Help! Humidity Hits Husbandry Hard

So I live on the coast in New England and the weather here is extremely variable. Last week I couldn't get my humidity above 40%, now I can't get it below 70%. For the most part, my temps are all good. 92 in the hot spot, 82 in the cool end. However, yesterday my humidity was 89%! I immediately put in my air conditioner and within a few hours it got down to about 65% but when I run the air conditioner, it not only drops the humidity, but obviously it dropped the temps, too (88 in the hot spot and 75 on the cool side). I've had fans blowing in the vents of my melamine enclosure for 4 days now and its not doing anything. I shut the A/C off for now and brought a dehumidifier up from the basement. We'll see how that works for now. Is there anything else I can do to lower the humidity levels in a melamine enclosure? I'm using cypress mulch for substrate in one, and aspen for the other (glass tank).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 55Ballin

So I live on the coast in New England and the weather here is extremely variable. Last week I couldn't get my humidity above 40%, now I can't get it below 70%. For the most part, my temps are all good. 92 in the hot spot, 82 in the cool end. However, yesterday my humidity was 89%! I immediately put in my air conditioner and within a few hours it got down to about 65% but when I run the air conditioner, it not only drops the humidity, but obviously it dropped the temps, too (88 in the hot spot and 75 on the cool side). I've had fans blowing in the vents of my melamine enclosure for 4 days now and its not doing anything. I shut the A/C off for now and brought a dehumidifier up from the basement. We'll see how that works for now. Is there anything else I can do to lower the humidity levels in a melamine enclosure? I'm using cypress mulch for substrate in one, and aspen for the other (glass tank).

---

can u describe ur setup? (tub / glass cage / custom) and describe ur venitlation? and what are u using to measure temps?

As long as the enclosure isn't wet on the inside, don't worry about it. Ball pythons are fine with high humidity, so long as there isn't standing moisture/dampness (those can lead to skin infections).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by h00blah

can u describe ur setup? (tub / glass cage / custom) and describe ur venitlation? and what are u using to measure temps?

---

One is a 20g glass tank with a thermometer with a probe for the hot end and a digital suction cup thermometer for ambient temps at the cool end.

The other (actually housing my BCI) is a 4x2x15" melamine enclosure with a sliding glass front, two 4" vent holes, and a small fan blowing in one hole. Measuring those temps with an acurite indoor outdoor thermometer/hygrometer.

The dehumidifier should help out a lot...

Wow...usually people have low humidity problems...

One think i can think of is possibly using a heat lamp??? It can really lower a tank's humidity....

Sounds like you fixed the problem with the ac. The hot spot could be a tiny bit warmer. 75 is fine for an ambient temp, but I wouldn't let it it get much colder then that. My snakes are usually kept in a room at 75-78ish. How are you creating a hot spot? Uth w/ thermostat? If so, just simply turn it up a notch or two and it should be at around 90. If you can maintain a cool end of 75+, hot spot of 88-90, and humidity at around 50-65% I would say your golden :)

How about ambient night time temps? Im using 3inch flexwatts (cant rem exact voltage) on 41 quartz tubs and it gets like 73 at night on the cool end and ard 80s on the hot spot. shld the hot spot temperature remain at the same Day time hot spot temps? Any ill effects if not?

As the caresheet says, there is no reason to drop the temperature at night. Under 75 degrees Fahrenheit is considered unsafe and puts your ball at risk for a respiratory infection. The actual amount of time it would take is debated, but it certainly doesn't help.

The hot spot stays ard 85 but the extreme end of the tub hits 73-74. i am using a temp gun so the temps are all surface temps on the substrate (paper towels). Honestly im not sure how to get ambient temps with the gun. Just point towards the middle from afar? ><

I have no snake in it right now. I am just testing the tub system out.

the middle of the cage hangs around at 75-77. The room temp in my room just goes down at night and im having problems achieving a better temperature.