Quote Originally Posted by Myenia View Post
Oh, thanks! I've read those solutions with the aluminum foil...I just figured the wet towel worked similarily but also added to humidity. I do have the wet towels over most of the screen tops.
The wet towel should work similarly, as long as you have it such that it is really sealing up most of the cover and not allowing too much air exchange. Otherwise, while you may be adding humidity, you are still allowing too much to escape. Also it requires you to keep on top of it to make sure it is wet, and to change it frequently so it isn't breeding bacteria and other nasties. The aluminum foil & duct tape solution is a little simpler, and apparently works quite well.

Personally, I use a piece of styrofoam insulation that just happened to be laying around the house, so the price was right, but it looks horrible sitting on top of the tank. There are lots of options that will work.

Quote Originally Posted by Myenia View Post
So you would suggest using both UTH and the light, but have the light dimmed to almost nothing?
I suggest that both the light and the UTH are on something to control their heat output. Thermostats are best but rheostats (dimmers) can work pretty well, as long as the room where the snake is doesn't fluctuate in temperature a lot. Once you get them hooked up to something to control their output, you should be able to play around with it a bit and find what works for you to get the right temps.

On/off type thermostats don't work very well with lights, as you'll end up with a flashing light. Proportional t-stats are more expensive. So a good compromise in this situation to avoid it getting really costly is to get the UTH on a t-stat, and the light on a dimmer.

Another possibility is to ditch the light all together, as they can suck up your humidity. What I have on my glass tank is 2 UTHs, a higher powered one on the hot side of the tank, and a lower powered one on the cool side. Plus I have lots of insulation on 3 sides of the tank (I actually had all 4 sides covered during the winter), to prevent the heat from escaping, as well as the styrofoam covering most of the top.

It takes a lot of tweaking and sometimes a decent chunk of money by the time you buy all the equipment, but you should eventually be able to have a glass tank that is very stable with the correct temps & humidity.