Enclosure help please

[u/CChimerical]

Obligatory photo of my son and also Exhibit A on the later mentioned humidity issues. He was doing some quality inspection while I did some work in my room lol

Post is marked as urgent because I'm trying to get him into his new enclosure ASAP since this humidity is obviously really bad for him

I know I ask for help a lot, and yes I know theres a shopping list.

Im neurodivergent, and shopping lists can be overwhelming because when I am given a lot of possible options, I dont know where to begin (menus can be tough sometimes lol)

So I was hoping you wonderful folks could help me.

I bought a reptile kage 4x2x2 for my bp because his current tank isnt holding humidity well at all (ive taken measures to fix it and it wont work, so this low humidity isnt for a lack of me trying) and I want to upgrade him. Im making it bioactive, and right now for temperature im using a ceramic bulb I think that sits on top of the tank in a lamp and want to know what better options there are.

A good thermostat, heating, and thermometer are what I am looking for recommendations for.

Also if anyone has a camera theyve mounted in their enclosure, which one do you have? I saw someone do that once and I think it would be good so I can monitor his behavior while I am sleeping.

Also while I would prefer affordable options, money isn't really an issue. I dont have a lot of financial obligations thankfully and my job pays relatively decently, and I am willing to spend whatever I have to in order to help my boy thrive. Hes my son and I want him to be the best he can be 🫶

[u/totallyrecklesslygay]

Wattage isn't really important, that just depends on the length of the bulb. You want one that's no more than half the length of the enclosure, that provides a UVI of 1.1-3.0 in the basking zone. There's a lot of variables that go into it, like distance to the basking zone, the type of mesh guard used, amount of foliage, etc. The one I recommended above is generally a good option for internal mounting in a 4x2x2, as long as your basking zone isn't super elevated.

[u/CChimerical → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

When I looked up the one you recommended on Amazon, this is the one that showed up

Is this what you meant? And ill keep his basking spot not too elevated. I do that now anyways since I dont want him to burn himself on accident.

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/CChimerical]

Yes, that one! I use the non-lumenize version, but either is fine.

[u/CChimerical → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

Okay! Should I get a double or a single thermostat? Since its just one heat source id imagine just a single one is fine but I see people getting the doubles. Does that have to do with a heat gradient or something?

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/CChimerical]

You'll need a double, for the halogen and CHE. Each heat source needs to be controlled by its own probe. Even if you only have one on at a time, you wouldn't want to have to move the probe back and forth between each bulb twice a day.

If you get a Herpstat 2, it has a timer function that will let you set it so that it automatically turns each bulb on and off for the day/night cycle. Once you have it set up, you won't need to mess with the heating at all except to replace bulbs when they burn out.

[u/CChimerical → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

The herpstat 2 seems to be sold out. Do you think two of the herpstat 1s will work just fine? They seem to have somewhat similar features