Does anyone have experience using one of the SmartThings Temp/Humidity sensor in a reptile habitat? We just got a ball python for my son and I’ve already automated the day and night lighting, but if a bulb burns out while I’m away, I won’t know. Monitoring the temp and humidity seems like the best approach, but I wasn’t sure how well the sensor would handle being crawled on by a snake. Thoughts? I’m assuming it will need to be inside the tank to be accurate since the heat lamps are directional.
I kept snakes when I was in high school, including several ball pythons. Really nice snakes, by the way.
I can pretty much guarantee if it’s anywhere they can crawl on it, they’re going to try to eat the sensor, which will not be good for either the sensor or the snake.
Usually for a terrarium you attach the monitoring devices high up on the wall.
Make sure it’s attached well, the snake will try to rub against it while they’re shedding (they’ll try to rub against everything while they’re shedding).
What if I place it on top of the screen but not directly under either lamp? The snake won’t be able to eat it, but it will be very close to being in the tank.
Like I said, it’s been a while since I kept Snakes, but I would assume you’ll have at least a 50 gallon tank, and you want a temperature gradient so one end of the tank is cooler than the other. Snakes are way happier in tanks with a temperature gradient. They’ll tend to sleep in the cool end and then come And hang out in the other end When they are more active, it just makes life more interesting for them. If you’re going to have a climbing frame, you put that in the warm end.
So most people have two temperature monitors, one for each end.
Back when I was in college people would just use the cheap zoo med stick on monitors, one on each end, and set up a WebCam to look at it. The zoo med happen to have a really large displays, easy to see from across the room or on the camera. But they aren’t networked. I like the idea of using multisensor, I would probably still add a big display sensor as well, but that’s just me.
http://zoomed.com/cm/resources-stuff/Care%20Sheet/fb_BallPython.html
I’m pretty sure a hygrometer placed on top of the wire won’t do you much good as far as measuring humidity. It really needs to be inside the enclosure. Especially when the snake is shedding you want to know what the humidity is inside the tank. But you could probably attach it to the underside of the wire pointing down into the tank.
Hopefully somebody who currently has reptiles can chime in, I really don’t know anything about the specific smartthings compatible sensors in this context.
Thanks JD. It is a baby python, so we only have a 20 gallon tank currently. 30"x12"x12"…so not much chance of putting it inside where Belt (that’s his name) can’t reach it. I might stick with the cheap monitors and use an IP Cam if we ever find out what kind of cams the updated ST hub will support. 
This is an older topic, but I am also curious on this. I have multiple species that require differing levels of humidity and heat. I have the lights automated using a smart strip, but I would love to be able to contol temps as well. I have been thinking of using my older GEN4 Aeotec Multisensors for temp and humidity but they are very large and bulky. Is there any other smaller temp/humidity sensors that would work for this type of setup?