Humidity in a 40 gallon with sliding front doors

Hey guys,

I'm wondering about tricks in keeping high humidity in during sheddings in a 40 gallon sliding font door terrarium..

It has a mesh screen top, 3/4 mesh screens on both ends and another 1 inch wide strip about 3-4 inches from the bottom along the front glass under the sliding doors.

I've completely covered the mesh screen top with foil and duct taped it down so that humidity stays around the 56-60 mark, but my recently adopted adult Bp has a pink belly so he's starting a shed cycle soon, I'm wondering what I could do to the cage to keep the humidity higher during this period of time.

i have partially covered both end of tank mesh sides but it only jacks it up to 66.. And it sits there, not slowly climbing to a shed-worthy humidity level like my 20 gal for my young Bp.. His is regulated like clockwork. But this one has so much mesh screening I'm not sure how to go about it.


I need some suggestions.

Thanks!

How often do you spray the tank down? Maybe a reptifogger would work for you?!?!


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Can you tape plastic wrap on the outside on the 3/4 mesh ends?

tbh I only just covered the side meshes yesterday because I only noticed his pink belly then, so I misted the cage a little which kicked up the levels to 98, I left the doors open to let it lower to about 78-82 but by the time I came back it had lowered to normal levels, which I didn't bother misting again since he hasn't started yet (no blue eyes or hue)

I did though just mist it a tad to see if it would climb and stay, tonight is my actual test night I'll see later or tomorrow morning if the level has dropped or if it maintains itself, I don't really want to buy a repti fogger just yet especially if I can take tips that don't cost anything. If nothing works of course I'll arrange that my Bp has a perfect shed.. (It would prob be his first too, previous owners didn't care much for his humidity levels) But I want to try out all my tricks and options I can get first.

Im asking ahead of my results for tonight just as a prep.

One diff between my young Bp's cage setup other than all the mesh is that his water dish is smack in the middle which probably helps with humidity climbing when I cover his screen top for shedding, whereas my adults cage his dish is a corner dish and it only fits on the opposite end away from the heat ... I guess that's why it doesn't climb ? I wish I could post photos my pics never work on here ..

@bcr229 I tried loosely attaching Saran Wrap to hang over the side meshes about 3/4 of their height.. I'll probably have to do like u said and tape them down though.

I have a screen top 40 gallon. I covered most the top with foil tape and mist daily with a mister. With that it was still low on humidity so I added moss to both hides. During a shed I keep it moist which makes the hides more humid than the rest of the tank. Since your snake stays in its hides most of the time it gets all the humidity it needs in the hides. Since starting this methods a couple years back my sheds are prefect with very little effort on my part.

The rest of the time I will mist the moss well and then let it dry out, then repeat.

Both big box pet stores will have moss. Is pretty cheap and can be cleaned so it last a pretty long time.

You can place a damp towel over the mesh lid too. That works wonders during a shed.


if you don't already, you can add a little spagnum moss to help real ease humidity into the air at a slower and more constant rate. Just don't go crazy, you don't want them laying it damp moss 24/7

Cyprus mulch works for me. It is a very wet substrate. I use it all the time in my tanks for humidity, and anti-mold reasons. You can find pure cyprus mulch at most large department stores and it is very cheap. 3 bucks for a 2 cu. ft. bag. The local pet store sells it in a tiny bag for 10 bucks LOL.

You can put it in the entire cage when they are shedding and it raises my humidity levels slightly above 80%, which is high I know. But it slowly drops over the next couple weeks. When they are not in shed, you can cover half the cage in it, then maybe put something else in the other half like aspen bedding or something. My female had a perfect shed with this method. Looks nice too.

@KMG: I see sphagnum moss seems to be prominent for use with bp's esp during sheds. I have aspen bedding throughout the cage, but i think i will combo your sphagnum moss trick with the cypress mulch Gary P mentionned!

@navaro: I used to use the wet towel trick on my young bp's cage in the begining during winter months what with my electric baseboards drying the air out and all. But i found myself misting and re dampening it 2x a day. I'll try it though for Gandhi (my adult bp) since the heat isn't going to dry everything out but i will need to find something different for the winter months so im gonna go with the unanimous moss suggestion. I've always wondered about it!


@Gary P: Cypress mulch sounds interesting, i think im going to check out my gardening stores and pick some up, do the half aspen half cypress you mentioned. Great that you mention it has anti-mold properties. So if i were to add sphagnum moss to his hide and have only half the tank covered in cypress under the sphagnum it should be alright.. ?

Thanks so much guys!!

I used cypress mulch in most of my cages for the longest. I like it alot. I buy the Forest Floor from the pet store. I find it much cleaner with less big shards and chunks that I got when I got the garden store variety.

Just this past week I changed my mulch into a mixture of cypress mulch, repti bark, and eco earth. I try to keep naturalistic cages and I absolutely love how the mix looks. It still holds moisture well but looks much more natural. I just mix is in a large tub until it looks like I want it to. I use what I need and the rest stays in the tub until I need it. When that time comes I will add water, mix, and use.