humidity

How do I raise the humidity in my corns tank??

try misting the tank with one of those garden bottle sprey. misting the tank one every day or two will raise the humidity level.

Good luck and Happy Herping!

sue,
if i notice low humidity problems with one of my tanks sometimes an easy solution is just to place the water dish closer to the heat source. changing the placement of the water dish can change the humidity up or down as much as 20% i've noticed. this also keeps the substrate dryer than misting. i live in new york where the winters can be quite dry and it often leads to shedding problems so i also normally have a humidifier going in the winter in my snake room to keep the humidity up around 50-60%. hope this helps.. jim

thanks. But the weather here in B.C. is pretty wet. We get a tone of rain. So because the climate here, even in the summer, is pretty humid, should I worry about the tank? Or do you guys think that it will be humid enough? How do I tell??

you can buy little hygrometers at the pet shops or order them online. Put it on the substrate in your tank and you will get a reading. Ways to increase the humidity besides the ones listed above are to cover up part of your screen top (if you use a screen top) also make sure the temps don't increase in this case, use an undertank heater (UTH) instead of a heat lamp (heat lights dry out the air). You can also provide a humidity chamber - which is just a box with a lid with a hole for the snake to go in and out of filled with damp spagnum moss or damp aspen. Keep an eye on the moss or aspen and replace it as needed to avoid mold or mildew, though. Ways to decrease your humidity if necessary (kind of obvious) are to use a heat lamp instead of an UTH, provide a small water dish, and use a glass aquarium with a screen top.
sue frederick

i have both the UTH and a heat lamp. They are both on the same side of tha tank. That's what the guy at the store said to do. Is this actually bad advice, or good.Should they be on different sides?

no, they should both be on the same side UNLESS your house is extremely cold and your cold side is below the coolest temperature that a corn snake should have. Example: if your tank is reading 65 or so on the cool side, you would need to warm the cool side up to 72-78. However, if the cool side is above 72 and the warm side is 82-85, measured by a good thermometer placed directly on the substrate on the cool and warm side respectively, then you should leave the heat lamp and the UTH on the same end. All temps are listed in Fahrenheit.
sue fredrick