HELP! New to ball pythons!! Humidity problem

I'm new to ball pythons, seems like i have all the temperature set up right, but my humidity has been a big problem. My new albino is looking like shes starting to go into shed so i'm trying everything to get the humidity up and it doesn't seem to work. I've tried misting my whole tank (using eco earth), using sphagnum moss and misting that, and using the wet towel method. Sphagnum moss/misting seems to help a little, but my humidity only went from 40% to around 43-47% max. My goal is to get it to about 50-60%! please help, any answers would be appreciated! thanks :)


heres my setup:

http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/...psfd35ef53.jpg


heres Luna, my 2012 albino


http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/...psb79404ab.jpg

The answers to these questions will help us help you, so if you could, copy and paste them into a post here and answer them:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Questionaire

Do you have a water dish in the cage? if so how big is it?

bigger water dish, and wet the top of the towel while its on the screen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

The answers to these questions will help us help you, so if you could, copy and paste them into a post here and answer them:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Questionaire

Do you have a water dish in the cage? if so how big is it?

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yes i have a water dish and its a pretty big one.


1. How long have you had your ball python?


4 days


2. How old (or how big) is your snake?


5 months, about 150 grams


3. Does it eat on a regular schedule?


hasnt ate yet


4. How long since its last meal?


about a week and a half


5. What type/size prey is being offered?


hopper


6. How often do you offer food?


tongs


7. What type and size of enclosure does it live in?


20 gal tank


8. What are you using as substrate? If it has depth, how deep is it?


eco earth. about 2 1/2 inches or so


9. What type of heating do you use?


uth and one 75 watt infared lamp


10. Do you use a thermostat to control temperatures?


light dimmer


11. What do you use to measure/monitor temperatures?


2 thermometer/hydgrometer


12. What are the surface and ambient temperatures in the enclosure?


warm: 90 cool : 79-83 ambient: mid 80s


13. What is the average humidity level?


45%


14. How many and what type of hides does the snake have?


3


15. Is water readily available at all times?


yes


16. Does the snake live alone or does it share the enclosure with anything else?


alone




17. How often and for how long is the snake typically handled?


not much, last handled for 5 min


18. Does the snake have any medical history (old injuries or illnesses)?


no




19. Do you have any other reptiles? Have you brought in any new reptiles recently?


no




20. Is there anything specific or unique about your situation that we should be aware of?
no

When mine go into shed in the glass tank, I found cutting a sponge into two or three pieces and placing them in the hide (http://www.reptilebasics.com/small-hide-box) works really well!

http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0e968159.jpg

Placing damp moss in the hides will create micro climates giving the snake the humidity it needs.


Its very dangerous to have an uth without a thermostat. I would unplug it until you get one. I like Herpstats. Also the substrate over a uth needs to be thin so the heat can reach the snake. It appears yours is really thick which makes the uth useless. I barely cover the floor over the uth so even if the snake moves all the substrate off the temp is still good and won't burn it.

KMG if I read right he has a red light and dimmer a pain in the butt but fine.

tomjones456 it looks to me like everything is fine. 45% is perfectly acceptable it maybe a bit low for a shed cycle but at the first sign of a shed you can simply add a humid hide and when the shed is over remove or clean it. (leaving it can increase bacteria and lead to health issues.

yeah im usin a light dimmer for both the lamp and the uth. working well right now, glad to know the humidity is ok for her. where could i get a cheaper thermostat? only one i could find was 100$ at petsmart

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tomjones456

yeah im usin a light dimmer for both the lamp and the uth. working well right now, glad to know the humidity is ok for her. where could i get a cheaper thermostat? only one i could find was 100$ at petsmart

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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's what I use and haven't had a problem!

Dimmers are fine for lights but not good for uth. When the temp changes the dimmer doesn't know and continues to pump power into the uth which can cause it to over heat the hotspot quickly.

As for a tstat if you buy cheap you get cheap. The one at both Petco and Petsmart are junk and so are the Hydrofarm ones. I was given one from Petco with a snake I bought from a family that no longer wanted to care for it. While I ordered my new cages and tstat I was using it. It broke just before I was going to switch. I Also had a Hydrofarm that broke within 3 months of getting it.

The tstat is the mist important piece of equipment you as a keeper can buy.

I have both a Herpstat 1 and 4. I absolutely love them. For the money they can not be beat.

You can buy a cheap one but it will fail and you will end up buying another one and probably ending up with a good one. Save money in the long run and buy it right the first time.

How are you reading the surface temp of the hotspot over the uth?

Having the substrate as thick as it appears will insulate and trap alot of heat. If the uth is providing a hotspot of 90 with over an inch of eco earth over it the temp at the glass tank bottom is going to be dangerously hot.

If your creating a 90 hotspot at the glass bottom and then putting the substrate over it the actual surface temp on to of the substrate will not be close to 90.

Either way I don't think your snake is getting much good from the uth. Unplug it until you get it sorted out. Sounds like your setup will be just fine with just the light so I would save up and buy a good tstat when you can afford it then start using the uth again.

I think you'll be ok if you just added a humid hide on the warm side of the enclosure.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

taping tinfoil to the top and covering the cage top works very well for me, only have to spray twice a day and it keeps the humidity up. i also have a tub of moss in water which helps keep it humid. they both work

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KMG

Dimmers are fine for lights but not good for uth. When the temp changes the dimmer doesn't know and continues to pump power into the uth which can cause it to over heat the hotspot quickly.

As for a tstat if you buy cheap you get cheap. The one at both Petco and Petsmart are junk and so are the Hydrofarm ones. I was given one from Petco with a snake I bought from a family that no longer wanted to care for it. While I ordered my new cages and tstat I was using it. It broke just before I was going to switch. I Also had a Hydrofarm that broke within 3 months of getting it.

The tstat is the mist important piece of equipment you as a keeper can buy.

I have both a Herpstat 1 and 4. I absolutely love them. For the money they can not be beat.

You can buy a cheap one but it will fail and you will end up buying another one and probably ending up with a good one. Save money in the long run and buy it right the first time.

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I'm sure you did have problems with your hydro farm tstat but to say they are junk? I'm not so sure. I have one and it works great. It's great option for someone who doesn't have the money to spend on a better proportional one. It's better than not having one.
Op, I had a lot of issues with humidity as well. I did the towel trick, misted, moss ect... The only thing that worked for me was misting as often as I could. My sons snake had his first shed (since we owned him) and he was fine at an average humidity of 45%. Came off in one piece no problem. Try your best to keep it high but I wouldn't worry too much if you can't get it to stay at 70% all the time.
gdlk

I stand by what I said. When I first got it I was pretty happy with it and even suggested using it to others on here. But just after a couple months of use it started erratic behavior and died. I was lucky because I was using a fluckers uth that does not get as hot as the zoomed uth. I believe any snake is worth enough to buy a proper tstat and not use one that is known to break. It is intended for dirt not living animals. Having it fail performing its purpose is not that big of a deal but failing while regulating a heater for your snake can lead to death. I will not suggest something I have had put my snakes in danger.

I think that if you can use lamps alone, like the op, you should instead of buying a questionable product. Over time save up and buy a proper one instead of chancing it with something that is not currently needed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tomjones456

I'm new to ball pythons, seems like i have all the temperature set up right, but my humidity has been a big problem. My new albino is looking like shes starting to go into shed so i'm trying everything to get the humidity up and it doesn't seem to work. I've tried misting my whole tank (using eco earth), using sphagnum moss and misting that, and using the wet towel method. Sphagnum moss/misting seems to help a little, but my humidity only went from 40% to around 43-47% max. My goal is to get it to about 50-60%! please help, any answers would be appreciated! thanks :)


heres my setup:

http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/...psfd35ef53.jpg


heres Luna, my 2012 albino


http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/...psb79404ab.jpg

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Two people have given you the answer.

Spritzing and watering the enclosure, restricting airflow and other methods often succeed in only giving you a humidity spike or turning the enclosure into a biological weapons factory.

Remember, a ball python uses a termite mound in the wild for it's heat and humidity needs.

So take a cue from mother nature, simplify your life and cut down on any potential environmental health risks associated with trying to turn the whole enclosure into a petri dish - create a humid hide.

Not sure if you have a screen top like u do but I did the foil method and it keeps my tank at 45%-50% my BP just started shedding so I spray the inside of the tank with some water and it bumps up to 65-75% maybe covering the top with the foil technique can help you out

the hot spot is sitting at 87-90. do i measure from on top of the soil or on the glass tank bottom? im measuring with a probe from the soil

Under the hot side hide is where that should be. The bottom and substrate surface should both be known as well. IR guns are very useful for quick and dirty measurements like this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

Two people have given you the answer.

Spritzing and watering the enclosure, restricting airflow and other methods often succeed in only giving you a humidity spike or turning the enclosure into a biological weapons factory.

Remember, a ball python uses a termite mound in the wild for it's heat and humidity needs.

So take a cue from mother nature, simplify your life and cut down on any potential environmental health risks associated with trying to turn the whole enclosure into a petri dish - create a humid hide.

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This^^^^, see how the shed comes out and adjust, you can get a bigger humid hide you place in during shedding and take out after. Tupperware tub with a lid and hole cut on the side works well.

It isn't completely impossible to control a UTH using only a lamp dimmer. It isn't very accurate, but as long as you check on it every day you should be fine. Obviously it isn't the best option out there but it will keep the temperature relatively stable.

The hydrofarm is a glorified dimmer. It does maintain the temperature within 3-5 degrees or so, but it has crazy temp swings and you need to set it much higher to get the desired temp. It works fine for my purposes though.

If you have the money, buy a herpstat. If you don't, save up your pennies!

The winter around here is stupidly dry, so I've had similar issues. Inside his enclosure, I moved the water dish so it was nearer to the 'hot' side so the water he didn't drink would evaporate. I also made the room that the enclosure was in less dry and that seemed to help a bit as well. (Live plants, humidifiers, bowls of water...)
Unused water will evaporate and make things less dry. I've heard that placing bowls of water around a room helps a room, so perhaps you can adapt that for use in the vivarium...?