Humidity & Shedding

[lexx24]

Yesterday my ball pythons eyes turned blue for the first time since I’ve had him and today his eyes cleared up but there was no shed. What’s up with that? Also I live in a semi-arid climate in Texas and I’ve been working my butt off to keep up the humidity in his tank. I have a humidifier next to his tank which helps a little bit and I spray his tank down every couple days, also the substrate I use is ReptiChip. I was considering replacing the humidifier with a fogger but I wanted to know your opinions about that?

[Neko_snake]

Yesterday my ball pythons eyes turned blue for the first time since I’ve had him and today his eyes cleared up but there was no shed. What’s up with that? Also I live in a semi-arid climate in Texas and I’ve been working my butt off to keep up the humidity in his tank. I have a humidifier next to his tank which helps a little bit and I spray his tank down every couple days, also the substrate I use is ReptiChip. I was considering replacing the humidifier with a fogger but I wanted to know your opinions about that?

So their eyes turn normal or almost clear just before they shed. They make a liquid between themselves and the shed, it helps the shed come off easily, but it looks clear to us. If you live in an arid place I'd recommend looking into having a humidity hide, a hide with some damp moss or something else like that. They really help during a shed. What is your humidity at usually with how things are?

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

[Bogertophis]

lexx24- this is very normal- they can take several days after "going clear" (that's what we call it when it looks like they shed but haven't yet) until they actually shed. As already mentioned, keep the humidity up (about 70-75%), & offering a "humid hide" might help too, since you live in TX.

[Zincubus]

As soon as the eyes clear if you spray the viv a couple of times each day it virtually guarantees a perfect shed each time


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[lexx24]

I usually keep it between 50-60% but because it’s been a dry cold down here right now, the humidity keeps dropping to like 45%. For making a humidity hide what supplies do you suggest I get? Also thank you so very much for your advice, I really appreciate it

[Neko_snake]

I usually keep it between 50-60% but because it’s been a dry cold down here right now, the humidity keeps dropping to like 45%. For making a humidity hide what supplies do you suggest I get? Also thank you so very much for your advice, I really appreciate it

I just use a food container that I melted a hole into and some moss. I'm pretty sure just any hide and damp moss would work. You just wet the moss during their shed. You can either keep the hide in 24/7 or put it in only when they shed. I keep mine in 24/7 but only spray the moss with water when my snake is shedding.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

[arpowell]

I honestly think the best way to make a humidity box is just find an appropriately-sized tupperware container and fill it with damp (not sopping wet, damp) sphagnum moss. I like to use a soldering iron to make a hole in the lid for the snake to go through rather than cutting a hole in the side, if it's on the side I've found they tend to drag the moss all over the place. You can use scissors to make the lid instead of a soldering iron, but I prefer the soldering iron because that plastic splinters and gets sharp edges when you cut it with scissors.

A humidity hide should take care of your humidity problem pretty nicely, but there are a few other things you can try to help, too. Are you keeping him in a tank with a screen lid? If you are, I really recommend covering a portion of the screen with a damp towel. That can really help hold humidity in and keep it raised until it dries out. Also, I like to keep a water dish on the warm side as well as the cool side - the evaporating water from the heat will really help bump the ambient humidity up.

As for your fogger question - I personally wouldn't go for a fogger, they kinda just make everything wet for a few hours rather than actually raising the humidity, and I always worry about scale rot issues with pools of water just sitting around. Instead of buying a fogger, if you're using a substrate like cocohusk or cypress mulch, I like to just pour some water into the sides of the tank and let the substrate absorb it every few days. Works a real treat.

Good luck!! Hope his first shed with you is a good one!

[Zincubus]

In the meantime try spraying the viv well each day now .. sooner you start after the eyes clear the better


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[lexx24]

Thank you so much! Yes I do have a screen lid covering it and I’ll definitely try out covering half of it with the damp towel, I just added the moss to my Amazon cart thank you for your advice!

[lexx24]

My next question is should I put the humidity hide on the hot side, cool side, or in the middle?