Humidity

new to this. what should my humidity level be, and what is the best way to keep it consistent, or to raise it?? please help.

You should try and maintain humidity between 50 and 60%. During shedding raise it to 60-70%. If you are having trouble with humidity make sure to provid a humid hide, at least when shedding. Not knowing your cage it is hard to give specific advice. I use apen bedding and mist it whenever humidity drops and keep humidity between 50-60%. If you have an aquarium cover part of the top with foil or plastic wrap. If you are using a lamp this makes it harder. My aquarium has a lamp, and my top is wrapped with reflectix as is three sides. After doing this I had to cut "doors" in the top to open after misting to allow humidity to not build up to much.

You need to share what the snake's environment is: type of enclosure, heating, current temps and humidity, etc.
With information, we'll be able to give you helpful suggestions! :)

right now he is in a 20 gallon terrariam with a mesh top. i have the heat lamp on one side, not sure what wattage, ill have to check, and a black light on the other that i turn on at night. the substrate is wood chips that i bought for him when i bought my whole setup. the temp stays around 80 - 85, and the basking area is around 90 or so. my humidity was staying at around 50, but now its dropped to around 10 or 20 and i cant keep it up? please help me here. any info is appreciated.

Read this: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=56846.

I would be inclined to close up the top of the tank, change the substrate to aspen, and purchase an under tank heater so that your lights don't zap the humidity anymore. Remember that you'll need a thermostat to regulate the UTH.

ok, i placed a piece of foil over one side and got it back up. do i need to mist the tank to keep the moisture in there, or what? im using douglas fir bark, it is what came with the setup i bought. is that not very good? they also steered me away from the under the tank heaters?? dont know why though. with the under tank heater, will i still need the top lamps? do the heaters come with a thermostat or how do i do that part. im sorry to be asking so many questions, im just new have spent alot of money already on this for me to do something wrong and have something happen to him.

UTH's do not come with a thermostat.

I don't know the room temps that the snake tank is in and so I don't know if you would need supplemental heating; probably not if you got the right sized UTH.

I would switch out the bark and go with a thin layer of aspen.

And lastly, since we're talking about changing your entire set-up (always a drag but most pet stores are notorious for handing out poor advice while taking consumer dollars) check out these reptile cages: http://www.reptilebasics.com/2x3-Cag...h-p-16286.html.

ill probably go down to petsmart and grab a heater then. how would i hook up a thermostat to it? is the douglas fir bad, or just the aspen is better? and as far as room temp, i keep my house around 73 to 74.

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Originally Posted by starmom

UTH's do not come with a thermostat.

I don't know the room temps that the snake tank is in and so I don't know if you would need supplemental heating; probably not if you got the right sized UTH.

I would switch out the bark and go with a thin layer of aspen.

And lastly, since we're talking about changing your entire set-up (always a drag but most pet stores are notorious for handing out poor advice while taking consumer dollars) check out these reptile cages: http://www.reptilebasics.com/2x3-Cag...h-p-16286.html.

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If the UTH does not supply enough heat after you redo your set-up I can explain how to make a top that will hold in ambient temperatures, and humidity if you still need a light. You will probably be ok with the correct size UTH and aspen bedding, make sure to mount the thermometer probe and t-stat probe where the UTH is mounted so the glass will not get too hot.

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Originally Posted by cierahailee

ill probably go down to petsmart and grab a heater then. how would i hook up a thermostat to it? is the douglas fir bad, or just the aspen is better? and as far as room temp, i keep my house around 73 to 74.

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An unregulated UTH can burn your snake. I would caution you to not hook it up until you have purchased the thermostat! The site of the link I offered for the cage also sells many types of thermostats. RBI is a respected business and offers outstanding products and customer care. I encourage you to check them out!

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Originally Posted by cierahailee

ill probably go down to petsmart and grab a heater then. how would i hook up a thermostat to it? is the douglas fir bad, or just the aspen is better? and as far as room temp, i keep my house around 73 to 74.

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Make sure you get a thermostat with the heater. None of the pet stores in my area carry thermostats some do have rheostats. You really need be able to control the heat source. Get an acurite indoor outdoor thermometer from wall-mart. With this you can place the probe over the uth to get a temp reading. The indoor temp will measure your ambient temperature and your humidity. I do not know if Douglas fir is bad or not, I just know I have used aspen in all my cages with success. Safe for the snake, holds humidity, and snakes that like to borrow will tunnel through it and make tunnels.

i did check out the site. i just dont have that kind of money right now. i think the cheapest one they had on there was 59.00. is there a specifie one you would recommend me getting? i appreciate the help you all have given, i can definately see im going to need some assistance in the very near future. do you know if petco or petsmart sells thermostats? i guess i can check myself right quick.

oh yeah, wanted to ask again, do i need to mist the inside of the tank if the humidity gets too low, or what do i do?

I have seen a rheostat at one. If money is an issue there are some cheaper alternatives. Search the posts for thermostats and you can get some opinions.

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Originally Posted by cierahailee

oh yeah, wanted to ask again, do i need to mist the inside of the tank if the humidity gets too low, or what do i do?

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You said you covered the top and that is a good start. I mist the aspen bedding I use throughout the cage to get the humidity I need. When it falls I mist some more. Aspen holds moisture pretty well. Your light will contribute to humidity loss.

ill read on here and see what i can come up with. ill also check the local pet stores to see what they might have. i know i will go get some aspen here in a bit and at least do that part. thanks again for all of you guys help!!

I use a piece of plexi-glass to cover half of my tank. This helps keep the humidity up but not too high. Also a humid hide especially during shed and a good soak in the middle of shed (after your snakes eyes clear but right before they actually shed) allows for a good shed. I have a large cave for my snake and I use sphagum moss soaked in warm water. Not too wet but just enough to increase the humidity. I also raise the temp just a couple of degrees. Check out some of the care sheets they are excellent.

do i need to personally soak him? and how often do they usually shed? i have only had him for a week now tomorrow. so pretty new.

If your snake has a bad shed, then you may need to soak him. If the snake was born this year, he will be growing and shedding more than an older snake. The shedding is related to the snakes growth. A snakes eyes will cloud over before they are getting ready to shed.

If you maintain proper humidity and temperatures, he should shed ok. With my BP I add a humid hide to his home when he is getting ready to shed. Basically it is a hide filled with damp sphagnum moss.

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Originally Posted by cierahailee

do i need to personally soak him? and how often do they usually shed? i have only had him for a week now tomorrow. so pretty new.

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Read this: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=74289 and then read this: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=43403.

These two stickies ought to help answer a lot of questions!

i thank yall again for all the help. ill read these stickies and go from there.

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Originally Posted by ohyeahnow

I have seen a rheostat at one. If money is an issue there are some cheaper alternatives. Search the posts for thermostats and you can get some opinions.

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I didn't read the last page, so sorry if someone already said this. To add to ohyeanow's post, I used a lamp dimmer chord (like an extension chord. Dimmer switch on one end, plug and socket on the other) that I got from the HD for a short time. It was somewhere along the lines of 14 bucks - so it may help you not scorch your snake while you save up a bit.

I really wouldn't advise you to get a rheo if your room temp varies a lot. I had a hell of a time, constantly messing with the thing.

The plexiglass top, as someone already suggested, is great. I used it on both my tanks. It helped TREMENDOUSLY with the humidity levels! If you cut it well, it looks pretty darn awesome, too. :gj:

You also might want to add a large water bowl to help with your humidity. I have a lamp and a UTH and with my large water bowl the humidity doesn't drop below 50 in a 30 gallon tank. I do mist when its at 50 to get it up around 60-70 during the day when im at work so it doesn't drop below 50. For me adding the large water bowl help out alot with maintaining the high humidity. Hope this helped!

I don't know why you would even use an aquarium with these guys if you could just buy a tub lol. I mean the aquariums are fine and look sweet, but when I found I could go to walmart and spend 5-12 on a tub, I was really happy and did just that. Also Rheostats are a pain! I really wouldn't waste your money on anything like a dimmer or a rheostat, same thing essentially. I actually just got a new snake and I'm using a UTH and a thermo for the snake i have had, and thought that I would be able to run my new one on the thermo as well. WRONG, two different heat devices heat up differently so my one was always hotter (98). So I tried using a rheostat I had laying around, and man what piece of trash. I don't know how you could possibly reliably keep temps stable with that thing. If you use it your going to be constantly adjusting it. I would wait for a thermostat. The one I got was only 30-40 bucks, nothing special but it works. Also look into tubs, they hold humidity perfectly!!! Never had a prob yet. Also I had an aquarium like you, but switched to these, worth looking into! Good luck!!

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Originally Posted by dsmalex97

I don't know why you would even use an aquarium with these guys if you could just buy a tub lol. I mean the aquariums are fine and look sweet, but when I found I could go to walmart and spend 5-12 on a tub, I was really happy and did just that. ... Also look into tubs, they hold humidity perfectly!!! Never had a prob yet. Also I had an aquarium like you, but switched to these, worth looking into! Good luck!!

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Yeah, tubs are great but you are running into problems with your tub set up also. The way I see it is this: There is no one solution for every situation and it really depends on a lot of external environmental factors.

My solution, since I live in the high desert where it is always cold and very dry, was to cut my losses and frustration at the get-go and just go right to enclosed racks and reptile cages. When it became apparent that flex watt was not going to be able to raise my ambient temps enough (in the cages) I switched all the cages over to RHP's- problem solved.

In the winter time I need to enclose all racks and cages with rigid pink insulation since we keep our house cool in the day and even cooler at night. The insulation works and solves the winter time problem.

For our terminally low humidity, I keep a bowl of damp long fiber Chilean moss in all of the cages and throw a very small amount of it into each of the tubs in the four racks every week or so- problem solved.

So, it really depends on each keepers unique external environment that will determine the best housing conditions for their snake(s) :)

deffintely agree, but I can tell you I'm not having humidity problems lol. External factors deffinately have a HUGE effect on enclosure conditions though, and that half the battle.