Substrate and humidity question

[Alexio]

I wasn't sure if this was a humidity related issue or a substrate issue or possibly both. So I guess the back story, I got her about a month ago, when I bought her she was in full shead. A few days later she began to shead but seemed to be having a hard time with it. So I built her a humidity hide out of a 28 qt tub with a lid. I filled it with some slightly moistened repti-chip, and placed it in her enclosure. I have a wireless thermometer inside the humidity hide and it measures 81 degrees and 99℅ humidity. She spent a night in there and finished shedding completely. The only thing is that all happened about 3 weeks ago and she has stayed in there ever since. I'm not sure if she has left her humidity hide other than to occasionally drink from her water bowl.

My question is since she likes being on a moist substrate in high humidity should I just fill her whole enclosure with substrate?

She also has another hide she used to use all the time before her humidity hide but since she then she hasn't used it. It wouldn't be hard at all to use substrate, I just went with unprinted newspaper because that's what people seemed to recommend for blood pythons. She is my only one so i wouldn't be messing with changing lots of cages. It would probably look nicer too. Any advice or suggestions welcome.
Her cage is a 4x2x3.
The humidity sits around 60℅. Her warm side is around 83/84 and her cool side which is the one the hides are on is 80/81. I have a radiant heat pannel hooked up to an on/off thermostat. Im not using a a uth.

Enclosure


Inside. The top is her humidity hide theres ones underneath too.


This is the top removed you can see how she has kind of moved some of it around from some areas.


I just thought this was a cute picture of her.

[Eavlynn]

She's a beauty, congratulations

The humidity in her enclosure is too low for her liking, which is why she's staying in the humid hide. They like it really humid, and paper towels aren't going to provide her with that, which makes the initial quarantines period difficult. If there are no black dots on the paper towels, she's probably mite free, and if she's eaten and pooped normally, I'd go ahead and just add substrate to the entire enclosure. It looks like you're using reptibark, which is okay, but I think cypress mulch holds moisture and humidity a bit better. She would probably adore moist ecoearth, you just have to be careful during feeding to avoid substrate ingestion.

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[Alexio]

Okay do you know how humid I should be aiming for? Like 80 or 90℅? I built the enclosure myself and it is sealed on the inside so I could get the humidity all the way up to the the high 90's but would that be too high?
Also would you recommend leaving the humidity hide in there as well? Or putting the hides on opposite sides, but I'm not sure how much floor space would be left after that.

[Eavlynn]

With moist (not wet) substrate in the enclosure you won't need a humid hide, just a regular one for a feeling of security. With the substrate in, I'd try for 65 to 70%. Once she goes blue, bump it up a bit so she doesn't have any issues shedding. You can play around with the humidity as well, and see what seems to make her the most content. Some of our bloods don't mind 60%, while others repeatedly dump their water bowls to keep the substrate wet and the humidity to their liking(smart little buggers).

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