Lowering Humidity

Hello!

Since getting our bp in December, I have had to keep a constant watch on humidity, spritzing often, or using other means to keep the humidity level up where it needs to be in our 20L tank. (She has shed 3 times, all of which were perfect) Since completely cleaning our her tank and replacing the substrate last night the humidity has gone through the roof! Late last night or early this morning it was in the high 80's. Because of the previous problems with keeping humidity up, we had the top of the tank covered so of course I removed that immediately. That only brought it down a percent or two. I removed the large water dish and replaced it with a small one. Again, only one or two percent difference. What can I do to bring it down to the correct level? Right now it's at 82%!!

We were using Zoo-Med bark but switched to Exo-Terra bark because that was all that was available. Could the different brands be making that much of a difference? I've heard that those living in Florida have no problem with keeping humidity up but until this point, I did. Nothing in the house has changed and we do have the a/c running so the house doesn't feel humid at all. What other concerns should I have, can it cause an RI or anything else? Any suggestions on what I can or should do? Should I take her out and put her in her feeder tub for the time being until I can get the humidity stabalized? If I need to get rid of the substrate, I'll do that but I won't be able to replace it until tomorrow at the earliest. We do have some aspen and zoo-med repti-bark left but it's not enough to cover the bottom of the tank. Would it be ok to mix the two together? I don't know if this is wise or not, so that is why I'm asking first. I could switch over to newspaper but I'm worried about the heating pad getting too hot.

We also replaced the bulb last night that is used to keep the cool side temps up. We went from a 50w red to a 50w black bulb. The light is on right now and it doesn't seem to have an impact on the humidity at all. Well, at least it's not bringing it down like I thought it would.

The only other change was that we added a background to the back and cool side. Of course, it's on the outside of the tank. But, I can't imagine that being the cause of the problem.

I'm really worried that we are opening ourselves up to other problems with this humidity being so high. Please, if you have suggestions, I'm listening! More important though, I don't want Foster to suffer for our stupidity or lack of knowledge.

Thanks!

I am assuming this tank has a screen top? Also what kind of heating do you use during the daytime?

In my experience, a glass tank with a screen top and heat lamps usually has LOW humidity... have you double checked that whatever hygrometer you're using isn't malfunctioning (i.e. put an extra one in there to double check that it's correct)? If it is indeed the hygrometer that is wrong, it could save you a lot of trouble by just replacing it.

Also, have you compared the humidity inside the tank with that in your house? If your house humidity spiked without you noticing (due to weather changes), this could have an impact.

Good idea about checking the hygrometer to make sure it's working well!
You can mix substrates no problem. If the change in substrates is the only variable that has been changed, then I guess I would attribute the humidity change to that. I's mix the substrate with some aspen.
How's the weather down there? Has that been changing?
Take care

Thanks for the reply!

I don't have a way to check that my accurite is measuring the humidity correctly but I did verify the temps with a heat gun. So, I'm assuming that the accurite is working properly.

The top of the tank is mesh. (Sorry, forgot to mention that)

For heat, I have a UTH on the left (warm) side and a bulb on the right (cool) side. Both are on 24/7 and controlled with dimmer switches. The background is on the back and cool side which is also where the accurite sits.

Absolutely nothing else has changed in the house or with the tank (that I'm aware of). Our house temp is 77 and comfortable.

Is there another way to check the humidity levels to be sure the accurite isn't flaking out?

Ya know, it just sounds to me like it's the substrate since that's the only thing that has changed.
See what happens when you mix it with aspen....

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Originally Posted by starmom

Good idea about checking the hygrometer to make sure it's working well!
You can mix substrates no problem. If the change in substrates is the only variable that has been changed, then I guess I would attribute the humidity change to that. I's mix the substrate with some aspen.
How's the weather down there? Has that been changing?
Take care

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The weather is absolutely beautiful right now! It's not too hot, not too humid and a nice breeze to top it off. I couldn't tell you what it's been like the past few days because I sleep during the day and awake at night (Thanks to my son's night terrors, I'm on night watch).

Could it be that this substrate is just holding more moisture than the other? I would think that it would dry out after a day or so. Am I correct in thinking that? My concern though is what do I do in the meantime? Is there any health concerns with the humidity being so high? Is this what I should expect for living in Florida? This is our first snake and since we got her in December, we have not had to deal with the Florida humidity.

What do you recommend that I do? Should I mix the other substrate or cross my fingers and hope that the levels come down? I gotta do whats right for Foster

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Originally Posted by starmom

Good idea about checking the hygrometer to make sure it's working well!
You can mix substrates no problem. If the change in substrates is the only variable that has been changed, then I guess I would attribute the humidity change to that. I's mix the substrate with some aspen.
How's the weather down there? Has that been changing?
Take care

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Aspen going down....I'll post again in a bit on what effect it has.

THANKS AGAIN!

I live in buenos aires, argentina, humidity here is always around 80% /82% and sometimes higher, many people here succesfully keep ball pythons despite the incredibly high humidity... the breeder I bought my boy from has over 50 ball pythons and some of them are over 20 years old... I am not telling you to keep the humidity at 82%, but while you fix this problem, I don't think Foster will get ill or anything... :)

Are you sure that your Accurite didn't get water spilled on it or get peed on or something? If you have the UTH hooked to a dimmer, you shouldn't have to worry about the UTH getting too hot. Just turn it down! I would recommend dumping the substrate and switching to plain white paper towels and see what effect that has. If you switch out to paper towels and the humidity still reads that high, I'd say either it suddenly got ultra-humid in your home or that the accurite is malfunctioning... I don't think that your bp will suffer for it, unless the high humidity gets mixed with low temps, then you could be at risk for RI.

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Originally Posted by alyssa_lennon

I live in buenos aires, argentina, humidity here is always around 80% /82% and sometimes higher, many people here succesfully keep ball pythons despite the incredibly high humidity... the breeder I bought my boy from has over 50 ball pythons and some of them are over 20 years old... I am not telling you to keep the humidity at 82%, but while you fix this problem, I don't think Foster will get ill or anything... :)

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That is comforting to know!

I didn't have as much aspen as I thought so instead of mixing it, I just spread it out on top of the bark. When I removed the hides and water dish, you could see where it was sitting and you could see where she was laying because of what looked like sweat marks.

Right now, the humidity is down to 79%! Hopefully it will keep dropping.

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Originally Posted by Inknsteel

Are you sure that your Accurite didn't get water spilled on it or get peed on or something? If you have the UTH hooked to a dimmer, you shouldn't have to worry about the UTH getting too hot. Just turn it down! I would recommend dumping the substrate and switching to plain white paper towels and see what effect that has. If you switch out to paper towels and the humidity still reads that high, I'd say either it suddenly got ultra-humid in your home or that the accurite is malfunctioning... I don't think that your bp will suffer for it, unless the high humidity gets mixed with low temps, then you could be at risk for RI.

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I'm positive that the accurite didn't get wet in any way because it's about an inch or so above the substrate.

You would think that I shouldn't have to worry about the UTH getting too hot being on the dimmer but I'm constantly checking temps and from time to time I have to make adjustments. I just don't want to take any chances because the dimmers are not as reliable as I would like them to be. I wish I could afford a more reliable method but for the time being, this is all that I have.

I'll give the aspen some time and if that doesn't work then we will consider the newspaper. Right now my temps are 82.6 and 90.7.

Naw- if the Acurite got wet it wouldn't display; I have a shelf full of 'got wet' Acurites lol!!!!!
I'm sure this is just a different substrate.....
Anyone know of a better hygrometer for tubs and cages????

I have had my bp creep over my hygrometer and let a pee go - that could be it. Really, you should run out and grap another accurite or digital hygometer and check - even if you are pretty sure it is working...

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Originally Posted by starmom

Naw- if the Acurite got wet it wouldn't display; I have a shelf full of 'got wet' Acurites lol!!!!!
I'm sure this is just a different substrate.....
Anyone know of a better hygrometer for tubs and cages????

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For the fact that there were sweat spots where the water dish and where Foster was laying leads me to believe that it is indeed high humidity.

Now that I think about these sweat spots, do you think there would be any concern for scale rot? I can't get a new bag of substrate until tomorrow. How soon can scale rot happen? The humidity looks to be leveling out at 80% right now. Could it be that the substrate had gotten wet before I bought it? I didn't pay that much attention to it before bringing it home but I can guarantee you that the next time I buy a bag of substrate I'll inspect it closer.

I also have digital hygrometers in my room to see the difference between the room humidity and the tank, my bps humidity will rocket to 75% if he pees and I don't notice it right away, or crawls through his water bowl and soaks his substrate. I bake my substrate to dry it out and kill anything in it when I bring it home - you may want to try that.

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Originally Posted by missi182

I have had my bp creep over my hygrometer and let a pee go - that could be it. Really, you should run out and grap another accurite or digital hygometer and check - even if you are pretty sure it is working...

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I don't think that is the problem because like I said before, I have it up about an inch or so above the substrate. I guess it could be possible but I doubt it. Also, it seems to be reading the temps right so if it got wet, I would think that the temps would be wrong as well. But, I'll try to pick another one up tomorrow to check to see if it's correct and I guess it also wouldn't hurt to have another one hand incase it does go bad.

If it wasn't for the help that I receive on this board, I don't know what would have happened to Foster in the time that we've had her. I owe it all to the members here on this board! THANK YOU!

Regarding humidity and scale rot- I would play it safe and put the snake on paper until you get the substrate figured out since risking rot and/or an RI isn't worth it when the fix is so easy!

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Originally Posted by starmom

Regarding humidity and scale rot- I would play it safe and put the snake on paper until you get the substrate figured out since risking rot and/or an RI isn't worth it when the fix is so easy!

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Agreed! Newspaper works too.

*Happy 2000 post Mckinsey!*

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Originally Posted by starmom

Regarding humidity and scale rot- I would play it safe and put the snake on paper until you get the substrate figured out since risking rot and/or an RI isn't worth it when the fix is so easy!

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I'm concerned about my UTH getting too hot when on paper. At least with the substrate there is a buffer but if she is on paper the heat is more direct. I'll be awake tonight to keep an eye on it but tomorrow during the day I won't be able to. So, I have to weigh my options....move to paper to reduce the risk of RI and/or scale rot or take the chance of the UTH getting too hot. If I get new substrate tomorrow, do you think that there is a chance that she could get scale rot that quick? I do have the dry aspen on top of the bark which should help with that. I'm not doubting your opinion or recommendation, I'm just trying to understand how quick scale rot can happen. Replacing the substrate tomorrow will be no problem. My son has a band concert tomorrow so while we are out I can pick it up and then change everything out once I get home. Can scale rot and/or and RI happen between now and then? If so, I'll take care of the substrate now and hope to God that the UTH doesn't get too hot tomorrow during the day.

I'd be more concerned about an RI cropping up that quickly. Also, you ought to always measure your temps under the substrate since you never know when your snake is going to burrow under!
How bout taking more of the wet substrate out and just doing with less substrate but not all the way to paper? Or, no this is better, doing paper with the aspen on top of it :D

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Originally Posted by missi182

Agreed! Newspaper works too.

*Happy 2000 post Mckinsey!*

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Wow :O
I didn't even notice that!!!
Very cool- thanks :D

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Originally Posted by starmom

I'd be more concerned about an RI cropping up that quickly. Also, you ought to always measure your temps under the substrate since you never know when your snake is going to burrow under!
How bout taking more of the wet substrate out and just doing with less substrate but not all the way to paper? Or, no this is better, doing paper with the aspen on top of it :D

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I like the paper/aspen idea BUT, I don't have any more aspen. I used all I had and put it on top of the bark. I don't think I could get enough out to cover the newspaper.

What about if I put some of that new bark in the oven and dried it out a bit? Would that help? If so, what temp would I put it on and for how long? And, how long would it need to cool off?

It's funny to think that I'm going through this much trouble for a snake that I never wanted and was too afraid to have. Now that I have learned something about snakes, I will go to the same lengths as I would my dog or horse! Well, as a pet owner, that goes without saying but I'm just surprised how much I really care for this snake, and she is not even mine!

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Originally Posted by TanyaL

I don't have a way to check that my accurite is measuring the humidity correctly but I did verify the temps with a heat gun. So, I'm assuming that the accurite is working properly.

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I went through this issue with a fella in our local herp club. What he found is that the Accurite's hydrometer sensor is on the BACK of the unit, at the bottom. When you are using something that allows for a flat bottom (newspaper, etc) it registers just fine.

If you use a particulate substrate, it's possible that the sensor hole can get blocked and cause a false reading. I'd check to make sure that nothing is blocking the hole and that you're getting a normal reading from it. Maybe place the unit on top of your hide box on the side it is now and see what it measures.

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Originally Posted by TanyaL

I like the paper/aspen idea BUT, I don't have any more aspen. I used all I had and put it on top of the bark. I don't think I could get enough out to cover the newspaper.

What about if I put some of that new bark in the oven and dried it out a bit? Would that help? If so, what temp would I put it on and for how long? And, how long would it need to cool off?

It's funny to think that I'm going through this much trouble for a snake that I never wanted and was too afraid to have. Now that I have learned something about snakes, I will go to the same lengths as I would my dog or horse! Well, as a pet owner, that goes without saying but I'm just surprised how much I really care for this snake, and she is not even mine!

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I set my oven pretty low, around 150 F, and keep a close eye on it, about 10-15 minutes at that temp should dry it out. Lay it out on a flat cookie sheet.

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Originally Posted by dalvers63

I went through this issue with a fella in our local herp club. What he found is that the Accurite's hydrometer sensor is on the BACK of the unit, at the bottom. When you are using something that allows for a flat bottom (newspaper, etc) it registers just fine.

If you use a particulate substrate, it's possible that the sensor hole can get blocked and cause a false reading. I'd check to make sure that nothing is blocking the hole and that you're getting a normal reading from it. Maybe place the unit on top of your hide box on the side it is now and see what it measures.

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What can you expect from a $15 unit right?

Because of the sweat spots where the water dish and the snake was laying, I don't doubt that the humidity is as high as the accurite reads.

We moved the probe just a few minutes ago and so far it's dropped to 78%. I wonder if maybe since the probe was in the substrate that gave the high reading. It wasn't buried but it wasn't laying on top either.

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Originally Posted by missi182

I set my oven pretty low, around 150 F, and keep a close eye on it, about 10-15 minutes at that temp should dry it out. Lay it out on a flat cookie sheet.

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Thank you! I'll give it a try!

Humidity is nothing to worry about as long as the substrate isn't sopping wet. Excess humidity will not cause a respiratory infection, bacteria will.

For those of you who use wet towels on top of your screen tops, when air filters through that bacteria infested towel(that is already warm from the lamp or whatever you use), your snake is breathing that air in. That air contains lots of bacteria from the towel.. NASTY! Yay RI.

A dirty, wet cage will cause scale rot, whereas a wet, clean cage will not. If a snake spills a waterbowl and sits in it all night until you clean it, they will be fine. Ive let snakes soak overnight if they had a bad shed. They're fine.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Humidity is nothing to worry about as long as the substrate isn't sopping wet. Excess humidity will not cause a respiratory infection, bacteria will.

For those of you who use wet towels on top of your screen tops, when air filters through that bacteria infested towel(that is already warm from the lamp or whatever you use), your snake is breathing that air in. That air contains lots of bacteria from the towel.. NASTY! Yay RI.

A dirty, wet cage will cause scale rot, whereas a wet, clean cage will not. If a snake spills a waterbowl and sits in it all night until you clean it, they will be fine. Ive let snakes soak overnight if they had a bad shed. They're fine.

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So are you saying that I shouldn't worry about it tonight? Should I still replace the substrate tomorrow or just let it dry out? It's not sopping wet by any menas but you can without a doubt feel the moisture.


Everybody has a different way of doing things that I'm confused as to what to do. What you are saying makes sense but I also agree with the others about not taking unnecessary chances. But, since I'm not educated enough in the care of snakes, I'm not sure of how much of a chance I'm taking.

Humidity is at 79%....up 1% since the last post. But, at least it's not in the high 80's like it was when I first noticed the problem.

I wouldn't worry about it. As long as it's not "wet" wet, and only moist/humid/whatever, I honestly wouldn't change it. It will dry out over time. Africa has wet seasons too and Balls just stay in their burrows where it gets nice and soppy. ;)

Your digital hygrometer is measuring that high because it's only an inch away from the substrate. I would place it about halfway up the tank wall so you can get what the humidity really is(you're aiming for ambient humidity and ambient temps for the cool side).

I've had some of my tubs get so much condensation on the inside that they fogged up completely. The newspaper remained dry though, so I didn't worry about it.

If you don't want to have to keep spending an inordinate amount of money on substrate from the pet store, go to Home Depot and get a bag of their cypress mulch. It's $2 here for a 2cu. ft. bag and it's good quality. I think the brand is called No Float. They also have Orchid Bark, which is the same thing as Reptibark only not dyed and not dusty. Aspen is always an option too and can be found in the small pet section(4cu ft bag for around $10). I use newspaper because when I clean a tub, it's truly clean, and there isn't any remaining bits of urate/feces or liquid urine hiding in the bottom under the substrate.

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

I wouldn't worry about it. As long as it's not "wet" wet, and only moist/humid/whatever, I honestly wouldn't change it. It will dry out over time. Africa has wet seasons too and Balls just stay in their burrows where it gets nice and soppy. ;)

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Thank you! You have given me some comfort. I'll still continue to keep an eye on it to see how it goes. While I'm out tomorrow, I'll get a new accurite as a back up and a new bag of substrate.

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Originally Posted by TanyaL

What can you expect from a $15 unit right?

Because of the sweat spots where the water dish and the snake was laying, I don't doubt that the humidity is as high as the accurite reads.

We moved the probe just a few minutes ago and so far it's dropped to 78%. I wonder if maybe since the probe was in the substrate that gave the high reading. It wasn't buried but it wasn't laying on top either.

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The probe itself only measures temperature, not humidity. The device itself measures humidity. If you just worded the sentence wrong, thats o.k - I thought I would just give you a heads up if you didn't know.

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Originally Posted by missi182

The probe itself only measures temperature, not humidity. The device itself measures humidity. If you just worded the sentence wrong, thats o.k - I thought I would just give you a heads up if you didn't know.

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Nope...not worded wrong...just thinking wrong! LOL

Since the accurite measures two temps, I was thinking of it as in indoor/outdoor thermometer, with the probe measuring temp and humidity, outside. I was just having one of those DUH moments. LOL

Thanks again everybody for the help. The humidity is slowly dropping. The last time I checked it was down to 76%.

I have had similar problems with substrate. If you know it's going to be humid beforehand you can dry it out before you use it. I have avoided this problem by having an extra 20 long set-up all the time. When its time to clean one, I just move the snake into the "already perfect" enclosure, then clean the old set-up and I'm all ready for the next cleaning day.