My husbandry SUCKS

[PitOnTheProwl]

I move it from left to middle to right when I do a full check. Otherwise it's in the middle above the substrate

[Calider]

I couldn't keep my temps or humidity stable in my new bp display... Temp was too high, humidity was too low... So I moved the UTH under the larger water dish and it fixed itself. Haven't yet created snake soup, but I have the display next to my bed and I'm watching it like a hawk...

I would strongly, strongly, strongly recommend getting yourself a good, high-quality powerstrip with timer outlets and having literally twice as many thermometers / hygrometers in your displays as you need. Different brands too. I have 4 different brands in each enclosure so if 3 of them read the same and 1 is way off, I know exactly which one I can't trust. EVERYTHING needs to be hooked up to a secondary control of some kind, literally everything, if anyone tells you otherwise, don't listen. The only exception I can think of would be a dimmer on lights... Some lamps will blow with a dimmer on them. You need a thermostatic control for all of your heat sources to avoid disasters. UTH are just as dangerous, if not moreso, than a rock heater if they are not plugged into a thermostatic controller. A snake can easily tell when a heat rock starts and ends, and while they don't always crawl off, they can crawl off. An overheated UTH isn't as obvious to them and also runs the risk of cracking or melting whatever it is stuck to. Having some sort of control or protection from malfunctioning heat sources is vital to prevent injuries, death, and housefires.

As for the humidity, I am a firm believer in hand-misting everything. It is the only way to ensure it's done the way you want it done. Some people have way too many snakes to realistically do that, and in that situation, or with snakes that require very high humidity, I'd recommend putting a small UTH under a large water dish, with a second (cool) dish on the other end. Best part? You can stick a simple thermometer into the water dish and tell how warm it is very easily. There are cons to everything, nothing is perfect, there are things we all did 10 years ago that were fine back then and now we know that actually they weren't.

I use the exo terra glass terrariums and have small pieces of glass cut to fit the top where I need it, to keep the humidity in. If the humidity is too high, just leave the screen top open and it flies out like a fart in the wind. I only have three snakes, and only one of them is a bp, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. I do have to say, of all of the people I have ever heard of posting about bad husbandry, you are, hands down, the most caring pet parent I have ever seen out of all of them and your snake is very lucky to have you. Thank you for loving your snake.

[Calider]

Omg lmao the credits LOL dying

[Maggie Louise]

The drawing is helpful, thanks. I feel like a dumbass having purchased all of this stuff that's now essentially useless and has proven itself as such. I should've done this months ago considering how much time I put into trying to do it right. Should I just return the stupid mistking? What kind of humidity gage should I get

[Ratikal]

LOLOLOL... I just noticed the credits

[Maggie Louise]

Calider
these all seem like really helpful ideas that took some trial and error and I appreciate your input, as well as everyone else's. I'm clearly just starting out and it's been killing me, this whole deal. It'll take some messing around with but with all of these tips I have more confidence in finding a way to put an end to this spiraling money pit. I already have glass cut-outs on the way and I have a thermostatic control, thankfully. I'm going to send this mistking back and use that money to invest in these really excellent suggestions. Like I said it's owner responsibility and loving that little guy and doing what I can to keep him calm and healthy is top priority. I'll do anything I have to. Thank you for recognizing that, I very much appreciate your compliment

[cchardwick]

I have piles of equipment that I bought that I no longer use, I think that's pretty typical. You have to find what works for you. It's expensive but it's trail and error and we are all trying to learn as we go. I started with glass aquariums and under tank heaters, tried all kinds of different substrates, decorations, hides, etc. I finally ended up going with an ARS rack and Reptichip coconut husk as the substrate. I mist every three days using a pump up 2 gallon sprayer that I bought from Home Depot. I found if you get Reptichip too wet it molds like crazy, best to just get it fairly wet but not soaking and let it really dry out before you spray it down again. I also clear out a spot in the back of the tub and put the snake directly on the plastic tub. If he makes a mess I move the Reptichip over and spray down the plastic with diluted Chlorhexidine that I bought on Amazon, wipe it dry and put the snake back on the plastic bottom, then wet down the Reptichip with water.

Right now I'm struggling with thermostats, the cheap Hydrofarm thermostats fail in the on position, just this week I found one that was over 100 degrees, probably has been that way for a couple weeks. No wonder some of my snakes weren't eating! I just ordered some Herpstat 4 thermostats, expensive but should be accurate temps for all my levels.

I actually used my glass aquariums to raise rodents, then finally moved them into another ARS rack system and it's just wonderful, saves me tons of time and money. Now I have a pile of empty aquariums in the garage LOL.

I've probably spent over $1,000 in equipment that I don't use anymore, seems like I keep expanding and outgrowing my current setup with better equipment that is more reliable, and saves time and money. Of course my goal is breeding and I have a lot of high end snakes that I've invested in, so probably more than an average hobbyist. I figure in a few years I'll get back all my invested money and money wasted if my snakes actually produce some offspring that I can sell.

From what I've seen from your setup I'd ditch the fogger / mister and mist by hand every few days and let the humidity spike and drop a bit. Then get a digital thermostat, ditch the dial one. Then get a temp monitor with high and low temp alarms. This is the one I use, I bought eight of them, one for each level in my rack system, all seem spot on as far as temps, great reviews, and they are cheap:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Maggie Louise]

Ahh thank you so much. I've called mistking a few times to make sure I ship and rerun the mister properly but I haven't received an answer yet. Knowing others have dumped their money before is kind of reassuring - I haven't been crazy, just doing the whole hit and miss thing. I'm excited to get this worked out. Thank you for the link, I really appreciate your advice!

[KMG]

A. You can make that tank work. You can even make the 40 gallon work. I raised my ball in a 40. The key is drift wood, plants, and hides.

B. It sounds like you have a dinner and not a thermostat. That to can work but if the room temperature fluctuates much througout the day and night the temps in the tank will be riding and lowering constantly. A steady room temp helps.

C. Placing glass over the screen will really help humidity a heat.

D. Heat mats are not meant to great the entire enclosure. They are meant for a hotspot. If the room is cool you may need to add a lamp or che.

E. Herpstats are king in the world of tstats to me. I had a Hydrofarm and it failed within two months, in the on position.

F. Get a IR temp gun. It will save you a ton of stress and really help you get things right.

[Maggie Louise]

Yeah I just ordered a bunch of great stuff for his new tank set to arrive January 25th. The thermostat in my house is set at 72 at all times and switches on and off to keep it steady. I just discovered the glass panel idea so I ordered those as well. Hopefully they get here soon. My medium sized heat mat is on the hot side of the tank and a very small one is next to it, with no mat on the cool side to provide a heat gradient. I move the thermometer from left to right when I'm doing a full check, at least once every other day, but I'm not sure if both of my thermostats are reliable - the readings between the two vary slightly. You're probably right about the dimmer thing, this is all new to me so the lingo is lost upon me sometimes. I think my issue with heat has been the unlabeled knob on the dimmer - it has no numbers, just a dial and a green light that goes on and off depending on the temp. I've heard a lot about herpstats so that will be my next purchase. Do you have a suggestion about brands/places to purchase IR temp guns? Thank you for your input