Trying to maintain some air flow with proper humidity..

[Fataltix]

Hey guys,

About a 3 weeks ago my male BP Shrike moved into his new enclosure, a 4x2x1 melamine enclosure with a sliding glass door. I'm using a radiant heat panel and the temps are perfect. However, humidity has been something of a struggle. I'm using cypress mulch, a big water bowl under the RHP, and misting every now and then, but the humidity won't go higher then 40%.

So here is the heart of my question. The cage has two 3 inch vents on each side for air flow, I currently have one of them covered up and the humidity went up to around 50%. I'm wondering if it would be alright to either leave that one covered or cover both. Humidity is important, but I don't want to sacrifice air flow for it.

Thanks,
Fatal

[seang89]

Covering one of the 3 inch vents sounds fine. I keep my ball pythons between 45-60% until they are in shed. Once they are entering the shed cycle, I bump up humidity alot in the tanks. I do this by placing the waterbowl directly overtop of the heatpad, I will also mist the cage a few times and make sure wherever the snake likes to chill out is nice and moist.

Ive never had a bed shed since Ive been keeping.

[AliCat37]

I have my ball in a similar sized enclosure that is made of plastic, and limiting the air flow does help, but they still do need ventilation, so leaving one vent open is perfect. 50% is a little lower than what I like my humidity to be, but I know many people don't have any issue with it at 50%.
You can also do what seang89 says and have your water dish on top of the heat pad, it helps a lot!