Tried everything and the humidity just won't go up!

Ok so ive asked people who know their snakes and they all tell me to do something different so ive tried alot! I have given him a bigger water bowl, I have misted, I have changed his substrate to repti-bark, I have put his water bowl on top of the UTH, his temp is fine its just I can't get the humidity to go past 30! I mist every morning and every night usually but the water from the misting evaporates within minutes causing the humidity to go back down. At night, when his light shuts off, the humidity goes up to about 50ish with or without misting. What else can I try and how do you get yours to stay normal? I live in a basement in the northeast U.S. and its humid but its also colder than the rest of the house but like I said, his temp is fine!

Have you tried covering most of the screen top with a damp towel or plastic wrap?

What type of lights are you using? Those are probably sucking the humidity right out of your tank.

I'm guessing that you have a tank with a screen top? Have you tried covering most of the exposed areas to help the humidity stay in there?

Add a humid hide. Problem solved. Or a humidifier for the room will work too.

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Originally Posted by spitzu

I'm guessing that you have a tank with a screen top? Have you tried covering most of the exposed areas to help the humidity stay in there?

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Yes it is a screen top, how long should I leave it covered and what should I cover it with? Do I leave the light fixture on the top and leave it turned on or do I take it off?

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Add a humid hide. Problem solved. Or a humidifier for the room will work too.

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Unfortunately my bp does not like humid hides, yes I know he's weird! Ill try the one I have again and see if he'll take to it this time.

U should switch to tubs

Justin,
I have a glass tank and my humidity level sucked real bad. I installed a UTH, got rid of the heat lamp and don't use any light except for what comes through the window across the room. I covered three sides of the tank and did the screen top similar to THIS. The difference is I did the treatment to a piece of cardboard I cut to fit over the screen and did that foil treatment to the cardboard and then placed the cardboard over the screen. For the "window" you see in the center of the foil treatment, I just kept one of the corners open and added a piece of plexiglass to that corner (free moving). Now I can move that plexi open and closed if I need to adjust any temps or humidity. The cool side stays at around 81 degrees - 51% humidity and warm side is around 90 degrees - 60% humidity. The only heat source is coming from the UTH. I also have two of the ACURITE digital readers and I bought ONE OF THESE to control the temp of the UTH. It didn't take long at all to get the temps and humidity to where it is good to go. It's been about 3 weeks and everything is still good to go.

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Originally Posted by coly18

Yes it is a screen top, how long should I leave it covered and what should I cover it with? Do I leave the light fixture on the top and leave it turned on or do I take it off?

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If your not using the light fixture for heat, the you don't really need it. There are a lot of different things you can use to cover the screen top. I keep my boa in a glass tank with a screen lid and I cover pretty much the entire thing with a damp towel. My humidity has been great and I get perfect sheds. I still mist once a day and make sure the towel stays damp. You pretty much need to always keep the top covered to keep humidity in.

Tubs are much better at keeping humidity though.

You've tried everything... but a tub.

Regards,

B

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Originally Posted by RetiredJedi

Justin,
I have a glass tank and my humidity level sucked real bad. I installed a UTH, got rid of the heat lamp and don't use any light except for what comes through the window across the room. I covered three sides of the tank and did the screen top similar to THIS. The difference is I did the treatment to a piece of cardboard I cut to fit over the screen and did that foil treatment to the cardboard and then placed the cardboard over the screen. For the "window" you see in the center of the foil treatment, I just kept one of the corners open and added a piece of plexiglass to that corner (free moving). Now I can move that plexi open and closed if I need to adjust any temps or humidity. The cool side stays at around 81 degrees - 51% humidity and warm side is around 90 degrees - 60% humidity. The only heat source is coming from the UTH. I also have two of the ACURITE digital readers and I bought ONE OF THESE to control the temp of the UTH. It didn't take long at all to get the temps and humidity to where it is good to go. It's been about 3 weeks and everything is still good to go.

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Sorry, I copied and pasted that reply from another forum I posted it on so the name Justin was there and I forgot to remove it...hahahaha

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Originally Posted by Simple Man

You've tried everything... but a tub.

Regards,

B

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Lol! very true, ill look into them :)

If its in a glass tank switch to a bin , if that doesn't work buy a new hydrometer andd the firsttt thing you should really try is cypress mulch

Humidity isn't a massive issue, heating is critical you snake cannot live with out it. Have you had bad sheds? If you have not it is fine don't worry. If you snake doesn't use a humid hide maybe the humidity isn't actually a problem.



30% to 50% is a serious drop in a few hours, are you sure of the accuracy of the hygrometer?
(http://www.cigarswag.com/index.php?r...formation_id=8)

It is an easy test. REMEMBER digital hygrometers are slow to change unlike analogue ones. You can check multiples one after each other but digital ones should be given 2 hours to adjust analogue ones 30 mins is usually enough.

You are much better off erring on the low side than the high side. Too low can cause poor sheds which is not a massive problem, and easily fixed. Too high (WITH air circulation reduction) is known to cause respiratory issues that can be very serious to fatal. (fungal pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia) sometimes called moist pneumonia aka RI.

Personally if you have not had shed problems I'd ignore the hygrometer it is likely wrong. I am quite fussy about instruments so I test mine all the time (twice a year) and re-calibrate the hygrometers and toss the thermometers that are incorrect.

A nice damp towel (so no water drips from it) over the 2/3-3/4 of the screen with foil over the towel keeps mine around 60%, then you just have to re-moisten the towel every few days

I have aquariums with screen tops also and my humidity is 60% to 80% most the time, I use the plastic cling wrap press and seal and cover 60% of the lid, monitor your humidity and cover more or less as needed. Has worked great for all 4 tanks, however heat lights will kill you humidity as mentioned before.

No need to jump to tubs if you do not wish to, of course if you could it would help drastically and make life easier.

Anyhow, there are many things you could do, firstly as many have mentioned, the screen top could be the problem. Try something like foil first, if it doesnt work then a damp towel. Most of the air you are making humid with the water bowl above the UTH is probably escaping through the top straight away - both warm air and humid air rise.

Using a humidifier in the room is a possibility, don't particularly need a big expensive one. I find those with the mist good enough. When you say 'his light goes off', are you using some kind of lamp above his enclosure or is it the basement lights? If its the first I would think its coming from there.. That's sucking it all out.

But most of all, what are you using to measure your humidity? There are so many horrible ones out there in the market, even digital ones are nonsense.