Hide too humid?

[boyyoyo]

Recently I switched my balls hides out for new ones because he was a little big for the old tissue boxes he had before(and they were a little worn out). As soon as I placed him back into his tank with the new hides he started roaming around checking everything out; he went in and out of both hides then settled on top of his fake hollow log and went to sleep. I figured "No big thing, he's just getting used to his new stuff." Well it's been about four days and every time I look in the tank there he is, inside the fake log. I wouldn't mind so much if it didn't have holes in it that let way to much light get to him. So finally after rejecting the idea that he was just some hippie naturalist Ball I removed the hides to look, and what I saw was ALOT of moisture had accumulated inside the hides. Is it possible this is why he is not spending more than an hour in the hides, because they are TOO humid?

[snakesRkewl]

I have not heard of such a thing.

Pictures of set up and description of temperatures and how you heat it and such would be useful in helping decipher the issue at hand.

[jlawson]

Too much humidity in the hides tell me that the tank has too much humidity. This all correlates to what type of substrate you're using and where the water is located. If you have the water located over the heating source, it could cause the humidity to increase as well. Just some thoughts from my own experiences.

[boyyoyo]

The humidity was at 62% when I checked the hide, but I could easily tell that the humidity in the hides was MUCH higher than the rest of the tank. I use a heating pad and a heat light for a 50-70 gallon long tank(not sure the real gallon size, I bought it used). The tank has a screen lid that I made my self, the substrate is coconut fiber, and the water bowl is on the opposite side of the tank that the heating pad is; while the rest of the substrate that wasn't in the hide was no where near as damp as that which was in the hide. I took the liberty of heating a needle and poking holes in the hides to allow airflow and to allow the humidity out of the hides. I didn't see my ball in his log five minutes ago when I woke up so I assume he's in one of his hides for the first real time since I put them in there. So I'm assuming that they were indeed too humid and I have corrected that problem(I hope). I can't say for sure but with how much water was collected to the sides of those hides compared to how wet the coconut fiber was I'm willing to bet that the humidty was well over 120% in the hides.

[Kaorte]

Your substrate should not be wet. That is just a great way to give your animal scale rot.

If you want to keep using the coco fiber substrate then you need to make sure it is completely dry before putting it in the tank. I personally don't think this substrate is appropriate for ball pythons but many people use it successfully. I much prefer aspen or paper towels.

I wouldn't say that the high humidity is the cause of him not wanting to use the hide. Anytime you make changes to your snakes enclosure it becomes completely new to him. It does take some time for the animal to adjust to new objects in the enclosure.

Just make sure your hides are tight fitting and identical. That is the best advice I can give