KINDA NEW PLEASE HELP. heating and humidity. Please!!!!!!!!!

[rocky88]

I just got a baby ball python the other day. It looks like i got everything under control except the most important part heating and humidity. I am in the middle of purchasing a thermostat and humidistat. And was just curious how the thermostat works. Like i know the concept but do you plug your light into the thermostat or what? And if so what type of light and wattage should I use. I have a 20gallon glass tank with mesh top. And how would i keep the humidity and temp at a steady level since i have mesh top. Please help. Much appreciation!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU...

[ohyeahnow]

I would get a UTH or flexwatt to run underneath. Cover most of the top to help with humidity. Sensor (probe) runs from t-stat to tank. Heating devices hook up to the t-stat. You also need a warm and hot side. With glass you will probably need two t-stats and a different heat source on each side.

[Hock3ymonk3y]

I have the same thing as u, what i did was cover the top with clear boxing tape on both sides (So its not sticky and the snake doesnt get stuck). Leave a square or circle where your heat lamp goes. Mist 1ce daily. Also, on the hot side I have a small uth and the red heat lamp. That keeps it at like 87 degrees ambient on the hot side. I have no thermostat or humidistat but i do have the fluker's digital hygrometer/thermometer. That's what works for me! Also, I have aspen substrate but it does not hold humidity well so I am going to get repti-bark.
Hope this helps!

[rocky88]

yea i have a piece of cardboard that i cut out to fit the top perfectly that has a whole where the light is. And excuse my ignorance but what is uth and ambient. Oh and I was thinking about getting this http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...oducts_id=2472
and connecting my lights and this http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...oducts_id=2394 to it. What do you think. Oh and how would i go about keeping the cage warm at night just put a red light at night time? Thank you guys for taking time to help, much appreciated

[Kaorte]

yea i have a piece of cardboard that i cut out to fit the top perfectly that has a whole where the light is. And excuse my ignorance but what is uth and ambient. Oh and I was thinking about getting this http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...oducts_id=2472
and connecting my lights and this http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...oducts_id=2394 to it. What do you think. Oh and how would i go about keeping the cage warm at night just put a red light at night time? Thank you guys for taking time to help, much appreciated

Okay, you should check the stickies first because they will give you all the answers you are looking for. I will break it down for you anyway.

Every tank should use belly heat, or an under the tank heater. This MUST be plugged into a thermostat. Most thermostats have more than one outlet so you can plug either two UTH's to it or a UTH and a lamp. I personally would not use only lamps to heat my snakes cage.

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=75 This is a good thermostat and you can use it to control the UTH and the light. For controlling the light, I would suggest that you get a piggy-back dimmer (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...10000003+90401) from home depot and plug that into the thermostat, and then plug the lamp into that. This way you can have individual control of both heating elements without buying two thermostats.

You should not need to use a humidistat or a fogger for your BP. They don't require a crazy amount of humidity like frogs do. They only need 50% normally and around 70% for their shed cycle.

An easy way to keep humidity up in a glass tank is to change your substrate to aspen or coconut fiber. I prefer aspen because it looks nice and is very easy to clean (and smells nice). Never use pine or cedar! Another way to boost humidity is to add sphagnum moss to the enclosure. Many people treat their screen enclosures so that they can keep in humidity. The most common practice is to put a piece of tin foil down and cover it with duct tape. Leave a hole for the lamp (if you have one) and a gap for air flow so the air doesn't become stagnant. The cardboard you are using now will suck the humidity up from the air, which is the opposite of what you want.

With tanks it is pretty hard to keep the ambient temperatures up (the temp of the air). Many people use lamps to accomplish this but then turn them off at night because they are bright. You have a couple of options. You could use a CHE (ceramic heat emitter), these don't give off any light, but they do give off heat. Another option is a infrared bulb or a moonlight bulb (not a black light). These aren't as bright as your traditional heat lamp and are nice for night time viewing.


If you would like more guidance, posting a picture of your setup and all of the details (temperature, humidity level, what heat sources you are using, your substrate) will really help us to understand what we can do to help you!

[rocky88]

ok thank you. And my setup is simple for now. until i get paid, but it includes one heat pad, a 60wt regular house light bulb, two hide spots (one on hot and one on cool side) a water bowl, 2x4 (so my snake can get closer to the heat if needed) aspen bedding, 20 gallon glass tank W/mesh top. And dont currently have thermostat so no way of telling the temp. oh and I tried to put up pictures but I cant figure it out how do you do that? Thank you very much!!!!!

[Kaorte]

ok thank you. And my setup is simple for now. until i get paid, but it includes one heat pad, a 60wt regular house light bulb, two hide spots (one on hot and one on cool side) a water bowl, 2x4 (so my snake can get closer to the heat if needed) aspen bedding, 20 gallon glass tank W/mesh top. And dont currently have thermostat so no way of telling the temp. oh and I tried to put up pictures but I cant figure it out how do you do that? Thank you very much!!!!!

What kind of thermometers and hydrometers are you using?

To post a picture you can use a photo hosting site like http://flickr.com/
Once you make an account and log in, there should be an upload photos button. Once you upload the photo, click on the thumbnail of it, right click the big picture and click "Copy image location". Then just paste that link into your post. Or you can click the yellow button with the mountain (the insert image button) and copy the URL into the box provided.

[rocky88]

well like i said earlier i dont have any thermometers or hydrometers so no way of telling level of either heat nor humidity. But once i get paid that is first on my list because this thing is like my baby now and i want to make sure that it is comfortable. oh and thank you i will have some pictures up by morning. than you again very much help!!!!!!!

[Kaorte]

well like i said earlier i dont have any thermometers or hydrometers so no way of telling level of either heat nor humidity. But once i get paid that is first on my list because this thing is like my baby now and i want to make sure that it is comfortable. oh and thank you i will have some pictures up by morning. than you again very much help!!!!!!!

No offense but maybe you shouldn't have gotten a ball python until you did a little more research. It is essential that you measure the temperatures and humidity. You don't have 25 bucks to spare to get an Accurite and a dimmer to control your heat source?

[blackcrystal22]

yea i have a piece of cardboard that i cut out to fit the top perfectly that has a whole where the light is. And excuse my ignorance but what is uth and ambient. Oh and I was thinking about getting this http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...oducts_id=2472
and connecting my lights and this http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...oducts_id=2394 to it. What do you think. Oh and how would i go about keeping the cage warm at night just put a red light at night time? Thank you guys for taking time to help, much appreciated

Foggers are useless.
For keeping humidity, you'll be much better off getting a 2 dollar spray bottle from petsmart and misting the cage with hot water (it turns to warm, test it on your hand if your worried) every night.

Heat lamps are virtually useless for bps and suck humidity terribly. If you have a lamp just for show, get a very low wattage, otherwise I don't recommend one at all.

An under tank heater (UTH) is essential for a ball python. You need to have a UTH hooked up to a proper Thermostat just like Kaorte said. A dimmer can be used temporarily but not without some sort of DIGITAL thermometer with probe. Accurate is very good. You should try to get two, one for cool side one for warm.
The metered hygrometers and thermometers you find at all petstores are terribly inaccurate and only measure ambient temps. It could be 80 ambient air while its 110 on the floor and cooking your snake to death.