Need advice on this tank setup. Humidity through the roof. Please help!

[ragenarok007]

Its an 80 gallon tank with a fitted acrylic partition in the middle which effectively turns it into two 40 gallon tanks. Its 21 inches tall, 18 inches deep, and 48 inches long overall. We fitted acrylic lids to the two sides. This makes the humidity on the ball python side go up to 95% with an open water dish. The heating element is an UTH 30-40 gallon size.

On the other side is a young corn snake and the temperature and humidity is right where it should be with no heater or anything. It just warms from the ball python's side. The acrylic lid holds that temperature in.

So with the lids I have to install ventilation fans. That keeps it down but then it gets the other side cold. If I put a heater in that side it will also have to have a fan.

Anyone have any suggestions?

P.S. This is my brother's set up and he's very partial to the lids.

[infernalis]

pictures????

[ragenarok007]

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr272/mightydragon2000/Snake%20Tank/IMAG0087.jpg

This is the most recent photo I have. We have since modified it a little. Instead of the green reptile carpet we put in slate. The water dish is now where you see that little cave on the right hand side and its much bigger as is the new cave. That side was originally intended for a king snake but we put him in a 10 gallon because he's just a baby.

The UTH is all the way to the right on the side with the red background still but its a 30-40 gallon one. We only had a 10-20 gallon on it when it was set up like this. We've also tinted the partition and both ends of the tank now.

I was also thinking about putting the UTH right in the middle under the partition so it doesn't overheat the corn snake side and give more room for the BP's water dish to be away from it.

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr272/mightydragon2000/Snake%20Tank/IMAG0120.jpg

In this one you can see that the water dish, that green jug bottom he's climbing on. Its only a temporary dish, as is the mixing bowl cave next to it. We are reaching good temperatures on both sides not without extreme humidity on the BP side. And since it belongs to my brother and he wants to keep the lids and not use a heat light it kind of limits our options.

I'm also thinking about widening the holes on the lid, making more holes, and trying a ceramic water bowl with a lid with a hole in it. My brother wants to improve ventilation with a small CPU fan. It does keep the humidity at 55% just blowing through the holes. Ambient humidity in the room is 60%. If we install it we would set it into the lid with a protective screen so he wouldn't hit the blades with his tongue or anything.

[millertime89]

What's the temp gradient on the bp side? Eventually an adult bp will.need all of that to itself. I would put a second hide on the warm side for the bp and a second hide somewhere for the corn.

[ragenarok007]

The corn has the blue side. She has two hides as you can see in the first picture. That is all still the same. The BP has a hot hide which achieves 92 degrees during the day. The cold side is around 83 during the day. At night it stays about 80 on the hot side and 75 on the cold. The tops really help keep the heat in and stabilize it so there are no spikes or sudden drops.

It has also been suggested we put in vents about the size of a door knob in the lid in lieu of fans.

[Skumbo]

Have you tested the accuracy of your hygrometers?

[ragenarok007]

Yes but that is kind of moot since the humidity in the tank was so high that we had condensation on the inside of the glass. Coastal south Texas has an outside humidity of 90% anyway. Inside humidity is 60%. Two meters confirm the inside against each other and the outside readings are corroborated by local weather reports. Without venting we get condensation and 99% humidity. With fans set just on the holes we get that down to 55%.

[infernalis]

Have you tested the accuracy of your hygrometers?

I wish I could find the thread we had running a while back.. it outlined calibrating hygrometers.