I actually rather like using a heat lamp in addition to the UTH - I have a larger tank and a smaller one and the UTH just doesn't heat everything up enough, especially right now as temperatures start dropping at night. I like the light because it warms up the air in the tank and heats the entire tank in a nice gradient when it's on one side - I've got thermometers at both ends of my tanks and the heat lamp keeps things wonderful.

For humidity - I'm in southern California and it tends to be pretty dry here, so I use a mix of about 50/50 reptibark and ecoearth, also known as forest bedding. I just keep the ecoearth slightly moist and it's been working great for my snakes. Have yet to notice any kind of mold, and I like the way it looks too.

You can also try dampening the towel that you have over the top. I used to do that when I had hermit crabs and they needed a quick humidity boost.

~jenny
-----
1.1.1 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
2.1 betta fishes (Vicious, Killer, and Butters)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
2.25 chickens (Jacques the rooster and his harem)

but what I really want is more ball pythons!

[ Show Entire Thread ]