Humidity Questions

A couple quick questions regarding humidity. I'll preface it by saying that I have two AP enclosures each heated by an RHP. I use ReptiChip as a substrate and have a big bowl of water in the middle of each enclosure.

In the winter, I find myself constantly spraying the substrate because it will get down to 40% humidity. Luckily over the years I've only had about 1-2 not perfect sheds.

1. I have two thermometers that also measure humidity in each corner and the one under the RHP is always 10-15 % lower. When trying to keep the enclosure in the >60% range, should I aim to get both ends in this range or is one end good enough?

2. Anyone use a humidifier and care to share your experiences? This seems like it may be easier then having to spray every other day.

3. When I do spray, the humidity will spike and condensate on the glass for about a day. Hopefully this is ok.

i'm in Wisconsin, and i use a room humidifier all winter. keep my ambient humidity at around 60%. I only have 2 ball pythons, but they shed great with no misting.

Relative humidity is always, 100% of the time, lower where the temperature is higher. That’s just how humidity works relative to temperature. Check your daily forecast and the humidity during the day and night. It’s always higher at night when it’s cooler.


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It's completely normal for the hot side to be quite a bit lower. You are already doing it right with the enclosure type and substrate. Misting isn't something I mess around with aside from just before and during shed, though I do dump a little bit of water on the substrate when it's starting to look too dry and the coco bark sucks it up right away to slowly release it, you just don't want to dump TOO much where its going to stay damp for long. Might take a little bit of experimenting to find the exact right amount and how often.

I have found a room humidifier to help some, but not substantially. I have used a humidifier connected directly to enclosure before for green tree pythons, but never for BP's. You may want to try that on a very low setting (don't want to overdo it with BP) during the winter months where the house heater running zaps a lot of the humidity in the air. Some of the ones specifically meant for reptiles have setting options where you can have it run for specific periods of time rather than all day, which would kind of mimic nature how mornings are a lot more damp rather than consistent throughout the day.

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Originally Posted by jmcrook

Relative humidity is always, 100% of the time, lower where the temperature is higher. That’s just how humidity works relative to temperature. Check your daily forecast and the humidity during the day and night. It’s always higher at night when it’s cooler.


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Yes, I understand how humidity works and how the temps can effect it. My question was more about which humidity readings should I concern myself with if I'm trying to achieve >60% humidity. If the cool side is in this range but the hot side is 45ish am I ok or should I try to boost the hot side up? Thank you.

I have a similar setup as you, and I have the humidity issues as well. I spray it down like you a few times a week. But, I don't spray right into the open air in the enclosure. Not sure how you do it, but I spray down specifically into the substrate, and mix up the substrate... sort to get the wet stuff on the bottom layer of substrate, and then respray the top. Basically, trying to have the substrate soak up the "wetness" so that it releases it into the air slowly. That seems to work for me.

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Originally Posted by Charles8088

I have a similar setup as you, and I have the humidity issues as well. I spray it down like you a few times a week. But, I don't spray right into the open air in the enclosure. Not sure how you do it, but I spray down specifically into the substrate, and mix up the substrate... sort to get the wet stuff on the bottom layer of substrate, and then respray the top. Basically, trying to have the substrate soak up the "wetness" so that it releases it into the air slowly. That seems to work for me.

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Yep, I've been taking the same steps as you. I use a pump spray and soak the substrate and mix it up. I guess I was just hoping to avoid the every other day spray.

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Originally Posted by ckuhn003

Yes, I understand how humidity works and how the temps can effect it. My question was more about which humidity readings should I concern myself with if I'm trying to achieve >60% humidity. If the cool side is in this range but the hot side is 45ish am I ok or should I try to boost the hot side up? Thank you.

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I think just the cool side in this range is fine as long as it's not really bad on the hot side. 45 is fine.

Thanks for this thread!

I have a similar question. With my AP setup (4x2x2), I've been trying to maintain a 70% humidity for my boa (BCA). However, I've been measuring this from the bottom of the hot side with the RHP. Are you all saying that I should move the humidity gauge over to the bottom of the cooler side to measure for the 70% goal?

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Originally Posted by Nick_MD

Thanks for this thread!

I have a similar question. With my AP setup (4x2x2), I've been trying to maintain a 70% humidity for my boa (BCA). However, I've been measuring this from the bottom of the hot side with the RHP. Are you all saying that I should move the humidity gauge over to the bottom of the cooler side to measure for the 70% goal?

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Yes, that's what I'd do. Humidity is part of a snake's natural thermoregulation- as long as they have the options they need, you're good.

I think this thread is extremely helpful too- now that I think about it, I wonder how many keepers are frustrated with trying to get the humidity up when it already is, at least on the cool side. And all that desperate "misting" they're doing may actually be detrimental- especially with snakes needing warmer temperatures, since warmth + moisture makes way too many bacteria very "happy"- (ie. might be promoting health issues?).