HOW TO: Keep heat & humidity in a V422 Vision Cage in the winter time?

[yaboyyoungd1234567]

I have bricks of Eco Earth spread across the bottom and a large white water dish on the cool side. Other then moving it off the ground onto a stand is there anything else I can do? Without a little heater in front of the glass on the cool side the temperatures drop to 70° and the humidity goes down to 30%.


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[treaux]

What are you using to heat the cage? An UTH will provide floor heat, but not much ambient. If you need good cage heat, I'd recommend an RHP or a ceramic bulb if you are on a budget. You will also need a thermostat of some sort if you don't have it already.

[bcr229]

I would put it on a stand (you can get something that permits storage underneath), also put a strip of 12" wide heat tape regulated by a thermostat under the heat lamp.

Get rid of the center light and put a piece of foil, plastic, etc. in that opening - you're losing a lot of heat and humidity out of the top. If you need task lighting while spot cleaning a small LED flashlight works.

I don't know about the model 422 but my 522 has vents in the back that I had to cover, or it would dry out really fast.

[yaboyyoungd1234567]

What are you using to heat the cage? An UTH will provide floor heat, but not much ambient. If you need good cage heat, I'd recommend an RHP or a ceramic bulb if you are on a budget. You will also need a thermostat of some sort if you don't have it already.

60 watt ceramic heat emitter that was fine in the summer.


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[yaboyyoungd1234567]

I would put it on a stand (you can get something that permits storage underneath), also put a strip of 12" wide heat tape regulated by a thermostat under the heat lamp.

Get rid of the center light and put a piece of foil, plastic, etc. in that opening - you're losing a lot of heat and humidity out of the top. If you need task lighting while spot cleaning a small LED flashlight works.

I don't know about the model 422 but my 522 has vents in the back that I had to cover, or it would dry out really fast.

Yeah I have the vents covered in the back and I love the light for display but for winter time I can cover it. Thanks for the tip too! But if it gets hot enough durning the summer and the ambient temp is old should I use uth on the hot side. Because the heat emitter gets really hot already I mostly need heat on the cooler side


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[KMG]

Are you using the Eco dry?

If so, add water and mix it up.

I use a mixture of Eco, Reptile Bark, and Forest Floor cypress much. When it gets dry I pour water in it and stir it around. Works great for my GTP, ETB, Bloods, and Ball.

[KMG]

And I second getting it off the floor. That should help alot.

Lowes has cheap folding tables I use in my snake room. Easy to move. Easy to clean. Easy to get.

[yaboyyoungd1234567]

And I second getting it off the floor. That should help alot.

Lowes has cheap folding tables I use in my snake room. Easy to move. Easy to clean. Easy to get.

Yeah I usually Spray it down in the morning but that only last about an hour tops. I got a reptifogger and have it going into one of the back vents. It's very cool though and that lowers the temps lol can't win for losing. But define getting it off the ground!


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[KMG]

Yeah I usually Spray it down in the morning but that only last about an hour tops. I got a reptifogger and have it going into one of the back vents. It's very cool though and that lowers the temps lol can't win for losing. But define getting it off the ground!


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The floor is a cold place to be. Having the cage sitting on a table would help boost and maintain the temps.

[Coluber42]

You can also put insulation around it, just like you are recommended for glass tanks. Plastic still does lose heat, even if not as much as glass. The bottom and the top will be where you lose the most heat ( the bottom because whatever the cage is sitting on will conduct heat away, and the top because the warm air inside will rise to the top and warm the plastic, resulting in heat loss even you cover the hole). I had to insulate my PVC cage because living room gets cold; but it really helps.

You can also use the uth just for ancient temps on the cool side with the che for the hot, or vise versa. I use a rhp on the cool side a uth for a hot spot of the other side, because one heat source on only one side is not enough to maintain temps on the other side.

For humidity, you may just need to be able to add more moisture at a time so that it can evaporate more gradually. Larger or additional dishes help, or a dish of damp moss with water in the bottom so that the water can wick up into the moss and evaporate over time. Spraying gives you a heavy surface coating of water that evaporates quickly, but it isn't actually that much moisture in total. Imagine trying to water a large house plant that had dried out by spraying the soil with a spray bottle... you'd be at it a pretty long time before it got enough water, even though the surface of the soil would be damp after a few sprays.