Wide range of humidity - Is this a problem?

[sueleoash]

Hi everyone,

I have a glass tank set up it's 36x18x18. I have the top screen covered with aluminum foil and duct tape over that with a square cut out for a light (for day/night cycle). I can keep my temps fairly constant, 90-93 on warm side and 78-81 on cool side. My problem is my humidity. I finally got it up into the 50's and 60's but during the day it will drop down to the 30's sometimes. Is this normal and will it affect my BP? My tank is in my den on an outer wall of the house. It's a room that is open to the kitchen and all the way up to the second floor ceiling so controlling ambient temp in the room to affect the tank is virtually impossible. I thought perhaps my light is drying out the tank so I kept it turned off. It raised the humidity some but it still is lower than at night which can get up in the mid 60's. Oh, and I put a small bowl of water over the warm side to raise the humidity but it still dips in the daytime. Thanks for all your help!

[Kagez28]

changes in the humidity like that can lead to a respiratory infection. if you can answer a few questions about your set up i might be able to help.

how are you heating the tank?
what kind of substrate are you using?
what are you using to measure the humidity?

[sueleoash]

Thanks! I'm using repitbark as my substrate. I have one larger UTH under my warm hide and one smaller UTH under my cool hide. Both are regulated by a thermostat. I'm using a digital thermometer and hygometer (sp?) by Zilla. I put the probes about halfway down the back wall in the middle of the tank. I have backing on that the probes are behind. There's a cut out in the backing to allow for probes, wires, etc. The backing is a styrofoam like product, I forget who makes it.

[shawn2881]

i got the same problem
mine stays around 40 or so but i mist mine but it doesnt stay up
idk what the humidity is at night though


do u have a exo terra cage BC they come with a rock wall with them
i got it too but dont use it

[Kagez28]

well sounds good. how large is the tank? larger tanks are a trouble to maintain. you could try a homemade humidifier (http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....article&id=53).

i always had trouble with my tank, so i switched to a tub. now all 10 of my snakes are in tubs, and the temps and humidity are always spot on.

[West Coast Jungle]

I would loose the light, there is no need for it. Ambient light is enough. Tanks are hard to control. Try a wider or multiple water bowls and seal up light hole. This is why most of us use tubs. They are not as pretty to look at but it is better for husbandry.

[Argentra]

I'm using a digital thermometer and hygometer (sp?) by Zilla. I put the probes about halfway down the back wall in the middle of the tank. I have backing on that the probes are behind.

Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like your thermometer probes are on the back wall?? The probes for accurate temps should be down on the substrate itself inside the hides since that's where the snake spends most of it's time. If your temps are perfect up at the middle of the tank, they're probably way too low down where the snake stays.

[sueleoash]

Oh, I should have explained better. In addition to the Zilla digital probe that measures my ambient tank temp and humidity, I have two digital probes, one under each hide in the substrate measuring the warm and cool side temps.

Yes, my backing is the exo terra rockwall, thanks for that. I like it because I can hide the wires of my probes that go in the substrate.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and sharing your experience! I haven't turned the light on today and so far my humidity is staying at 56% so I think I will lose the light. Maybe that's just what I need. I think the light was still being turned on by the kids, perhaps.

I know from reading a lot of the posts that tubs are much better but I like the aesthetic value of the tank with my set up. If I can get the tank where it needs to be and keep our BP healthy than I want to stay with the tank. If I can't maintain it then I will have to seriously consider moving to a tub.

[Kagez28]

tanks are fine for bp's. i just mention tubs cause sometimes people keep little hatchlings in these large tanks. you could just get a small tub set up for a couple months until they become large enough to live in a nice sized tank.

the problem i see with having a tank with a ball python in it is the fact that most of the time you will be looking at an empty tank. ball pythons spend 90% of the day in there hides and maybe come out alittle more at night. they are so shy if some one walks by they might get startled and whoop! back in the hide they go. I had my ball in a tank for months. but with humidity and temp problems, and the fact that everyone that look in to the tank always had to ask "what's in here?".

[sueleoash]

I have to laugh when I read your response, you are so right! Spot spends all his time in one of his two hides and I only see him when he's moving between the two (or we're handling him). He's three years old so he's about 3 feet long and the tank fits him nicely but yes how ironic that I have this nice set up with all the natural looking hides, backwall, etc and I get to stare at it as if it is an empty tank!!