Do you have to hydrate or wet substrate for ball python?

[Bweiser18]

Hello all. So I use coco husk but was told by my breeder to not wet my substrate. Unfortunately I have a 40 gallon tank and it is tuff to keep my humidity up. I use damp towels. I keep my humidity in the 60-70% range. Currently my guy is shedding so I bumped up to 65-80%. So I asked a question on the ball python forum on Facebook. I just asked if it was normal to have different ranges of humidity throughout the enclosure. Like my warm side is 68, the middle is 65 and the cooler side is 78% right now. Then these people started to like attack me saying I need to hydrate my substrate!?! If my humidity is in the range it’s supposed to be in without wetting my substrate then I don’t have to correct?

[Toad37]

As long as your humidity is in the right spot it's fine. How are you measuring your humidity? You can mist the substrate to help hold humidity just don't soak it.

[Bweiser18]

I use AcuRite therm/hygrometer. I have 3. One on the ground next to the warm hide. One in the middle of the enclosure. One on the ground by cool hide.

[Toad37]

If those are the digital ones and not the analog ones then you're probably getting a pretty accurate reading.

Like I said a little misting is fine just don't soak it.

[nikkubus]

If the humidity is good, you don't have to water it. If it's low, you can add water, just don't go overboard. You never want it to be damp (I would consider damp like if you wet a paper towel and wring it out), but somewhere between that and bone dry. You will never have the exact same humidity across the whole enclosure and that's fine. Color of the substrate is something after some practice you will be able to tell when it needs more. The hot spot will generally be a lighter shade (less damp) because more has evaporated on that side.

[Hugsplox]

Then these people started to like attack me saying I need to hydrate my substrate!?!

I saw this over the weekend and started to reply but figured my comments weren't value added so I just left it alone. This type of "advice" is why I left some FB groups and bigger forums where the common practice is to keep BPs at 70%+ at all times, and you're going to get spoken to if you suggest anything different. Don't take it too seriously, places like that will tell you how wrong you're doing everything and never offer any real advice on fixing it.

I'll echo what everyone else has said as far as your humidity goes. I think your parameters sound fine and I'm usually sitting somewhere between 55%-65% depending on the last time I misted. I also bump it up a little during sheds but I don't have to soak the substrate to do so. A light misting once or twice a day and/or adding a humid hide took care of all my humidity issues when I was keeping in a glass 40 gallon.

[Bweiser18]

I saw this over the weekend and started to reply but figured my comments weren't value added so I just left it alone. This type of "advice" is why I left some FB groups and bigger forums where the common practice is to keep BPs at 70%+ at all times, and you're going to get spoken to if you suggest anything different. Don't take it too seriously, places like that will tell you how wrong you're doing everything and never offer any real advice on fixing it.

I'll echo what everyone else has said as far as your humidity goes. I think your parameters sound fine and I'm usually sitting somewhere between 55%-65% depending on the last time I misted. I also bump it up a little during sheds but I don't have to soak the substrate to do so. A light misting once or twice a day and/or adding a humid hide took care of all my humidity issues when I was keeping in a glass 40 gallon.

Ya it’s insane! Like literally. I can see if you’re neglecting your animals. No need to attack me over something I may be doing different then you. It’s what works for me. I’m keeping a consistent 60-70% humidity and I even bumped it up to 80% since he’s in shed. Someone even was attacking me on having a log/stick in my tank…. They were like you shouldn’t have that in there. Ball pythons don’t climb. Like first off it’s not for climbing.. it’s not even tall. It’s just something to add for clutter as well as to help get the shed off. I heard to add things like that so they can rub themselves up against it to help take skin off. I can definitely tell the difference between this forum and facebooks. They keep saying to keep 70-80% humidity while this forum is 50-60% that I’ve noticed.


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[Hugsplox]

Ya it’s insane! Like literally. I can see if you’re neglecting your animals. No need to attack me over something I may be doing different then you. It’s what works for me. I’m keeping a consistent 60-70% humidity and I even bumped it up to 80% since he’s in shed. Someone even was attacking me on having a log/stick in my tank…. They were like you shouldn’t have that in there. Ball pythons don’t climb. Like first off it’s not for climbing.. it’s not even tall. It’s just something to add for clutter as well as to help get the shed off. I heard to add things like that so they can rub themselves up against it to help take skin off. I can definitely tell the difference between this forum and facebooks. They keep saying to keep 70-80% humidity while this forum is 50-60% that I’ve noticed.


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Yea it's a little silly. Overtime I think some of those groups become echo chambers, basically they drive away anyone with a different opinion. I like to encourage people to get their information from multiple sources, so of course read what we say here, but check out other forums, care guides, etc etc. I think what happens with groups like you found are those guys show up there, get some advice, and never look anywhere else. So to them, there's one way to keep a BP and if you do it some other way you're neglecting your animals.

Silly but I get how it happens.

[Zincubus]

Hello all. So I use coco husk but was told by my breeder to not wet my substrate. Unfortunately I have a 40 gallon tank and it is tuff to keep my humidity up. I use damp towels. I keep my humidity in the 60-70% range. Currently my guy is shedding so I bumped up to 65-80%. So I asked a question on the ball python forum on Facebook. I just asked if it was normal to have different ranges of humidity throughout the enclosure. Like my warm side is 68, the middle is 65 and the cooler side is 78% right now. Then these people started to like attack me saying I need to hydrate my substrate!?! If my humidity is in the range it’s supposed to be in without wetting my substrate then I don’t have to correct?

As soon as I notice one of my Royals has been hiding for a day or so I know they’re probably in shed mode .

All mine have branches in their vivs and spend time climbing in the evenings plus 6 of them are Albino and are a swine to see any colour changes so the hiding away is a dead giveaway .

Anyways as soon as they start the shed process I start spraying their viv daily and then as soon as they reappear I increase the spraying to two or three times daily .

Always results in a perfect shed a few days later


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