Humidity help?

[Traceur]

Just bought a baby ball python almost a week ago and he seems to be doing fine. I've been maintaining humidity a little bit better. But I'm usually away from home, so I sometimes worry about his humidity dropping too low.
Before I leave, I always mist till the humidity is either a little over 60% or till it's 60% on the dot. And when it reaches 70%, I monitor it till it's close to 60%. When I return, I may mist it if it's starts falling below 55%. Is this bad?
Also, how high and how low could the humidity be to risk him getting an RI? I'm completely paranoid of that, so I'm doing the best I can to keep the humidity around 55-60%.
New ball python owner, so anything helps.

Thank you!

[Coluber42]

First off - a healthy snake won't get an RI the second the humidity drops below 50%. Constantly low humidity will cause stress, contribute to mild dehydration, etc, but having the humidity drop sometimes is not an emergency.

Second, you ultimately want to get your cage set up so that the humidity can stay relatively stable without misting. Frequent misting is actually really not a great way to regulate the humidity. First of all, it's a lot of work. Second, what happens is that you make lots of little water droplets everywhere, meaning lots of surface area for water to evaporate from; but not actually very much water. So all the water that you spray evaporates all at once, and the humidity spikes, and then it escapes into the rest of the room and the humidity drops again.

You need to either reduce the ventilation so that less air (and humidity) escapes into the outside room, or you need a source for moisture to evaporate into the air from. You can reduce ventilation by covering more of the screen top (if you have one) with aluminum foil; cover all or most of it except for where the lamp or CHE is.

To add more sources of moisture, you can also use a container of damp sphagnum moss, or position a water bowl under/over a heat source. Another option is to create a humid hide in addition to the warm one and the cool one. That can be a hide with damp moss stuffed in it, or even a plastic container with an entrance cut in it and some damp moss inside. Then the snake can choose the humid environment when it wants to.

Deep substrate will also help with humidity. Coco coir or actual soil will work well, maybe with sphagnum moss mixed in or spread on top. It works because it holds moisture and releases it more slowly into the air. You can mist it or even pour a bit of water into it (if it's deep, it will absorb the water and spread it out, so your snake won't be sitting in a puddle). The one caveat is that you can't use an under tank heater with deep substrate!! The substrate will insulate it and prevent the heat from getting to the surface, and it can also contribute to the heater overheating if it isn't on a thermostat. Heat has to come from above in that case.

[Traceur]

First off - a healthy snake won't get an RI the second the humidity drops below 50%. Constantly low humidity will cause stress, contribute to mild dehydration, etc, but having the humidity drop sometimes is not an emergency.

Second, you ultimately want to get your cage set up so that the humidity can stay relatively stable without misting. Frequent misting is actually really not a great way to regulate the humidity. First of all, it's a lot of work. Second, what happens is that you make lots of little water droplets everywhere, meaning lots of surface area for water to evaporate from; but not actually very much water. So all the water that you spray evaporates all at once, and the humidity spikes, and then it escapes into the rest of the room and the humidity drops again.

You need to either reduce the ventilation so that less air (and humidity) escapes into the outside room, or you need a source for moisture to evaporate into the air from. You can reduce ventilation by covering more of the screen top (if you have one) with aluminum foil; cover all or most of it except for where the lamp or CHE is.

To add more sources of moisture, you can also use a container of damp sphagnum moss, or position a water bowl under/over a heat source. Another option is to create a humid hide in addition to the warm one and the cool one. That can be a hide with damp moss stuffed in it, or even a plastic container with an entrance cut in it and some damp moss inside. Then the snake can choose the humid environment when it wants to.

Deep substrate will also help with humidity. Coco coir or actual soil will work well, maybe with sphagnum moss mixed in or spread on top. It works because it holds moisture and releases it more slowly into the air. You can mist it or even pour a bit of water into it (if it's deep, it will absorb the water and spread it out, so your snake won't be sitting in a puddle). The one caveat is that you can't use an under tank heater with deep substrate!! The substrate will insulate it and prevent the heat from getting to the surface, and it can also contribute to the heater overheating if it isn't on a thermostat. Heat has to come from above in that case.

Thank you! It really helps
I use towels to cover the mesh cover, but people seem to recommend tin foil more. Does it make a difference or is it basically the same thing?

[Coluber42]

Thank you! It really helps
I use towels to cover the mesh cover, but people seem to recommend tin foil more. Does it make a difference or is it basically the same thing?

Tin foil is better because it's not permeable and it's not flammable. You can put it on and wrap it around the sides and it will stay put when you open the lid. You probably know this, but do NOT use tape to secure it on the inside of the lid. Never use tape anywhere your snake can ever get at it. If you need thermal insulation in addition to trapping humidity, a towel or blanket over top of the foil will help with that. For a more permanent solution you can cut a piece of foam board to the size you need.

[Traceur]

Tin foil is better because it's not permeable and it's not flammable. You can put it on and wrap it around the sides and it will stay put when you open the lid. You probably know this, but do NOT use tape to secure it on the inside of the lid. Never use tape anywhere your snake can ever get at it. If you need thermal insulation in addition to trapping humidity, a towel or blanket over top of the foil will help with that. For a more permanent solution you can cut a piece of foam board to the size you need.

That's good to know! I'll be sure to switch to tin foil in that case, because even with the towels double folded it still seems to slowly drop down.
Also, on your last reply, you mentioned putting the water bowl under the lamp. How much water should I be sure to put so it'll last him a good while without fully evaporating?
I know it doesn't evaporate that quickly, but I want to be sure that he has enough water to fulfill his needs when I'm away. He has a pretty wide ceramic water bowl, so it could hold some pretty good amounts

[Craiga 01453]

You've gotten great advice already. But I will share what has worked well for me.

I started using cardboard, wrapped in foil and taped on really well. This way you can simply move the piece when you want to, it's durable and it insulates while holding in humidity.

Then, I started using 1/2" foam board insulation. It is super helpful to maintain temps and humidity. It is foil wrapped, so I put the foil side down and it keeps humidity inside the enclosure. I actually wrap the backs, sides and tops of my glass enclosures in it. This holds heat in, so requires less artificial heat, which zaps humidity. It also provides the security the snakes, BPs especially, crave.

Oh, and towels are absorbant, so will actually draw humidity put of the air if they aren't already damp or wet.

[Sonny1318]

I’ve been keeping snakes for a long time, I’ve always found the best way to deal with humidity is a humidifier. I live in Chicago, in the summer my home hits 50% humidity with out any help. But it the winter, I have a very big humidifier. I set it at 50. And I’ve always been a fan of adding a handful of sphagnum moss (I use paper towels for substrate) Not to mention the humidity is good for my family, winters are a little brutal around here. I always kept multiple snakes, and think this way is beneficial to everyone involved.

[Coluber42]

That's good to know! I'll be sure to switch to tin foil in that case, because even with the towels double folded it still seems to slowly drop down.
Also, on your last reply, you mentioned putting the water bowl under the lamp. How much water should I be sure to put so it'll last him a good while without fully evaporating?
I know it doesn't evaporate that quickly, but I want to be sure that he has enough water to fulfill his needs when I'm away. He has a pretty wide ceramic water bowl, so it could hold some pretty good amounts

Fill it some normal-looking amount. It won't evaporate that quickly; it's a pretty large volume compared to the surface area. If you want it to evaporate more quickly, you need to increase the surface area exposed to the air, which can be done by adding some material that wicks such as fabric, paper towel, moss, etc. Then all the convolutions in the material's surface essentially become additional surface area from which water can evaporate.

In any case, it will probably take some trial and error because all of this depends on the temperature and humidity in your house and how conditions change. What works now might not work six months from now when the weather is different, and conditions in your house are different. But don't worry; even if the water bowl dries up while you're at work, your snake will be without water for a few hours at most and then you'll come home and refill it.

[Traceur]

Awesome! Thank you all so much for the help!
I always worry when I'm away, so this helps plenty Will be sure to adjust and improve as soon as I get home

Thanks again everyone

[Craiga 01453]

I live in MA so winters are dryer than a cheap, well-done steak. I'm actually going add a humidifier to my snake room as well. Due to my snoring I usually end up sleeping in there anyway, so it'll be a win-win for me and the snakes. I'm sure the ferrets will appreciate it too.