How do you get the humidity down?

[sweetcastle]

The humidity level in Lemondrop’s enclosure jumps up to around 80% when we put new substrate in. We’re using coconut chips. How do you get the humidity level back to a good range? I left the door open on her enclosure while my daughter had her out today. That helped some but then I worry about all the heat escaping. We struggle to get the right temps - high side is 89-90 and cool side is around 75.
And the humidity jumped back up once we closed the door again. I don’t want her to get scale rot.

[Homebody]

How long does the humidity remain elevated? How often do you change the substrate? I don't think you need to worry about a brief spike in humidity. Increasing the ventilation in the enclosure will reduce the humidity. Post a pic and a description of your enclosure and we can give you tips on how to do that, if necessary.

[sweetcastle]

I got some pictures loaded of her enclosure. She mostly stays in the hide on the left that's on the warm side of the enclosure.

[Homebody]

What brand enclosure is it? What type of heating elements are you using? What brand substrate are you using? How deep is it? How long does the humidity remain elevated after a substrate change? How often do you change it?

[Malum Argenteum]

If you raise the hygrometer off the substrate, the humidity will go down.



I always wonder about getting so particular about RH when a major contributor to the number on the meter is the location of the meter. Sitting on the substrate, it is going to read pretty high as long as the substrate is damp regardless of the RH of most of the air in the enclosure. (The wet wall behind it is certainly a factor too. Did you just mist, or is that condensation?) Lift the meter up and toward the vents and there could be an inch of water on the bottom of the enclosure and the meter would probably still read something thought to be OK for a BP.

Scale rot is caused by damp substrate (well, it is caused by bacteria or fungi, which are in turn encouraged by chronic wetness). RH is related to substrate moisture, but depends more on ventilation. If the substrate is just barely damp on the cool side and really close to dry on the warm side that's pretty good for a BP that's not in a shed cycle.

If the RH needs to be tweaked after the substrate is dialed in, then either modifying ventilation or (my favorite) using the water bowl as an evaporation pool works to increase RH (if the RH needs to go down, then move the bowl to the coolest part of the enclosure).

[sweetcastle]

I don't know what brand the enclosure is - we bought from a vendor at Repticon. It is constructed of 1/2" PVC and my husband routed the bottom where the heat tape is because it was not getting warm enough inside. Now that side is 5/16" thick on the bottom. We had her on paper towels for 2-3 weeks after we got her, then we put in substrate (it is Prococo Compressed Cocochip Block/ Premium Coconut Husk). We changed it out last weekend. Both times, the humidity spiked to 80+% and stays that way for several days. The substrate is about 1" deep at most. All the condensation on the walls started when we put in new substrate each time.

We have not misted, this is all from the substrate. How would we get more ventilation, leave the door open when she's out?

[Homebody]

Before increasing the ventilation, I would try mixing your cocochip with something dryer. Aspen and Carefresh come to mind. If you're concerned about how that will appear, you could bake a portion of your cocochip to dry it out. I wouldn't be surprised if your humidity still spikes, but hopefully, the spike won't last as long.

[Malum Argenteum]

@Homebody: Have you ever used aspen damp? When I get dampness in my aspen colubrid enclosures (or they kick aspen into their moist hides), it molds quickly.

@sweetcastle: Simply letting the moisture evaporate for now, and not adding it when it is so damp next time you clean or add substrate, would help. Another thing to note is that using heat tape under damp substrate is going to evaporate all the water in the substrate that is over the heat tape, and do so pretty quickly. That can increase RH to undesirable levels, and also leads to crispy dry substrate in the warm area. Using a radiant heat panel instead of (or in addition to, in a taller enclosure) would avoid this to some extent; you may want to check them out. Reptile Basics RHPs are the easiest to get a hold of.

If a person actually wanted more ventilation, PVC is easily drilled/cut/routered to add vents. Keep in mind that this is permanent and you may regret it, and it may also lower the resale value of the enclosure. I use Animal Plastics PVC enclosures, and they ventilate pretty well -- but they have vents on the sides near the front, and the back near the left and right corners. Your particular enclosure may not have vents that are allowing any air to flow through, so that could be part of the issue.

[Homebody]

@Homebody: Have you ever used aspen damp? When I get dampness in my aspen colubrid enclosures (or they kick aspen into their moist hides), it molds quickly.

No. I have no practical experience with particulate substrates at all. I'm not a particulate substrate guy. I'm a newspaper/repticarpet guy. But the OP is, so I was just trying to give her advice that she'd find helpful. I just figured wet substrate + dry substate = less wet substrate. I have heard that aspen molds, but I didn't realize it would do so that quickly. Thanks for jumping in with the correction.

As a newspaper/repticarpet guy, I can confidently recommend replacing your cocochip with repticarpet. That will take care of your excess humidity problem. So much so that I would recommend adding a humidity hide to make up for the loss. That's how I kept my BP.

[sweetcastle]

Thanks very much for all the help! I really appreciate it. Problem is I don’t know what I don’t know and all y’all are so helpful and not judgmental of a new snakemom still learning what to do.