Humidity

I have a glass aquarium, and I know it isnt exactly ideal for keeping humidity up.. I covered one side of the screen with foil and paper towels that I can spray down, and I spray the enclosure down so its damp, but not wet. I have to have a lamp to get my temps up to the right level in there, so I know that doesnt help.

My question is... Will a humid hide suffice, because I cant seem to keep the humidity part about 49%. Will my snake find the humid hide if it needs the moisture? Suggestions?

thanks!
Phil

Humid hides worked for me when I was keeping my snakes in glass aquariums. They mostly stayed in them. Also using plastic wrap or a wet towel will work better than the foil.

Keep those towels wet and it should be fine. A real towel holds moisture better than a paper towel will. You can also cover more than 1/2. Try 3/4 if you are having trouble.

What kind of lamp do you use? Some suck out humidity more than others. Those that give off light seem to be worse than the ceramic bulbs that just give off heat.

Yes a humid hide is fine, I would be concerned if the general humidity was as low as 25%, but with a HH it should be fine down around that point.

I think it's a great idea to give the added option of extra moisture, the snake knows exactly what there bodies need and I think it's good to provide a damp hide for them with some reptile moss.Just a point of interest on the topic, I've always used a humid hide. My first snake was in a terrarium where i struggled with humidity up. Both have since been moved into tubs. This shed the humidity was spot on, 70 percent most of the time so I decided not to use any moss. This was the first time he had a stuck shed, all be it a small piece on his back, my other snake shed perfect. I think that some individual snakes may need just some extra moisture and not just the humidity the air.
I am no biology or expert though or a Bp expert, I'm still learning but this was an observation I had just made.

Next shed I will go back to humid hides as well.

ms381, most of the humidity gauges are way way off. I have 4 digital ones and one is accurate, the others are silly how incorrect they are, I have two more MORE than 50% off! My guess is your gauge is wrong.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

ms381, most of the humidity gauges are way way off. I have 4 digital ones and one is accurate, the others are silly how incorrect they are, I have two more MORE than 50% off! My guess is your gauge is wrong.

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This thread is not really about if my gauges are right or wrong, I'm trying to give some advice on the use of humid hides to someone else.

My gauges are fine, high quality digital gauges, one for my apartment and one in each of the tubs of each snake. As I said my other snake shed fine, One snake had a small stuck shed on his back. What I was trying to suggest is that the shedding process could be different from snake to snake, just giving extra options such as humid hides can benefit the snakes, they can use them or notdepending on their needs during the shedding process.

I do enjoy posting on this sight, but I do get annoyed that if you offer some advice or comment upon past experiences people jump straight onto their husbandry high hoarse. I try to strive for the best husbandry as i can but snakes are individuals in a collection, just because one has had or bad shed or gone of feed or behaves this way or that way, doesn't mean it's a husbandry issue. It could just be the snakes individual biology or reaction to their micro climate at that time even if it's near perfect.

I didn't mean to insult you i was just trying to help you. I was simply stating a fact that at 70% a Royal should shed with no issues at all so if you had issues the gauges would be at fault. I have actually been on the hunt for a high quality gauge but have been unable to find one that could be housed with a snake.

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Originally Posted by OtterGoRun

Keep those towels wet and it should be fine. A real towel holds moisture better than a paper towel will. You can also cover more than 1/2. Try 3/4 if you are having trouble.

What kind of lamp do you use? Some suck out humidity more than others. Those that give off light seem to be worse than the ceramic bulbs that just give off heat.

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It is an "IR" lamp..75w.. The towel method seems to be working a bit better.. Its up to 51% as we speak. Little girl went from 74g to 88g in 2 days after that last meal! wow! is that normal?

yup that is normal.

What substrate are you using? I find coco peat or coco coir aka eco earth to hold tons of humidity and unlike cyprus it re-wets easily cyprus once dried out fully doesn't seem to absorb as much water.

With a humid hide you should have no problems anyway with 51 isn't that far away from prefect sheds I have had perfect sheds as low as 54% so you are defiantly mostly there.

I also use a glass tank. I also have had serious issues with keeping humidity up. I was resorting to spraying the take daily just to keep the humidity above %40. I added foil to the top 9/10 of the lid and that helped, but i was still having to spry things down every couple days to get the humidity up.
I tried putting some sphagnum moss in the tank and it has helped tremendously. I rarely have to do much to maintain the humidity at 55-65%. I also tossed a small (loose ping-pong ball sized) hunk into his hide.
I have never had a problem shedding. (3 one piece sheds :gj: )
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...0612_thumb.jpg
He seems to be happy with it. :D

You could buy a dimmer for the lamp, so you aren't running it on full blast, which will help keep that moisture for longer.

I am running a dimmer, but even between the UTH and the light (dimmer on both), I am having a hard time keeping the balance between humidity and temps.. Im getting there though, the more I play around with it the closer I get to ideal. I am using paper towel as my substrate, just because I feel like it will be the most sanitary and easiest to clean, but im willing to eventually change.. I put a wet towel over about .5 of the enclosure and that seems to be helping. I also put a humid hide in there, but she hasnt shown much interest so far..

Paper towel aside from feeding issues, is hydroscopic and will draw moisture out of the air. it isn't helping at all. Plain paper would be better if you want the same properties it also doesn't have feeding issues either. Paper towel on rare occasions when fed upon it can stick to any wet bits on the rodent and be ingested with the rodent causing impaction and digestion issues, unless you are feeding in a separate enclosure. The particulate substrates will hold humidity better but each is a balancing act against heat as you add a higher moisture content it takes more power to heat. Heat over humidity, heat is critical humidity is not critical low humidity (30-50%) can cause bad sheds low heat your snake cannot digest food and will starve or have digestion issues which can be life threatening. Poor sheds are just poor sheds.

I like coco coir products, it is small particles and cannot get lodged in the mouth as wood chips do sometimes.