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[Venenum bovis]

hello i have a problem with the humidity in my ball pythons cage. My snake has severe dryness on his nose and top of his head he gets stuck sheds and i have to soak him he has eye caps, and i don't want him to get a respiratory infection which he doesn't have atm.
I live in Colorado so the natural humidity's never over 30%and the highest I've ever gotten his cage humidity is 49%, I have a digital humidity and temp thermometer a nice pump mister. I mist four times a day i have plastic duck taped over part of the top that doesn't have the light, yes i do have a vent hole on the closed side, and i'm
about to put some moist sphagnum moss in his hot side hide hole.I also have a humidifier in the room. I just really need some tips on keeping more humidity in the cage. Thanks

[Nate]

Try a damp towel on top of the cage...maybe you could get rid of the tape on top and just go with the towel to allow for fresh air. Instead of misting 4 times a day, you soak a towel, wring it, and fold it up and place it on top of the enclosure...once a day

[West Coast Jungle]

I live in a desert and a tub is the way to go or put a humidifier in the room. are you using a light for heat, they dry the air alot.

[missi182]

Thats no fun seriously your best bet is to switch to a tub. The tubs are like $10 at walmart, totally worth it and they are soooooo much easier to control humidity in.

[Argentra]

Hey there, my friend. Glad to see you back.

Yes, humidity out here is very hard to keep... but there are ways to do so and still keep the tank. I do give tubs the point that they keep humidity almost perfect, even here, but the snake isn't always happy in one. I've had to rearrange all my snakes to give my BP female back her 20L tank, since she refuses to eat living in a tub.

As for the humidity, I recall that your tank is rather high. That, and the lights, aren't helping you any. If you want to, you can try moving Franky to a tub and see if he accepts it. There are some really nice clear ones for a good price out here at WalMart. If you, like me, don't really care for the look of tubs, then try him in a short(height) 30 gallon tank instead with the screen top treated with foil and tape like mine. As long as your top is well covered and your lights are at least a foot from the top of the tank and low watt, you should be ok.

[starmom]

Or.... you could check out the reptile cages that a lot of vendors sell. I have quite a few of them from reptilebasics.com. They are a great way to have the show cage and keep the temps and humidity stable. However, if you try the towel technique (a good one) make sure you change the towel every day since it will harbor bacteria like crazy and then make your snake sick. Good luck- there are lots of choices and you just have to find the right combination!

[Gloryhound]

If you got all that running you need to get another humidity gage. I initially tried to use the combo digital temp and digital himidity gauges (Acu-Rite to be exact) I couldn't get the Humidity to stay above 50% in a laminate enclosure with moss substrate and I live in PA. I couldn't believe it so I went out and spent the money on a good Amprobe Hygrometer and ambient temp tool that came with an ISO certification of calibration. Found out my humidity was actually floating in the 80% area! Also found out the cheapo Zoo Med dial indicator humidity gages are the most accurate for me. Now I use blank news print for substrate (so much easier to clean and spot when a snake has made a mess) and keep my humidity easily in the 50% - 70% in the above enclosure and my tub racks with just a good misting every other day.

[jwenker1]

Like mentioned before switching to tubs will fix your humidity nightmare, but I know that some people prefer tanks which is fine. It just takes some work to keep humidity up. When i had tanks I had the same problem, and found a few ways to get humidity into the 50's.

try increasing the size of your water bowl, this may help some.

what really worked for me was covering most of the top of the cage with a wet towel/cloth. I covered 2/3 the top with a t-shirt. On top of that i had a small towel that I would soak every day and put on top of the t-shirt. This way kept the towel damp for about 2 days. When you feel the towel getting dry, take it to the sink, run it under water, ring it out just a little, and put it back. this method works, but requires you to re-wet the towel every few days.

Hope this helps. GOOD LUCK!