Best substrate to keep and hold humidity

[jack jones]

I am a new owner. I have a 20 gallon set up, foil on top of screen. A UTH and red lamp (75w). Aspen is the bedding. I am having a hard time holding humidity and have spritzed every few hours. It rises to 65-70% but hours later falls below 50%. Ideas????

[SKO]

You can do a few things. Switch the bulb out for a CHE or put a dimmer switch on the lamp. Instead of foil use damp towels. Cypress mulch holds humidity better than Aspen. You can also get sphagnum moss and put it in the hides and throughout the tank just make sure it stays moist. You can also move your water source under the lamp, just make sure you watch the water level and clean the dish more often.

[KMG]

Cover most of the screen lid.

Switch to cypress mulch.

Add damp moss to both hides.

Mist daily.

*Your tank will probably still register low humidity but the damp moss will being creating a higher humidity level within the hides so even though the tank shows low your snake should be getting what it needs.

[Crowfingers]

I second the cypress and damp towels. I have a 40 gal breeder tank that has cypress mulch, I never need to mist. I have a CHE on one side (regulated with a thermostat) and a nighttime bulb on a dimmer on the other. I put warm damp towels over the middle part of the screen, then cover everything except where the lights are with foil. This keeps my humidity between 50-65 at all times. I usually only have to re-dampen the towels once a day to every other day depending on the weather. I only offer a humid hide when he goes into shed, but so far he has never used it. I also have a large water bowl under the CHE and a small one under the light, so that helps too.

It took a good two weeks to get everything set up and stable, took a lot of tweaking light placement and foil coverage.

[Lady mkrj58]

For the OP I did this very thing and its a night and day difference with my snakes, I even felt bad I had been using aspen. .



Sent from my SGH-T999

[O'Mathghamhna]

Do damp towels really retain moisture better than foil or saran wrap? I can't imagine how....?

[jack jones]

I will switch to cypress when I do my first cleaning. I'll try to pick up some moss this week and add it in. I find I need the bulb to keep the cool side at its 80 degrees. I suppose I could switch to a CHE, but then it would have no light in there at all. So unless it's necessary, I'll keep the light. I'll be misting.

Question on the moss though: How do you dampen it? How damp? How much in the hide? Warm side only, or on the cool side too?

[O'Mathghamhna]

I will switch to cypress when I do my first cleaning. I'll try to pick up some moss this week and add it in. I find I need the bulb to keep the cool side at its 80 degrees. I suppose I could switch to a CHE, but then it would have no light in there at all. So unless it's necessary, I'll keep the light. I'll be misting.

Question on the moss though: How do you dampen it? How damp? How much in the hide? Warm side only, or on the cool side too?

I submerge it in water, then squeeze/wring it out so it's still damp but not sopping wet. Then I put it in the warm hide, around the warm hide, (since that side dries out faster), some in a tiny water dish that stays moist to keep humidity up, and then some more on the other side. As far as how much to buy, it depends on the size of your tank and the ambient humidity. As someone else stated already, if it's in the hide your hygrometer may indicate the tank is drier than it actually is.

[KMG]

Do damp towels really retain moisture better than foil or saran wrap? I can't imagine how....?

Damp towels on the screen can help as they are damp so they add humidity. I don't like them because they will make the screen lid rust with time.

[KMG]

I will switch to cypress when I do my first cleaning. I'll try to pick up some moss this week and add it in. I find I need the bulb to keep the cool side at its 80 degrees. I suppose I could switch to a CHE, but then it would have no light in there at all. So unless it's necessary, I'll keep the light. I'll be misting.

Question on the moss though: How do you dampen it? How damp? How much in the hide? Warm side only, or on the cool side too?

I break off a handful from the main clump to use. It really is up to you. It is easily compressed and moved so its hard to put to little or to much. I would guess I usually use a baseball to softball sized clump.

During a shed I give it a good soak and put it straight in the hides.

During a non shed period I will sometimes soak it and other times just give it a good spray with my mist bottle.

Another good thing about moss is it can make hides that are to big feel smaller and more secure for the snake. If you find yourself with a hide like this add some extra moss and you will increase the snakes feeling of security.