The screen top still allows heat and humidity to leave out the top so your air does not stay humid for long. Unfortunately relying on your substrate to boost humidity results in an unbalanced environment. The most common reason people give for using certain substrate types is that they hold moisture and aid in boosting humidity. We see so many discussions on-line about substrate choice. The most common advise given by keepers to correct humidity is to start misting the substrate but this can cause a new problem to start. Once people realize that it’s too cold inside the aquarium and add either belly heat or a CHE on top, the internal environment gets even dryer. Unfortunately the battle to maintain the right climate for a snake in a screen top aquarium often leads to these two problems. This topic follows right along after heat and humidity. Please visit the Climate control page for more details on this topic. Adding a heat lamp only makes the problem worse. That forcibly draws heat and moisture out of your animal and often results in some of the most unhealthy animals we have ever seen. Combining a heat pad underneath an aquarium with a screen top results in strong convection action that carries heat and humidity right out the top. A screen top allows that heat to leave right out the top of the enclosure. Most screen top aquariums are either heated with a heat pad under it or a lamp on top – or both. Your goal in designing the inside climate of your enclosure is to give your snake a basking spot somewhere around 95 degrees, a warm side ambient temperature of 85 degrees, and a cold side ambient temperature of 75 degrees. However what they lack is the ability to control the temperature in a way that translates to a warm SNAKE rather than just a warm enclosure. The heaters and thermometers sold with screen top aquariums might make it seem that you are succeeding in creating a warm enough environment for your snake. We have discovered through years of experience with many different snakes that it is harder to keep a snake warm than people realize. Ineffective heating is one of the two most common causes of snake illness that we see. Please visit the Humidity control page for more details on this. This creates a strong convection effect that results in a very dehydrated animal. As it rises past your snake it also draws moisture out of the animal’s body. The screen top allows all that heat and water vapor to leave the enclosure out the top. Rather, humidity is the amount of water VAPOR suspended in the air. Humidity is NOT the amount of water inside your enclosure. Lets talk about why we don’t use screen top aquariums. Your pet snake would be better off kept in a plastic storage tub from the hardware store than in a screen top aquarium sold at pet stores. For some reason the pet industry is seriously mistaken about snake husbandry in captivity. Unfortunately all you see for sale at pets stores are glass aquariums. Why is it so common for people to keep snakes in aquariums? She suffered from all the problems listed on this page due to being kept in a screen top aquarium.Ĭyndi the ball python one week after husbandry changes. This picture shows a snake that was kept in a screen top aquarium prior to being surrendered to Snake Haus. We feel so strongly about this at Snake Haus that that we will not allow our animals to be adopted out to a home that plans to use one. They are very difficult to use properly and are not recommended. Screen top aquariums cause more health problems for snakes than anything else we’ve seen. Screen Top Aquariums are NOT suitable for snakes unless modified. Problems in this picture: 1) too small and wrong shape 2) inadequate number of size and shape of hides 3) inadequate heat unit 4) poor quality thermometer/hygrometer 5) screen top 6) top access 7) clear sides 8) no thermostat 9) water dish that is too small. We will talk here about why this is BAD advice. This is an image from Petsmart showing what they recommend for a ball python.
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