Terrible problems with shedding.

There are no vents/fans blowing over the placement, no, except for the ceiling fan in my room, which is set pretty low. The person I got my younger bp from owns a bunch of snakes, and I can see if they might have an extra thermostat the next time I go over there. I go over every Monday to pick up rats for my own snakes. I can ask them if they have an extra/old one. As long as it works.

Look around your house for things to sell. List them on Craig's List. You could buy a $100 thermostat by simply selling 5 $20 items. Mow some yards for cash. Ask around about odd jobs people need done. It's also about your safety too. A uth without a thermostat is a potential fire hazard.

Should I keep the cocoa husk damp, or should I keep it dry? I was never sure if I should let it get wet or not. I figure it might help with the moisture, though.

I would try to keep some portion of it fairly damp. You have to find the balance with this just like the temps and humidity. Keeping reptiles is not as simple as it may seem. It can be very complicated as some animals are very delicate and require intense care to thrive. Ball Pythons are a hardy snake but they still require the correct husbandry to thrive. It sounds like without having a job you are going to have to get creative and come up with some solutions for some of these issues.

Should the dampened side be over the heated area, or over the cool side? I'll end up patching some of the holes in the tub to try and keep the humidity in, and try some more stuff on top of the tank to keep it in as well.

I would mist it all. For the next few days it would be good to give them a boost in humidity. During this time you need to start trying to figure out just how much you should mist to make the coco moist but not wet and how much it dries out between misting.

You need to also start to read, read, read. Search around here and start to think about what you learn here and how you can apply it to your snakes.

Without seeing your tub and tank there is not much else we can do.

I mist their tanks every time I take them out, so it's fairly often. It's 2am but I can try and get a picture of their setups tomorrow when I wake up, as well as the both of them, actually.

You have received some good responses to your post, with those you should now have the knowledge/tools to bring up the humidity and have it stay somewhat stable. Now you get to do some trial and error;

1. Party cover the top screen with cardboard wrapped in foil
2. Soak/spray the substrate
3. Make one of the hides a 'humid hide'

You will now have to try some/all of these things and monitor the changes closely to diel in exactly what works best. I know you have been told how important having a tstat is, I would also recommending purchasing a digital thermometer that would also give you a humidity reading. http://www.walmart.com/ip/896347?wml...924335&veh=sem That is a link for one commonly sold at Walmart for around $12, i know money is tight but something like that will give you a more accurate read on things (if you putting all this work into tweaking the set up getting solid data will make your efforts worthwhile)