humidity in glass tanks.

[cobredos]

Hi,
I recently recieved a ball python as a gift. I heard that this site was a great place to ask questions. Everything seems to going ok with the tank except the humidity. I have a glass tank but I have only been able to keep the humidity at 48 or so, and I realize that this is to low. I have contact paper on the mesh at the top of the tank, I was wondering if contact paper on the sides of the tank, except for the front would help keep the humidity in? If anyone has tried this and it worked please let me know. Or if there are other ways of keeping humidity in a glass tank that you have found to have worked I'm open to any suggestions.
Thanks!!

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

Hey! Dont name a boy snake fuzzy pink pony!!

J/K


Anyway, I use a plywood lid for my 40 gallon aquarium and have a LARGE water bowl. If you keep the water bowl on the hot side of the aquarium it should heat up and put more water in the air... I only have maybe 20 holes drilled in the plywood, and that allows air circulation, but not so much that the humidity of the room takes over (If i take the lid off, the humidity goes down to 30%)

This has worked for me.... how much of the lid is actually open to air? If you have a lamp top it allows a lot more air in as well.

[cobredos]

If its a boy the pink pony part comes off!
I am requiured by my apartment complex to have a padlocked lid on the tank and supply them with updated pictures or I cannot have the snake. The tank I have now is only a 10 gallon tank. A bigger water bowl in there than I have would basically take up the entire tank.
As of now, the corners are the only open part of the mesh on the top, they are about 1 inch square cut outs.

[iceman25]

)You could try and bring up the humidity of the room by using some kind of commercial humidifier.

2)Provide a humid hide made out of small rubbermaid container and damp sphagnum moss.

3)If you are using a CHE, you could place it directly above the tank over the water bowl. This is providing you have the top covered off and a section cut off for the CHE. Also it would be advisable to control the element with a proportional thermostat.

4)Mist the tank several times a day.

The following is from a post by member monkeywrench.

Also, you could try putting a wider water bowl in his tank. Wider bowl=more surface area=more evaporation.

If you are using a UTH, put a second water bowl on the hot side so that the UTH will raise the water's temp, again, more evaporation.

You could also build a tank humidifier as outlined in the DIY section of this site.

Or, if you'd like to "beautify" your tank some, get one of those Exo-terra waterfalls and put it in the tank. I used one of those for quite a while in a 20 long, kept the humidity right at 60%.
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[Roundabout136]

I have a damp towel that i put on top of the wired top of my 20g. I cover probably 2/3 of it leaving enough room between the towel and the heat lamp. It keeps my humidity at a constant 55, i have to re-wet it probably two times a day though, becuase the heat lamp dries it out so much.

[cobredos]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into making that humidifier. I was using a wet paper towel over the mesh but I'm trying to see if I can use something that I do not have to rewet constantly. With the heating pads that I have under the cage I don't really use the heating lamp all that often.

[Smulkin]

When we were in glass we couldnt say enough good things about transluscent (nearly clear) ConTac paper over the screen. Let in light, kept in humidity. Easy on, easy off, cheap and ubiquuitous. Moist towels went fast as they mildewed too quickly.

[JLC]

I also have the semi-clear contact paper over the screen of my tank. Works very well and doesn't look tacky. My substrate is the coconut stuff (eco-earth, bed-a-beast, etc) and to raise/maintain humidity, I mix in a couple handfulls of fresh, moist bedding into the dry substrate. The amount I mix in is easy to control and if I were to need extra humidity for an impending shed, I could just mix in a little more. The humidity levels last for several days, very slowly dropping back down to the point where I need to repeat the procedure.