Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok the humidity in my cage is about 55 and the temerature is about 78...i know its not incredibly low but what should i do to get it up? i have heat pad and a water bowl..im thinkin about getting a light..and i covered like half of the screen top to hold some humdity and heat in....what should i do ???

First, the heating pad will not necessarily be sufficient unless you are in an extremely warm room. If you are in a room that has air conditioning or slightly cooler temperatures then that will cool down the air temperature in the tank. YOu might consider getting a moderately sized bulb (blacklight would be good for all times of day). Keep the bulb on one side of the tank so that it will allow for a cooler end, for good thermoregulation.

To boost it's humidity, you can either mist the cage daily, or put the bowl directly under the bulb. Also, if you are using a screen top, try something like a hard top. Hard tops help to hold moisture, as well as heat. Screen tops are not sufficient for animals with these types of requirements, unless you have them in a special room for these animals.

good luck,

chris

>>ok the humidity in my cage is about 55 and the temerature is about 78...i know its not incredibly low but what should i do to get it up? i have heat pad and a water bowl..im thinkin about getting a light..and i covered like half of the screen top to hold some humdity and heat in....what should i do ???

Unless you are using a thermostat or rheostat (which you should be), odds are the temp of the heatpad is way higher than 78. Unless its defective, a heatpad easily breaks 100 unless it is power-controlled somehow.

Make sure you are using a temp gun or digital thermometer to record your temps directly over the heatpad. (If using a digitherm, make sure you give it enough time to get a reading).

An unregulated UTH (under tank heater aka heatpad) will get VERY hot.

Good luck.
Joel
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0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Leopard Gecko

Get a digitherm or temp gun and measure the temperature directly above the heatpad.

Put your hand on the heatpad, remember that you are 98.6 degrees, so if it feels hot, to you, its very hot for snakey.

Joel
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0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Leopard Gecko

One thing I do for my snakes is cover the top with foil paper.
Then i cut one hole on one side for my heat lamp, and a smaller hole at the other end to let a little cooler air in.

I live in Florida. So in the summer months(like now)I cover the smaller vent holes with a paper towel or napkins. I'll even wet the paper towel to help capture the heat.

This works great during shedding. I have never had a problem.

Your thermos are useless .

!. Your ball does not live on the side of the cage where they are.

2. Analog thermometers are known to be off by as much as 6-8 degrees.
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