Humidity

[Kade]

Hello! I’m a new ball python keeper, and had a few questions on humidity. Right now my terrarium has about an inch of substrate, two hides, a water dish, and two poles to climb, along with fake plants. I am heating my tank with a UTH, along with automated day/night cycle heat bulbs. My room is fairly cold at all times so I was having issues keeping the heat gradient where it needed to be and therefore placed a towel on top of my tank to try and trap as much heat as possible and while this worked great it absolutely butchered my humidity levels. I was wondering If there were any tips or tricks to keep the humidity up and also tips to maintain it? Thank you!

[dr del]

Hi,

Can you show us the type of enclosure you have? Do you have space to add a humid hide?

[bcr229]

What kind of substrate are you using?

Is your UTH regulated by a thermostat so it doesn't overheat and burn your snake?

[Faith.luu]

You can change the substrate to cypress mulch, coco husk, coco fibre, or a combination. These substrates hold in humidity quite well. There are probably other ones as well but those are the ones I know of just off the top of my head.

Another thing is making a humidity box by adding damp sphagnum moss inside a container. You could also add damp sphagnum moss and place it in different areas of the enclosure.

Regular misting could be good enough for some people, but from the sounds of it, I would add regular misting to whatever other method you decide to use.

You could also place damp towels on the top of your enclosure. However just make sure it isn’t underneath a heat lamp, because that could cause problems. The dome/cover of your lamp should be level to the towel (if that makes sense) to prevent a fire hazard.

[kthoms104]

Hi! Although I'm no expert, I had a lot of issues with humidity when I started out as well, and had to do a lot of reading/question asking on the topic.

First, what kind of lid do you have? Different lids may help or harm the humidity levels in your tank, so you may want to experiment with lids. Mine was a mesh lid, which holds in approximately no humidity whatsoever, so I ended up laying a sheet of plastic with holes cut in it over the lid to preserve some humidity. It's rather unsightly, but it's a good temporary solution.

Some bad advice I once received from a pet store employee was to keep a wet sponge in my terrarium to maintain humidity. I had it in there for a few days before being told that it's practically a breeding ground for bacteria, so... don't do that, lol

A great way of maintaining humidity is to buy a spray bottle and mist the cool side of the tank every once in a while.

[Clare8899]

In the beginning of getting my first BP I also struggled with humidity. As other people have stated in the comments, using a mix of cypress mulch and coconut fiber works great. I also have a humidity box (tupperware with a hole in the top filled with damp spahgnum moss) has worked tremendously. My female has had perfect sheds ever since I started doing this. Highly recommend.