. Then I cut a circle in the center that was about 1 inch bigger than the size of the dome. That gives me enough gap for air. Then I wrapped it all in tin foil. Then I just put a 100 watt CHE on a lamp dimmer and adjust as needed. I'm using aspen and actually recently I've been having too much humidity. I'm sitting at around 70% with just the water bowl in there as well as 86f on the hot side and 83f on the cool side. Granted it isn't the prettiest set up but it works very well which is what you are really after.

You want to set the UTH temp based off the glass temp, not the top of the substrate. My BP actually pushes all the aspen aside and sits right on the glass in her warm hide. That's why I used my temp gun and set the glass temp above the UTH to 90f.

You need to get rid of that desk light you got and just buy a ceramic fixture 8 or 10 inch dome. You can still use that plexi top you got but I would cut the circle out bigger, around an inch or so bigger than the dome as you don't want the plexi to start melting.

As for enough airflow, how is the humidity? You only want to make enough holes to achieve the humidity you are after. You can also cover up some holes if you have too much airflow(low humidity). I like the plexi look but again as I mentioned, you want to make sure the circle is big enough as the plastic company I talked to and explained what I wanted and needed as they do custom work told me the same thing of make sure you add an inch or so on the dome circle as you can melt or warp the plexi from the heat of a CHE.

[The Golem]

I went to a huge Home Depot looking for materials to make a DIY top for the glass enclosure like in this stickied thread and while wandering the aisles found something called Reflectix, it's like aluminum foil bubble wrap and used as insulation.

The terrarium has a grille along the length of the front glass panel, so my thinking is that fresh air comes in from the bottom, is warmed on the left side, rises in the tank and flows out the hole cut on the right side, creating a good circulation pattern.
In the summer I'll either cut the hole larger or possibly cut off and remove about 1/3 of the sheet.



Because Reflectix bubble wrap comes in a roll, I need something to hold it down flat at first so used the dinosaurs and have just left them there

[arke95]

With as many holes as I have humidity is at 65 at the warmer side, and at 55 at the other one.

[earthwormjim]

I went to a huge Home Depot looking for materials to make a DIY top for the glass enclosure like in this stickied thread and while wandering the aisles found something called Reflectix, it's like aluminum foil bubble wrap and used as insulation.

The terrarium has a grille along the length of the front glass panel, so my thinking is that fresh air comes in from the bottom, is warmed on the left side, rises in the tank and flows out the hole cut on the right side, creating a good circulation pattern.
In the summer I'll either cut the hole larger or possibly cut off and remove about 1/3 of the sheet.



Because Reflectix bubble wrap comes in a roll, I need something to hold it down flat at first so used the dinosaurs and have just left them there

I am going to try this, it looks much cleaner than what I did.

[themastiffman]

I have a mixture of custom enclosures and tanks. On the tanks I make tops out of 3/8ths plexiglass and drill ventilation holes. I also cut and hinge access doors and the plastic is thick enough that I mount radiant heat panels to the tops and heat that way. On 2 of my 40 breeder tanks, I have a 40 watt reptile basics panel and a very small UTH just in case they want some belly heat under their hot side hide. This works awesome and heat and humidity control is as easy as my custom enclosures. The tanks are heavy and sometimes the top access is a pain, but I don't move the tanks very often and for animal viewing purposes the tanks look better than an actual reptile enclosure. Depends on your priorities I guess.