Environment Control For a Reptile

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello all,

I am currently on break for about a month, and kind of want to work on a project to keep my mind busy. I want to create something that will actually be useful to me. My pet is a 6ft+ long red tail boa constrictor. His environment needs constant monitoring/adjusting, mainly just humidity and temperature. It's not really too difficult, but because I'm out of the house quite frequently with school, I'm constantly wondering if he's too warm/cold, etc. I want to create a system to automate the control of his little environment, and from what I gather, it seems like using arduino is possibly the best route I take. I am majoring in computer science, so I have quite a bit of coding experience. I'm more worried about getting the sensors to work correctly, and have the system actually adjust temp/humidity accordingly.

I have two main questions:

1.) Which arduino should I be looking to purchase? I assume the Uno would be perfectly fine, but am willing to purchase whatever.

2.) How feasible is this project in regards to the capabilities of the arduino?

Any other advice/ideas are welcome.

Thanks!

2

WWWIII:
1.) Which arduino should I be looking to purchase? I assume the Uno would be perfectly fine, but am willing to purchase whatever.

excellent choice

2.) How feasible is this project in regards to the capabilities of the arduino?

good.

need an SSR to controll the heater, there are pad heaters that you stick on the side of the glass or bottom of the tank.

temperature sensor is a bit harder, possibly an RTD or LM34 or some such.

3

What do you use to adjust humidity?

4

OldSteve:
What do you use to adjust humidity?

Hahaha, sorry, completely forgot to mention that. All I use is a spray bottle and just mist the inside of his enclosure.

5

WWWIII:
Hahaha, sorry, completely forgot to mention that. All I use is a spray bottle and just mist the inside of his enclosure.

Wow, that was quick.
How do you intend to do it in an automated system?

And I assume you don't need to lower the humidity or temperature, only raise them?

(Also, I agree with Dave, a UNO should be fine for this project.)

6

A windscreen washer pump or aquarium pump could be used for the mister.

The BME280 is absolutely excellent for temperature and humidity sensing. See SparkFun Atmospheric Sensor Breakout - BME280 - SEN-13676 - SparkFun Electronics Cheaper sensors are available but after I first played with one of these I realised its superiority.