Everything I've heard or read about glass tanks for bp's is that they suck at maintaining temps and humidity, but I seem to be having issues with too much humidity lol.


I'm trying to get my setup ready for my 1.0 baby spinner bp. He's going to be in a 10 gallon tank for now, I'll upgrade as he grows. I'm using a Microclimate 13W heat mat, hooked to a Microclimate Evo Lite Thermostat, and I also use a digital hygro/thermometer. Warm side/hot spot is set to 33C, the cool side is around 26C, so my temperatures should be on point, I'm only having issues with the humidity using cypress mulch. I have the thermometer probe on the cool side, hanging between the glass and the cool hide, close to the substrate (roughly 2 cm of substrate; Zoo Med Forest Floor). It was the only place where I could get it partially hidden and out of his way as well so he doesn't get tangled with it or anything like that.


In an empty enclosure (no bedding, no water bowl, no hides, etc) the humidity went from 62% to 66% (EDIT: yesterday, when it was humid, the humidity of the empty tank right now w/o substrate is at 50%) according to my hygro/themormeter. When I put the substrate and water bowl in along with the hides and turned on the UTH/heat mat and t-stat, humidity went up to 99%. At first I thought the L size water bowl was upping the humidity, so I removed it from the enclosure to see if it made any difference, it dropped to around 80% for a moment but climbed back up to 99%.


The tank is currently situated on the floor but it will be placed on top of a shelf unit, so it's not going to stay on the floor, I'm wondering if this might have an effect on the air flow and being on the floor makes it more humid inside the tank?


The tank has a glass top with a metal grate/metal mesh on the middle, providing ventilation (when I first saw the tank I thought I'd have to cover half of the top with foil to /prevent/ loss of humidity and temps but I guess I don't lmao).


It's currently unusually humid where I live (like 87%) because it has been raining and thundering for a couple of days, I'm wondering how much the high humidity outside is affecting the humidity in my apartment and inside the tank?


As of right now, I'm thinking it may have something to do with insufficient air flow, and the humidity might drop after I put the tank on an elevated surface?
Or then my thermometer probe placement is off and giving me false readings? Or it's simply due to the weather.


I know 50 to 60% is recommended, but I would be happy to get the humidity down from 99% to even 70% or 80% since bp's (especially babys) are known to be healthy even in slightly higher humidity, considering 70% and 80% is more realistic and closer to the actual humidity found in their habitats in the wild, and higher humidity ensures a successful/healthy shed as well. I've read they favor termite mounds in the wild where humidity is also closer to 90%.

My tank isn't wet or fogged up, Forest Floor is retaining moisture just a bit at the bottom of the tank; but there's no condensed glass or wet (just damp/slightly moist) substrate. I am replacing the water dish regardless and going for a M size instead of L, though I don't think it was the water bowl causing the humidity since the hygro/thermometer still showed 99% humidity after I took it out.


I'm concerned about RI, I don't want to introduce my baby to an enclosure that could potentially make him sick, and I don't want to bring him home until my setup's correct.


If anyone has any advice or insight, I'd love to hear you out. Is there anything I can do, other than change to a drier substrate (newspaper, paper towels)? Thanks.


NOTE: This was also posted last night at the ball python subreddit. I was told to dry out the cypress mulch, which I'm currently doing, however I'm going to switch substrates and ditch the Forest Floor since it seems to retain too much humidity in my case. I'm considering two other options, Reptibark and Exo Terra Forest Bark. I don't want to use Aspen because I don't like how it looks visually/aesthetically, and I also don't like the texture of it. Which of those two would be more optimal for a baby bp? I'm looking to get the humidity around 60% to 75%. Some bp owners seem to think there is no thing as too much or too high humidity, as long as the snake is not being housed in a wet/fogged up/condensed enclosure. Again, my tank was not wet with the cypress mulch, it only felt slightly damp to the touch, but then I was informed it could still lead to scale rot if the snake is consistently laying upon even slightly moist substrate. Being a novice, and with so many different opinions (and options), I'm not really sure how I should proceed, but right now I would like to hear more experienced people's opinions on what substrate I should use instead of Forest Floor/cypress mulch. Exo Terra Coco Husk was also recommended, I could get it online and it seems like a good choice, but to my knowledge it comes in bricks that you need to soak and let dry before use, and that seems too complicated for a first time snake owner.

I just want a substrate that is functional and doesn't up the humidity too much. I'd like the humidity to be around 65% - 70% at all times inside the enclosure. I just don't feel comfortable putting my baby in a tank with 99% humidity even if the tank isn't wet or condensed and supposedly wouldn't cause any problems.