cant keep humidty up!!!!

my ball pythons in the shedding process this is his first shed, the humdity isnt staying above 60, i mist it goes to 80 drops to 75 stays there for a while then just drops its like im misting every 10 mins, i have a damp towel covering the top and i do not use a heat lamp, i have a heat mat with mositure substrate, im doing everything to keep the humidty up.. but its not staying up!

i use a larger plastic breeding box
exo terra hygro/theremo digital

You mention moisture substrate what is it exactly? Cypress mulch holds humidity very well.

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Originally Posted by BPLuvr

You mention moisture substrate what is it exactly? Cypress mulch holds humidity very well.

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i use orchid-bark i think thats its name it seems to hold mostirue well but it seems im having to mist it too often the humdity stays around
69% -77%
is the humidty at 60-69% ok for a baby male shedding?

Your snake should shed just fine if you maintain 60-69% humidity.

Pretty much anything above 60% will be fine.

If your hot hide is big enough to accomodate another item, you can put a small ceramic dish under it filled with water. Since they spend a good deal of time under there any ways, it will create a mild almost suana effect.

If you dont have one, you can pick up a dish at targets or the dollar store for just a couple bucks. Just make sure to get one with straight side walls and a flat base so they can't tip it.

Mine shed perfectly at 55-65% Rh there is no need to be higher.

Where do you live exactly? I ask because the places that I live have been hugely different in terms of how my snakes shed.

In Colroado Springs I completely mist everything in the tank about twice a day while they are blue and make sure to keep their water bowls filled so that they can soak if they decide that they want to. If I don't do this, for instance when they shed while I was down at Ft. Polk, Louisana for three weeks, they will not get a single piece of skin off on their own. When I got home I had to place them into wet pillowcases for an hour and then rub the shed off by hand to get them clean, which is stressful to the snakes and myself, as I worry about my little ones!

In Kansas, where my wife is now with the snakes while I am in Afghanistan, they need no misting at all to shed in one complete piece. They have water and may soak, but I can't be certain without asking my wife. As a side note, my male pastel that ate 4 times from October to March in Colorado has now eaten 4 times since 1 April! While I am super happy about this it is frustrating none the less. Who knows what his deal is!?

As for substrate, (not sure what you are using but someone above recommended cedar mulch) I wouldn't recommend cedar mulch. I have used it in the past and while it does hold water well it has some other aspects that can be causes for concern. First is that if it sits wet for extended periods of time it can end up growing mold and releasing spores into the air that can be unhealthy for not only your snake but also for you! Second is that I have talked to people, namely Greg Graziani of Graziani Reptiles, who have seen the companys that make the mulch at work with bad things to say. What Greg told me is that not only do the workers at the businesses relieve themselves into the mulch but the machinery that moves the mulch will have hydraulic lines break and will dump hundreds of gallons of hydraulic fluid into the mulch. While expensive, I use carefresh bedding and I LOVE the stuff. It is super absorbent and always make cleaning up "messes" nice and easy. In addition, if you don't want white or any of the colored bedding you can go with their latest release of their naturally colored bedding. It is brown and has bits of wood matter still in it so it looks completely natural.

It honestly sounds like you may be misting too much. Where is the hygrometer located? If it more than an inch off of the substrate it won't give you an accurate reading of where you snake is actually at within the tank. Ultimately, maintaining humidity is more of an art than a science. Remember that snakes have evolved the ability to shed their skins over millions of years and are actually quite good at it! As long as you are misting once a day and have water in a dish for your snake to soak in you should be just fine. Let us know how the shed ends up going.

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Originally Posted by gsarchie

Where do you live exactly? I ask because the places that I live have been hugely different in terms of how my snakes shed.

In Colroado Springs I completely mist everything in the tank about twice a day while they are blue and make sure to keep their water bowls filled so that they can soak if they decide that they want to. If I don't do this, for instance when they shed while I was down at Ft. Polk, Louisana for three weeks, they will not get a single piece of skin off on their own. I had to place them into wet pillowcases for an hour and then rub the shed of by hand to get them clean, which is stressful to the snakes and myself, as I worry about my little ones!

In Kansas, where my wife is now with the snakes while I am in Afghanistan, they need no misting at all to shed in one nice piece. They have water and may soak, but I can't be certain without asking my wife. As a side note, my male pastel that ate 4 times from October to March in Colorado has now eaten 4 times since 1 April! While I am super happy about this it is frustrating none the less. Who knows what his deal is!?

As for substrate, (not sure what you are using but someone above recommended cedar mulch) I wouldn't recommend cedar mulch. I have used it in the past and while it does hold water well there are some other things that can be a cause for concern. First is that if it sits wet for extended periods of time it can end up gorwin mold and releasing spores into the air that can be unhealthy for not only your snake but also for you! Second is that I have talked to people, namely Greg Graziani of Graziani Reptiles, who have seen the companys that make the mulch at work with bad things to say. What Greg told me is that not only do the workers at the businesses relieve themselves into the mulch but the machinery that moves the mulch will have hydraulic line break and will hundreds of gallons of hydraulic fluid into the mulch. While expensive, I use carefresh bedding and I LOVE the stuff. It is super absorbent and always make cleaning up "messes" nice and easy. In addition, if you don't want white or any of the colored bedding you can go with their latest release of their naturally colored bedding. It is brown and has bits of wood matter still in it so it looks completely natural.

It honestly sounds like you may be misting too much. Where is the hygrometer located? If it more than an inch off of the substrate it won't give you an accurate reading of where you snake is actually at within the tank. Ultimately, maintaining humidity is more of an art than a science. Remember that snakes have evolved the ability to shed their skins over millions of year of evolution and are actually quite good at it! As long as you are misting once a day and have water in a dish for your snake to soak in you should be just fine. Let us know how the shed ends up going.

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im from the uk, unforuantly i found out my python had mites ive had him for 5 days first snake very stressfull thanks for your detailed reply :) much appreciated and will keep you updated on the shed

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Originally Posted by SRMD94

im from the uk, unforuantly i found out my python had mites ive had him for 5 days first snake very stressfull thanks for your detailed reply :) much appreciated and will keep you updated on the shed

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Oh no!! Sorry to hear that, but DO NOT let this issue (and it will be a pain in the butt) scare you away from keeping snakes in the end. I've never had mites however I have done plenty of reading on the issue. Let me know if you'd like me to and I'd be happy to look up some ways to treat it. I may do some research anyway but if you'd like I can post what I find. The shed should help get most of them off if I remember right, but then he'd have to go straight into a mite free environment once he shed, and be in a sterile environment while shedding as well.