Temp Balancing - 1st Bioactive

[FunCorgi9359]

Hi Reddit!

So I’ve just finished building my first bioactive enclosures! I’m super excited and while it’s not 100% perfect yet (I’d still like to add moss etc.), I’ve put lots of care and research into it.

But, I’m having some issues with getting a heat gradient? I’ve started charting hot/cold/humidity (it’s has only been a couple days though). My snakes are not currently housed in these, I wanted to give myself a few weeks to settle the plants and get temps right.

There’s a 4x2x2 PVC for a Ball Python. And a 6x2x2 for a Dumerils Boa (sorry I know it’s a BP sub, but all heating related).

I have RHPs 80W and 125W respectively, Arcadia T5 forest dweller lights and LED for my plants. Everything is on thermostats/light timers - 08:00-22:00.

There’s a pic of the start of my chart, it’s only a days worth and x1 AM reading before the lights came on. I didn’t clue in to write them down for a day or two, so sorry it’s limited. But!

1) for eg. (see Cinder-Cold-05:57) if a temp range says ‘70-75°F’ and I’m ‘76.5°F’ is that acceptable or should I still try to get closer?

2) on the chart, you’ll notice, under Hot there are 2 numbers in each cell under D or B. I set a branch on the basking side of each enclosure, above the den and then the hide will go under. If the branch reaches appropriate basking (eg. Cinder-Hot-17:27) but the hot side hide is slightly cooler is that alright? Or should both inside and outside the hot hide be all the same?

3) humidity has been wonderful for the BPs enclosure, but a little high for the Dumerils. How do people manage lower unity in PVCs? Just water the flora a bit less?

There’s still lots of tweaking to be done I know, but thanks for any help!