How can I...?

...boost humidity and heat in my snake's tank.

I have a Snow Corn snake in a 20g long tank with newspaper as substrate, two hides and a water dish. I'm using a 50w bulb to heat the tank but its not doing as well as I'd hoped so I'm also using an electric space heater to heat the room. The humidity stays around 30% and the heat on the cool side is around 68 and the warm side is 75ish. I'll be switching the bulb from a 50w to a 75w to boost the heat. I mist the tank daily. Is there anything else I can do?

You can boost it a bit using an aquarium pump and a bubble stone in the water dish, or by getting the smallest undertank heater you can get and placing it on the tank bottom, with a heavy ceramic crock of water on top of it inside the tank.
Use caution with an undertank heater though.

I always had luck with an undertank heater as long as there is a decent amount of bedding down so they aren't laying directly against the glass with the heater under it.

I sat a humidifier on top the tank too to keep humidity up.

Lets see some pictures!

Originally Posted by Soka

...boost humidity and heat in my snake's tank.

I have a Snow Corn snake in a 20g long tank with newspaper as substrate, two hides and a water dish. I'm using a 50w bulb to heat the tank but its not doing as well as I'd hoped so I'm also using an electric space heater to heat the room. The humidity stays around 30% and the heat on the cool side is around 68 and the warm side is 75ish. I'll be switching the bulb from a 50w to a 75w to boost the heat. I mist the tank daily. Is there anything else I can do?

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Im having the same problem only its with my leapord gecko! I cant keep the humidty anywhere near consistent. Every morning when I get up its between 25-30. Then I srpits the whole cage with water (and her) and within about 10 minutes its up to 60 (I read its supposed to be between 40-60?). About 30minutes to 1 hour later its back down to 30. When Im home I sprits it every 30 minutes. But when Im not it just stays low. Its really annoying!

I might have pics tomorrow. I've been misting the cage every so often to keep the humidity up. Temps are rising, but still low. I can't use a UTH because the tank is sitting on a trunk that could be damaged by the heater. Also the heater says to use a certain type of substrate so the snake doesn't lay directly on the heated glass. Plus I have no rheostat. I'm planning next month to get a 32qt rack that comes preheated. This rack keeps in humidity and heat so this 20g tank is just temporary.

When we had a cali king we used to put an upsidedown plastic container in the cage with the top on the container and cut a hole in it so he could go in. I forgot what we had on the bottom of the container but it was something that retained moisture pretty well, I think it came in a brick at the pet store. We misted in there and it stayed pretty moist. It helped alot when he was shedding.

There are a few ways, as already suggested, to heat the tank.
for a UTH (under tank heater) there are little knobs that come with them that you place at each end of the tank and that lifts the tank up enough so your not placing the UTH on the trunk. UTH are great for small tanks. I have a huge tank for my snake and we use two. newspaper sucks up the humidity as well..great substrate cause its cheap and easy to clean... but try
http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...N=2030043&Ne=2
Its easy to clean...and looks nice.

Also you might want to switch to a ceramic heat emitter which gives off no light and gives off great heat. the 50W bulbs might be sucking up your humidity.

I have ball pythons and what we do is take a sponge and get it soaked with water..place in an old sour cream dish (obviously we wash it out) that we poke with tons of holes. we place two of them in the tank. that helps a little.

Getting a mister is alright..but expensive at times.
using a home humidifier is a good idea. thats what we do in the summer.
we place the spout facing the top of the tank. and let it run for a little bit but not all day if you can. I found mold growing on my wood floor in an area where the mist would hit (remind you this is summer time).

with a tank that small....any one of these options should help.

is your preheated rack coming with flex watt as your heat source?
if you have just one snake there is no harm in using a tank rather than a rack.

also if you ever have trouble with a shed because of the humidity...try taking a towel and getting it wet..place inside the cage (kind of like in a ball)...for some reason my boy Khan loves the towel..goes inside and the next day or two we find his shed inside it!

Originally Posted by 4crazycats

Im having the same problem only its with my leapord gecko! I cant keep the humidty anywhere near consistent. Every morning when I get up its between 25-30. Then I srpits the whole cage with water (and her) and within about 10 minutes its up to 60 (I read its supposed to be between 40-60?). About 30minutes to 1 hour later its back down to 30. When Im home I sprits it every 30 minutes. But when Im not it just stays low. Its really annoying!

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Oh no! Please don't mist your leopard gecko or it's cage, this is very bad for them! They come from a very arid region. High humidity inside the whole cage can cause respitory infections. To provide them with a humid place to help shed you need to make a humid hide to go on the warm side of their cage. This is very easy, take a cheap tuperware container and cut a hole (door) in the side for the gecko. Place folded papertowel or some moss inside and dampen.


As for undertank heaters it's really best to use a thermostat with them, such as http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...roducts_id=818
this way it doesn't get too hot and you don't have to worry about the temp staying stable (as they often don't with rheostats).

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Oh no! Please don't mist your leopard gecko or it's cage, this is very bad for them! They come from a very arid region. High humidity inside the whole cage can cause respitory infections. To provide them with a humid place to help shed you need to make a humid hide to go on the warm side of their cage. This is very easy, take a cheap tuperware container and cut a hole (door) in the side for the gecko. Place folded papertowel or some moss inside and dampen.

As for undertank heaters it's really best to use a thermostat with them, such as http://www.reptilesupply.com/product...roducts_id=818
this way it doesn't get too hot and you don't have to worry about the temp staying stable (as they often don't with rheostats).

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Thanks! Everyone I talked to just said mistthe whole cage! It did help her with her shedding problem though! Thanks. I do have a thermometer. The heat in the tank isnt a problem (right where its supposed to be) its just the humidity. How do you know if the humid area is humid enough?

If the humid hide has condensation on the insides of the container, like a little sauna
Remoistening the hide daily or every other day, depending on how dry the air in your house is, should be enough.
Also on a side note, any sort of loose substrate in the cage is a very bad idea. Sand, reptile litter, bark, wood chips, and the bed-a-beast coconut fiber. It may take years but it can slowly build up in their bellies and digestive tract and impact them. I use textured tile (home depot and lowes has such neat tile ) and paper towel in their poop corner. For my baby I just use paper towel. You can ignore this that bit if you already know better it seems to be a common mistake people make when they listen to petstore employees.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

If the humid hide has condensation on the insides of the container, like a little sauna

Remoistening the hide daily or every other day, depending on how dry the air in your house is, should be enough.
Also on a side note, any sort of loose substrate in the cage is a very bad idea. Sand, reptile litter, bark, wood chips, and the bed-a-beast coconut fiber. It may take years but it can slowly build up in their bellies and digestive tract and impact them. I use textured tile (home depot and lowes has such neat tile ) and paper towel in their poop corner. For my baby I just use paper towel. You can ignore this that bit if you already know better

it seems to be a common mistake people make when they listen to petstore employees.

Click to expand...

Cool thanks! I already did the little hidey whole thing. Im glad I found that out now! Ive been using newspaper. Thats ok right?

Newspaper is fine, people use it with their snakes, birds, and other exotics all the time

Thanks I made her a little humidity house. She wont go in it though. Do you know anyway to encourage them to use it?

As long as it's large enough for her to fit she'll find her way into it when she needs it. Maybe I'm crazy but I think leopard geckos are a little like cats in a way, they sleep all day, can be rather ungrateful little beasts, and only do something when they're ready. She's probably already been inside it and checked it out when you weren't around or were sleeping

annoyed baby leopard gecko

Very cute gecko is it yours? She has stuck her head in it. Her tank is right in view of the computer so I can see her from here. Heres a pic of my girl Rogue she was used as a breeder before I got her. She's about 2 years old. She had a 10 gallon when I first got her but later on I got a 20 L when I found out they need a bigger tank. This one was taken soon after I got her. She's very gentle and hasnt biten me at all. The guy I got her from said she bit him one and that was right after she laid some eggs.
Not the best pic of her but I cant seem to find the good ones in the mess that is my photobucket acount.