Humidity help?!

[toriwixom]

My ball python is getting ready to shed but I can't seem to keep the humidity up. I have a spray bottle that I use every couple hours because the humidity keeps dropping below 50% and will sometime get below 40%!! I have a 10 gallon tank to start her off (she's still pretty young) with a metal mesh lid. I have a heat lamp sitting on top and a towel covering most of the lid (not too close to the heat lamp). There is a bowl of water in there as well.
I need some safe, easy, and cheap ways to keep the humidity up please! Any comments, tips, tricks, and criticisms welcome.

[Amanda1987]

I've had the same problem now that it's cold. I covered most of the tank with cardboard wrapped in foil then a towel. I even put wet paper towel in each hide. It helped but would sill drop with lin a few hrs. We didn't get a perfect shed. So I'll be making changes.

Sent from my SM-G920R7 using Tapatalk

[cletus]

You can make a moist hide with some moss. You could also try a larger container of water.

[Newbie39]

I use a tub and keep the room at 80. It helps a lot.

[Jhill001]

My ball python is getting ready to shed but I can't seem to keep the humidity up. I have a spray bottle that I use every couple hours because the humidity keeps dropping below 50% and will sometime get below 40%!! I have a 10 gallon tank to start her off (she's still pretty young) with a metal mesh lid. I have a heat lamp sitting on top and a towel covering most of the lid (not too close to the heat lamp). There is a bowl of water in there as well.
I need some safe, easy, and cheap ways to keep the humidity up please! Any comments, tips, tricks, and criticisms welcome.

Humid hide. Grab an old tupperware container and cut a hole in the lid or purchase a Zoomed Reptile Shelter 3 in 1 (type that in amazon.com) if you care about looks, put sphagnum moss in there and mist that. The enclosed space will hold humidity much better and allow your snake access to a humid micro-climate. If the snake feels it needs the extra humidity it'll go there. I don't really worry about humidity now, but in the past the sphagnum moss only really ever needed replaced if the snake pooed on it which isn't common.

Restricting airflow is another option. This can be done with a piece of cut glass or plastic on the screen of your enclosure or even saran wrap (on the portion away from your lamp of course).

Personally I don't like to restrict airflow, I've found that hydration is much more important than humidity. Do your water bowl changes right before you go to bed at night, I promise you that your snake will drink. Snakes smell the fresh water and they will go for a drink whether you see them or not. In fact, I've kind of timed up the instances I see my colubrids out and about with whether I've changed the water that day. They'll drink old water if they HAVE to. But they'll drink fresh water if it's available, kind of the same thing with people to be honest. Water in the snake is more important than water outside of the snake.

[cletus]

I use a tub and keep the room at 80. It helps a lot.

Yep. Makes it easy to maintain humidity. If I notice someone ready to shed I'll bump it a tad but I don't have too many problems..

[bcr229]

Your snake will outgrow that 10-gal quickly. I would suggest either a tub, UTH on a thermostat, etc. or a proper PVC or melamine enclosure designed for reptiles for its next home.

[BluuWolf]

I've had the same problem with my tanks as well. Idk what type of substrate you're using but if you aren't using something like coco husk or reptibark or something of that nature that home humidity well that will help.

Sphagnum moss is also awesome for keeping up humidity, and pretty cheap too. I take a bit and mix it in with the substrate when I clean the tank and also line the back and sides of the tank with it like a hedge or something XD When you spray naturally the moss in the substrate will help them I just spray the moss along the walls directly and wet them real good.

Another trick I learned on here is get a cheap dish rag or wash cloth, set them down (Not like soaked just wet, you don't want it dripping) and place it on top the the hides. When they shed I put one on each hide to bring up the humidity more but normally I just leave one on the hot side hide and that's enough for mine. I usually take out the rag every other day or so when it needs it and rewet it but other then that I just spray it directly like I do with the moss and that's good.

With all this I normally just spray the tank once a day and they do just fine. I hope this helps!

Sent from my LG-D690 using Tapatalk

[SDA]

Once I switched to coco fiber (I use herptopia but eco earth works as well) I had a much easier time with humidity and cleaning. A 10 gallon tank however is going to be a pain to regulate in a dry area

[hollowlaughter]

Considering foiling off about 80% of the screen and tossing in some dampened moss, sponge, or washcloth. Moist hides like the others mentioned work well too.