Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is my current situation. It seems the higher I try to get the tempature in the encloser, the more the humidity drops. Vis versa.

In your opinion, is

74*F with 80%humidity, better then
79*F with 73%humidity ?

How low is too low tempature wise? I know these snakes dont like it super warm. But keeping the avg temp in the mid 70s ok? with a cool side of 70*F

If this where my tank below, is this an acceptable range?
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71*F 74*F 76*F

With an overall Humidity of 78 - 80%

Let me know, thank you

..It is excellent that you recognize the temperature gradient from one end of the cage to the other. Increasing the temperature does exactly what you see happening. It evaporates the water and the water vapor eventually leaves the cage. Your diagram displays differently depending on whether I am in the read or reply mode with kingsnake. But I think the correct representation is that you have 71 at the cool end and 76 at the warm end. If these temperatures are your FLOOR temperatures then I would say it is ideal. Some people would want to go with the warm end a little warmer though. I have actually kept little BRBs in the high 60s to very low 70s over the coldest 6 weeks of their first winter and had them do fine. During that time they continued to eat, digest, shed and grow. If you get a humidity in the 70% range or higher the snake will be fine.
Jeff

>>This is my current situation. It seems the higher I try to get the tempature in the encloser, the more the humidity drops. Vis versa.
>>
>>In your opinion, is
>>
>>74*F with 80%humidity, better then
>>79*F with 73%humidity ?
>>
>>How low is too low tempature wise? I know these snakes dont like it super warm. But keeping the avg temp in the mid 70s ok? with a cool side of 70*F
>>
>>If this where my tank below, is this an acceptable range?
>>--------------------------------------------------
>>| |
>>| |
>>| |
>>71*F 74*F 76*F
>>
>>With an overall Humidity of 78 - 80%
>>
>>Let me know, thank you

Great! It should be no issue at all keeping the tempatures in that range. Also by allowing the tempature to dwindle down into the mid 70's its easier to maintain a higher humidity. " For me atleast "

Thanks for the reply.

There are a few factors that affect humidity:

Evaporation - getting the water airborne. You can change this by placement of your water bowl and usage of moist substrate. Moist substrate will be susceptable to mold though.

Dissipation - Once the water is airborne, it tends to equalize humidity levels, if there is ventilation, drier air will replace the moist air. Also significantly affected by thermal air currents. Warm moist air rising, cooler drier air settling. Limiting your ventilation will raise the humidity level.

Condensation - warm moist air coming in contact with cooler surface will cause the water to condense on the cool surface.

As jeff said, your temps are fine, I keep mine at mid to upper 70's and they're fine. To fine tune the humidity, you can play around with water bowl placement. Closer to the warm end will raise the humidity, closer to the cool will lower it.

All that said, I have NEVER actually measured humidity in any of my enclosures. If they are shedding fine, the humidity is fine. My cages are basically dry with paper floor liners. Newspaper coverd with dimpled craft paper. Each cage does have a damp moss hide box and they love to stay in them.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
13.24 BRB
12.14 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats