So I'm re-posting my first thread. I put it in "general" and I messed up, it hsould be here under care, if a mod sees this can you pull my post in general? It probably should go here.

Hi everyone!

New owner here and new to the forums. This is my first snake ever, I'm super happy! My girl got shipping to me on Tuesday from Hippie Herps in Atlanta GA, via Jason, super nice guy (she was born on 7/15/2013 I think or maybe 2012, I can't recall or know if that fact matters). As a new owner I have some general concerns now that I've had her for a few days.

1) Humidity - I have been able to maintain around 50% (it bounces from 40% to 60%-ish). However, I went to bed at 1am and woke up at 7am and the tub was at 99%! Her hides are cardboard so of course they were soaked ans she was in one. I changed everything including the hides to new stuff in a panic. So, should the spike be a big deal? I'm wondering about respiratory issues. Call me an over protective parent!

To solve the issue I moved her water dish to the cool side (it was about halfway from warm to cool side) hoping that will help the water evaporate slower and moved a fan near the tank (not really a fan, I have an ionizer and the exhaust I angled just a little toward the tank, it seems to help and is nice fresh air) but I'm at work so I can't monitor it right now. Her water dish has only about 1/2 inch of water in it and it was nearly all evaporated. Is that enough water if she needed a bath?

2) When I saw her this morning she had her head hidden in her coil, why would she do this? Any other time I find her, her head is on top. Obviously I'm wondering if this is related to the poor tub conditions last night.

3) She moves around from hide to hide and appears active but has not gone near the water dish at all so far. Any ideas?


Here is my tub setup since I know this helps answer better:

28qt rubbermaid with air holes drilled around the top ( a lot of them probably 60 or so).
Two under tank heat pads that create a 10 degree grade, 85-88 on the warm, 74-78 on the cool.
Newspaper bedding and cardboard hides (I know the hides should probably be plastic, any ideas on what to use that would be big enough for her?
Water dish is a plastic rectangle Chinese food container, like a to go box.

SNAKE - Female Ball Python, last weight from dealer, 270 grams and I think born this year but I could be wrong since I don't have the paper work in front of me (like I said, I'm at work). Appears healthy, nice round size, no dry skin, such and such.