Humidity question.

Alright one more question for now guys. I began setting up my tank yesterday so I had a few days to perfect the temperatures and humidity. I have a glass encloser that opens from the front and has a screen top. I read a few things about people covering the top to keep in heat and humidity so I covered most with tinfoil and a layer of duct tape over the top. I got cypress mulch substrate for the bedding which I place on top of newspaper. The temperatures are good, hot side resting at about 94, cool side about 81. (From what I have read those are good, correct me if I am wrong.) But the humidity is out of control. It's at 92% and collecting condensation and even water drops on the inside of the cage. I cut slits in the top corners of the cover for the screen to try and air it out more but I can't get it to drop with the cage doors closed. Should I change bedding? Or are there certain ways I can lower the humidity?

The cypress mulch is good for retaining moisture. I would try removing the foil and see what it drops to and then adding foil as needed... and try to keep the hotspot right at 90.


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As the above poster has said, you can remove some of the foil and see if you can change it to your liking. Other ways to lower it would be using a different substrate such as aspen shavings or paper towels, or also giving your snake a smaller water dish.

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Originally Posted by Regius_049

As the above poster has said, you can remove some of the foil and see if you can change it to your liking. Other ways to lower it would be using a different substrate such as aspen shavings or paper towels, or also giving your snake a smaller water dish.

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I heard a lot of negative things with aspen shavings, but I guess everyone has their own opinions. Would it be weird to mix the aspen shavings with the cypress mulch? I thought about just using only newspaper but I'm not of fan of just the paper and was hoping to avoid that. Maybe the cypress mulch just needs to dry out more? It was pretty damp when I put it in.

There's nothing wrong with aspen. Although the aspen chips are even better than the shavings IMO.


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Does anyone have any experience with reptibark? I also got coco husk substrate but am worried it would be too fine...

How about orchid bark , very rich dark looking substrate that holds as much moisture as you wish ....


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I use coco husk for snakes that require more humidity. I like it, however because when damp it will stick to everything, I would likely feed your BP out of the enclosure so he doesn't eat some of it with the rodent.

Cypress mulch is good, you just have to be careful where you get it from. I've even had the ones you get in the reptile section have broken glass in it. So I always go through the substrate no matter what it is.

I can't comment on orchid bark as I've never used it, or seen it for that matter.

I get the teklad lab grade Aspen and the exo Terra Coco husk bricks. For the Aspen I pull it out of the bag and uh I don't know the word I'm thinking of, I guess I sort through it then place it in the bin. For the Coco husk I make it up in a big bucket, then I grab and place in the bin while combing through it. I do a brick at a time and that way it has time to dry.

I'm just picky about having things ready and organized though.

http://i.imgur.com/ky43hWd.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KMtZr4g.jpg

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Originally Posted by Neal

I use coco husk for snakes that require more humidity. I like it, however because when damp it will stick to everything, I would likely feed your BP out of the enclosure so he doesn't eat some of it with the rodent.

Cypress mulch is good, you just have to be careful where you get it from. I've even had the ones you get in the reptile section have broken glass in it. So I always go through the substrate no matter what it is.

I can't comment on orchid bark as I've never used it, or seen it for that matter.

I get the teklad lab grade Aspen and the exo Terra Coco husk bricks. For the Aspen I pull it out of the bag and uh I don't know the word I'm thinking of, I guess I sort through it then place it in the bin. For the Coco husk I make it up in a big bucket, then I grab and place in the bin while combing through it. I do a brick at a time and that way it has time to dry.

I'm just picky about having things ready and organized though.

http://i.imgur.com/ky43hWd.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KMtZr4g.jpg

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I bought an exo Terra coco husk brick but heard a lot of reviews of how coco husk was very fine, but yours looks really nice. Maybe it was a different brand. It seems I should have let the mulch dry a bit before adding it to the encloser. About how long does the coco husk take to dry?

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Originally Posted by Kaylaaa

I bought an exo Terra coco husk brick but heard a lot of reviews of how coco husk was very fine, but yours looks really nice. Maybe it was a different brand. It seems I should have let the mulch dry a bit before adding it to the encloser. About how long does the coco husk take to dry?

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It's very fine dry, but once expanded it's not. Also, they could be talking about eco earth thinking it's the same as coco husk. As far as how long it takes to dry it varies on how you make it. If you follow the directions and don't over use water, just squeeze to ring excess water out and it's not bad within a few hours. If you use a lot of water like I did, and still ring it out, it takes about a day to get dryish, but you could speed it up by putting it in the sun.

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Originally Posted by Neal

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I can't comment on orchid bark as I've never used it, or seen it for that matter.
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Orchid bark looking good and enhancing the look of the snake ..http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...79363831d7.png



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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Orchid bark looking good and enhancing the look of the snake ..http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...79363831d7.png



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Wait, that looks exactly like the reptibark stuff.

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Originally Posted by Neal

Wait, that looks exactly like the reptibark stuff.

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Looking at ReptiBark images online I'd say Orchid bark looks somewhat darker in colour which is why it's so good for white and albino snakes ... somebody must know if there is some other difference ..


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I used to use the reptibark but then I got an infestation of mites. That was a fun battle... I have been using aspen now.

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Originally Posted by Bjustin1413

I used to use the reptibark but then I got an infestation of mites. That was a fun battle... I have been using aspen now.

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I presume the mites could have come ON the bags or picked up from the reptile store ??
Surely mites don't live IN reptile bark ??

I guess they could have been on the bag and not in it. All I know is I had them in all 3 of my enclosures. I had been using it for about 4 months before I got the infested bag.

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Originally Posted by Bjustin1413

I guess they could have been on the bag and not in it. All I know is I had them in all 3 of my enclosures. I had been using it for about 4 months before I got the infested bag.

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It's just that I've read stories about people introducing mites after visiting reptile stores ..... I've been using the bark now for years and never had any mites . I just sieve off any dust and use it as it comes although I know some people blast it in the microwave for 2 minutes


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