Hello from SA (In the dark)

[Myst]

Hello there all. Bought my first baby ball yesterday. Not my first snake previously had two Red Tails but sold them a few years back. Must say was doing well until the lights went out. So here i sit typing away in the dark. Thankfully to my lap-tops batteries which I'm sure are fading fast. Seen as i am in deepest darkest South Africa does anyone have some interesting info on maintaining temp and humidity while the lights are out.
Regular occurance here so although i have a small inverter this runs the fish tanks a bigger one would be great but thats not on the cards right now.
What should the average humidity of a set up be. My hydrometer reads between 85-99% is this a good thing or not?

[Herpkid101x]

the humidity for the cage is kinda high but it should be fine until the lights come back on. what u could do is get a heat mat thing like the ones you can get at a store that releive pain or a handwarmer or something.

[Myst]

Will more air flow through the tank help to reduce the humidity? I ask this as even when the lights are on the humidity is high. thanks for the info

[viper99]

ya if there is more airflow in the tank the humidity will drop alot i have 3 tanks with a screen in the top and i have have 2 spray it 3 times a day to keep the humidity up with the heat lights on

[Herpkid101x]

ya like viper said more air flow would help reduce it

[Myst]

Thanks so what is the norm. Can i drop the humidity to around 75% or below. What would be the lowest i can go to as i still have these nice 2 -3 hour power failure that come in waves when Eskom feels like it and almost always when im not home.
What do people do when the lights go out. How do you maintain all these problems.

[viper99]

i keep a heater in the room that runs on batteries and outlets so if the lights go off because of power failure i can turn the heater on to keep the temperature warm in the room

[Myst]

Ok I dont know if i solved the humidity question but i had to replace the tank. Tank cracked right through the middle so i had to purchase a new tank. The newer tank has more air flow so now i cant get the humidity above 50%. I guess i will find out when they shed next time if this is good or bad.
With all the load shedding as they call it we are trying to purchase a bigger invertor and run all the tanks off a invertor which is somehow connect to a charger that will switch over when the lights go out. That is when the hardware stores have stock again. In the meanwhile we will just have to make do.
The weather is still very warm here and with all the rain it humid in anycase. No fears.

[ParsonsPythons]

Ok, well, I really wouldn't run a heat lamp for a ball python since thats not the most efficient way of heating them. The easiest way to heat them is to buy a heat pad. Heat pads last very long, around 5 years and you might get one that lasts longer. They are about $25-$35 where every time your light bulb dies you pay about $10-$15 on another bulb depending on watts. You want a humidity of around 50-60% and a hot light doesn't help that. To keep my humidity around that level I keep my ball pythons in rubbermaids with holes every inch of the rim. Put a water bowl on the hot side and bingo, 50-60% humidity and it easy to clean the container.

Kevin

[viper99]

i cant just use a heating pad becaus it is to cold were i live and i cant get the right temperature without using a heating light

[Myst]

Heating pads work well but this caused last tank to crack. Costly..... We are using lights in the new tank with a heating pad. Got one of these myst goodies that you find in nurserys but found that although the humidity increased the whole tank was wet. So we took that out. The tanks humidity is around 50% so will keep going. Both have shed again with no problems. Looking good.

[gonesnakee]

Best bet is to offer a humid hide (small rubbermaid type container with damp spagnum moss) & maybe just mist during shed cycles, too wet can/will cause scale rot, possibly RIs etc. Mark