Waterfall?

[Ysabet]

Okay, so; I live in the Sonoran Desert, and our normal humidity for much of the year is either in the single digits or just barely in the teens (as we haven't hit 100F (we're supposed to on Thursday) yet it's 17% right now, which is pretty nice for out here.) So I have a real humidity problem in my vivarium. It has a glass divider in the middle with an opening at the top (I have two snakes) has two corner waterpools in it; I keep a couple of felted wool balls in there that I soak in water to add to the evaporation, I have pieces of plexiglass on top of my screen lid (with gaps left for air circulation. But the humidity STILL barely ever makes it up above 'desert'. Heating is currently done using an under-tank mat and an overhead basking bulb; the temp usually stays on a flat 85F, so I'm pretty sure that this isn't the problem.

Have any of you ever experimented with putting a water feature in a vivarium meant for corns? Mine seem to soak a LOT in their pools. I'm perfectly capable of building a small fountain, but I'm still a newbie at this. I don't want to damp down their aspen substrate-- I know they can get a kind of blistering on their skin from moist substrate. Any suggestions? They seem to be eating okay, and the larger one did a perfect shed yesterday in a single piece.

 

[smigon]

You mentioned the problem in your post: "Heating is currently done using an under-tank mat and an overhead basking bulb;".

Ditch the heat lamp. They really dry out a viv, and you have more than enough water in your tank to keep them comfortable. Once the light is gone you might even go down to one water dish per snake. Corn snakes are nocturnal, they don't bask. They use belly heat to help digestion, so a UTH is all you need and your temp is perfect at 85°. Some corns can even have their sight damaged by lighting, so save yourself some money in bulbs and electric!

There are quite a few of us here in Phoenix and the humidity is not a problem without the lights.

 

[HerpsOfNM]

Even in the bone dry American desert southwest (where I use to live) many herp species are still capable of utilizing proper humidity. The obvious means is typically during the monsoon season and above ground surface cover that you can flip gecko or snake species under after rain storms. For you souls out in AZ, you get both a winter and summer monsoon season; regardless of how pathetic those monsoons have been in recent years.

So what do all those desert critters do when there isn't surface moisture? Some estivate and some simply utilize cracks, crevices, and rodent burrows. Below ground, many a crack, crevice, or burrow can yield humidity levels of 50% and higher. Desert rodent species, particularly the various species of kangaroo rats even establish such underground areas where humidity is before for forming a cache. This cache is the perfect humidity to cause seed germination, but yet low enough to not cause food spoilage. This is how they get their water intake!

How does this apply to herps? Something SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many people don't know of or don't use: a humid hide, aka a nest box for female snakes and it can be constructed for under $10, possibly even cheaper.

What you need:

• soldering iron or an x-acto knife with curved blade
• sterilite, rubbermaid, or whatever brand you prefer plastic shoebox
• coconut fiber (aka coco coir, coco tech, bed-a-beast [original herp brand], forest soil, tropical soil)
• or long grain orchid moss (aka orchid sphagnum moss*)
• care & patience

Fabrication

1. Before construction starts, take the coco fiber or orchid moss and moisten it. If using the coco fiber bricks, 2/3 to 3/4 gallon HOT water** and 30-45 minutes of patience for it to expand. If using orchid moss, about 1/2 gallon or warm water, let soak.
2. Take lid off of shoe box
3. measure out or eyeball about a 1.25 to 1.5 inch hole
4. using an x-acto knife with curved blade, CAREFULLY start cutting the hole making certain not to cut one's self.
5. a faster, and somewhat safer method, is using a soldering iron*** to melt/cut the hole
6. going back to the coco fiber or sphagnum moss, wring out excess water.
7. fill shoebox or whatever sized tub about 2/3 full.
8. place lid on box, and place moist hide in habitat
9. I prefer to position the moist hide such that it is partially on the heat tape and partially on the cool side.

*For the same size bale of orchid moss, purchase from Lowes in the plant section. Stores such as PetSmart and Petco carry the same sized bale for $15 vs getting it at Lowes for $5. http://www.lowes.com/pd_63195-1300-...rrentURL=?Ntt=orchid+sphagnum+moss&facetInfo=
**When using coco fiber, the hot water is needed to properly expand the ground coconut fibers. This will need to cool before being snake ready.
**When using a soldering iron to cut holes in lids or punch ventilation holes in tubs, do so in a well ventilated room or outdoors. The burning of plastic will yield VOC (volatile organic compounds, aka off-gasing) and is not healthy to breathe.

I do this for all my snakes and all my leopard geckos (a desert gecko species that lives primarily in rodent burrows or under rock cover).

Oh, and ditch the what sounds like cheap PetSmart/Petco analog humidity gauge. They are inaccurate. Using the above, particularly with coco fiber, you'll be able to tell it is drying out and needs remoistening.