Humidity level

[greg1450]

I have a guy on reddit telling me I have to have the humidity at 90 percent and never let it get below 69 percent. Everywhere else is saying 55 to 65 average. What is the recommended level?

[Bogertophis]

55-65% humidity for routine BP husbandry, & raise it to about 75-75% only when the snake is in an obvious shed cycle. Your instincts (to question 90%) are correct- there IS such a thing as too much humidity- & it can cause breathing difficulty & probably health issues if kept at that level long-term.

[greg1450]

I have a guy on reddit telling me that the humidity level for a ball python should be 90% and no less than 60%. Everywhere else I have researched has said 55-60% and 65-75% for shedding. Does this guy know anything about husbandry or just terrible at caring for snakes?

[bcr229]

Sixty percent is fine for a ball python. Ninety percent or more is needed for something like a neonate Brazilian rainbow boa.

[Bogertophis]

To whom it may confuse -the OP started 2 identical threads for the same question which I just merged above since both already had responses.

[Homebody]

I have a guy on reddit telling me that the humidity level for a ball python should be 90% and no less than 60%. Everywhere else I have researched has said 55-60% and 65-75% for shedding. Does this guy know anything about husbandry or just terrible at caring for snakes?

I think he's wrong, but that may be what his humidity gauge is telling him. Many humidity gauges record the high and low marks over 24 hours. When he mists his enclosure, the humidity briefly spikes to 90% but quickly settles to 60%. His gauge indicates a high of 90 and a low of 60. It works for him, so that's what he shared with you. The gauge won't tell you for how long the humidity is at those levels, so it can be deceiving.

It's a stretch, I know. He's probably just a crackpot whose bp is weeks or months away from a respiratory infection. I just prefer to assume the best of people, at least until they've absolutely proven otherwise.

[greg1450]

I am sorry, I didn't realize it posted twice.

[Snowblind709]

The Ball Python subreddit is CRAZY when it comes to humidity. They like to point to the humidity levels in the snake's natural environment, forgetting to mention that's OUTSIDE not in an enclosure with much lower ventilation. If you mention anything less than 60% humidity, the echo chamber will attack you and treat you like you're somehow abusing the snake.

[Animallover3541]

The clinic I intern at generally recommends 60%-80%. I personally don't feel comfortable going above 70%. However, 60% plus a humid hide is generally going to be the easiest stats for a captive keeper to achieve.


I think the confusion and difference of opinion comes down to the fact that many parts of Africa in which BPs live have rainy seasons and dry seasons. Plus, some of their range is coastal and some is more inland. For example, the average humidity in Lagos, Nigeria is 76%-87%. However, in Dekoa, Central African Republic the humidity can range from 20%-86%. It's just frustrating trying to make sense of the numbers and figure out the sweet spot, and how we should apply those numbers to captivity. Should we keep things more humid than we do? How does ventilation play into the humidity needed? etc.

And yes, r/ballpythons is insane. So is every other animal subreddit. I can't post about my show rabbit on anything besides r/meatrabbitry because r/rabbits will lose their minds. I miss the good ol days when more animal related forums were active and people didn't have to go to reddit, but at least Ball-Pythons.net is still going strong