Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone,

I'm having problems keeping the humidity up... So far, I've stabilized the humidity at 61%, but at the cost of the water temperature, which is now sitting at 99 degrees.

The major problem is that I have super insulated the tank he is in. It has the two sides and the back covered in insulation which is bubble wrap covered with aluminum on both sides. I also did this to the top screen, with the only opening for the night light that sits over the water dish.

So, what's the recourse if any? This is getting insane. First I had problems with the ambient temp, but now I have it at 84, then the humidity, but it is now at 61%. Now it's the water temp.

Any help will be gladly accepted!

What are you using for humidity? What is the humidity on the outside of the cage? Where are the vents for the cage, or are there any other than the top? what is your cage made out of?

Sorry about all the ?'s but any one of these factors can have a large impact on your humidity.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

Since he is still small, he is living a regular aquarium.

The venting is at the top, and about the only escape space is a 1" diameter circle by the lamp and the 3 little holes at the top of the lamp.

General room humidity is low, primarily because like right now, the A/C is on. Thus the reason I insulted the tank so heavily. A/C's and fish tank don't = much luck usually.

To get the humidity up, I spray the tank once a day and keep the lamp over the water dish. This causes a natural evaporation which inturn increases humidity. But the humidity increase also sacrifices water temps by increasing them to abnormally high levels.

It sounds like for now you are just gonna have to mist the cage down more often.

I dont know what kind of substrate ur using, but you might try one that holds the moisture really well. And soak a little overnight and put that in, and change out some more to soak that night.

When you get a larger enclosure, you may try putting in a small humidifier. We ended up having to do that when we were in an arid climate.

A misting machine of some sort may work for you, but I dont know how much room you have available inside. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

Hey. I was at Petco the other day and I picked up a tank humidifier for about twenty bucks...plus a fish pump if u dont have one. The thing worked great. I live in South Texas so its hot as hell down here...so the AC is cranked and I had the same prob keeping humidity up...With the humidifier it refreshed the tanks air and keeps humidity at around 70...The coolest thing being i dont have to cover up the top or anything...i just let the air circulate....so if nothing else works give that a try...im sure itll solve ur probs

First off 61% is a little low for the humidity. You should try to get it above 70%. Like I stated in the above thread, the mid 60's is probably safe for the animal but it will be momre comfortable and shed better if you are able to bump it up above 70%. As far as the temps and such, well this is the problem with using glass aquiriums with screen lids to house tropical reptiles in. These tanks are for fish not reptiles and as long as you are using them you are continuaously going to fix one problem only to have created another. You really need to find a more adequate enclosure for your animals beside aquariums. Vision, animal plastics are my to prefab choices or make your own. Untill you get a better enclosure you are going to have problems with heating and humidity levels, Todd

I will give a blanket response to everyone instead of going post by post.

Onebigred, I am currently using Cypress Mulch which does a decent job of holding the humidity up. As for an larger enclosure, he will be moving into a Vision cage as a temp fix since it is the same length of the aquarium (36", but it is a lot deeper (28", I'm hoping this gives me more stable temps/humidity wise. I'm just working on how to heat the Vision. Contemplating going with a heat panel (no idea how you would go about installing one) with a low wattage night bulb running over the water bowl.

Makeurself, I once tried out the Habbamist, but it gave me nothing but greef and I ended up returning it less than 2 days after I got it. I'm thinking about using a humidifier for the vision.

Todd, I have a Vision, although it is only deeper than the current aquarium. It's a model 332 (36x28x18). My question to you is what I should do with the heat shroud, what type of lamp or ceramic emitter I should use and should I cover up the two rear vents? Also, if I were to use a humidifier, I know that most produce a cool mist, does having this cool mist being blow into a warm cage cause problems health wise with the snake? One more thing, I have a black throat monitor who is in a cage that measures 8x4x4. If I were to build onto the top of the monitors cage, would 2' tall be too little in height? Or should I just build the cage seperate from the Black Throats cage??

Thanks for all answers in advance!

To heat the vision you can use a ceramic heat emmiters or a heat lamp. My problems with each are the following... Ceramic heat emmiters are good but they tend to dry the cage out and you still need to provide some sort of light to develope a proper photo cycle. For heat lamps they do not dry the cage out as bad however you lose your heat source at night when the lights go out. I would personally recommend going with 18" flourescent lights (since they put out no heat) and a radiant heat panel. If you use a heat panel you will need to make some holes in the back of the cage but they will be little and will not hurt the cage any. Simpley drill four small holes where you are going to mount the panel. Using a bolt and but and a 1/2 inch space put the bolt through the panel in each corner then add the spacer then protrude the bolt out the back of the cage and secure it with a nut. Do this on all four corners and your panel will be mounted. You will have to drill on more small hole and cut the plug off the cord. Put the wire throught the hole then either replace the plug with another one or resplice the original plug back on. If you build your on cage then 2' is plenty tall enough. Most prefab cages are only 18" tall. My 3 cages I currently use are homeade and are 6'x3'x2' and they are probably to tall. The snakes do not need the height and the taller it si the harder it is to heat and comtrol the humidity.
Hope this helps a little more. Todd

For a humidifier, I used, I think its a vicks, anyways it was the 9 dollar cheepo at wally world and it puts out a warm mist. With it also, the humidifier element is fairly small and only needs a tub of water to sit in, so you dont have to use the little water tub that comes with it.

2 ft is also not too small in height. it should realy be more than plenty.

For a heat panel, you can buy a heat mat. There are many sizes and brands, and they are already wired up and have adheasive on one side, if you dont want to mess with heat tape. for that size of cage I wouldnt guess it will cost you much.

the mulch should be ok, Im sure in the vision, and especially once you get one built, it will work much better. Good luck
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic