new BP owner, question on humidity

[Akira]

So I just got 2 Ball pythons from a rescue and both look really great. Temps are around 80-85 and humidity is around 50%... Both keep getting in their water bowls and soaking, is the humidity to low? If so how do I get it to rise?

The pastel male I got is getting ready to shed, he just lost his eye caps. The rescue didn't know when the last time the girl had shed, she hadn't in the 3 weeks that they had had her.

[SlitherinSisters]

I would bump up your heat a bit. Those are almost my cool side temps. My warm side is set at 93 but about 91 on the floor with the air exchange. The humidity is a bit low. My humidity is a bit higher than a lot of people like to keep it, but it stays about 70% all the time. 65% is about the norm I think. There are normally two reasons that a ball python will soak, low humidity and mites. I would bump up the temps, the humidity, and check for black specs moving on your bp's face. There's a chance they are "water bps" but I'm betting it's the humidity.

As for raising the humidity, I'm assuming that you are using tanks? You can get a larger water bowl, move it to the middle or to the warm side-careful if you are using a heat lamp. Also cover the top of the tank with plastic wrap-again watch the heat lamp, don't put it under the heat lamp. If you are using tubs you can slide the water bowel to the middle or warm side. That's all I do when I'm having a shed/humidity issue.

Also, welcome to the site!!!

[Vypyrz]

Hello, and to BP.net...

I would try to bump your warm side temps up to about 90F. 75-80 is ok for the cool side (ambient) temps.

You said the eyecaps are already off which means he is either starting his shed or he has already tried and now has a stuck shed.He is going to need the humidity bumped up to about 65%, however, since you just got him and he is already soaking, alot of activity around his enclosure might just cause more stress, but if you can tell us about what type and size of enclosure and set-up, heating, substrate, as well as, what you are using to monitor the temps and humidity, we can figure something out.

[Akira]

I'm using tubs, I have a bunch of cornsnakes but these are my first ball pythons

Thanks for the advice, I checked for mites and didn't see any but i've been waiting to look in the water bowls to see if there is any in it. I JUST got them yesterday so I don't want to bother them too much... I just know them soaking all the time is not a good thing... I'll go move the water bowls and see if that helps and try and get the temp up some more.

Thanks again

[Akira]

Probe thermometer and a petco hydrometer (lil round thing). I plan on moving them to a 20long with uth in a couple of days, the tubs were only ment to bring them home in but they seemed so stressed out i wanted to wait. They are on aspen

[Vypyrz]

I'm using tubs, I have a bunch of cornsnakes but these are my first ball pythons

They won't be your last
While they are relatively easy to care for, you will find that they are less forgiving with their temps than Corns are.
One other reason that BPs will sometimes soak is if they don't feel secure. They do like dark,tight, snug hides, so that might be something to look at...

[Vypyrz]

Probe thermometer and a petco hydrometer (lil round thing). I plan on moving them to a 20long with uth in a couple of days, the tubs were only ment to bring them home in but they seemed so stressed out i wanted to wait. They are on aspen

I would suggest leaving them in the tubs for this week. That will give them some time to settle down, and the male a chance to shed if he is going to, and it will give you a chance to handle a bad shed, if it goes that way. Then next weekend offer them food. If they don't want to eat, then go ahead and move them to their permanent enclosures. If they do eat, then give them 2-3 days to digest and then move them...

[Akira]

Well I found out a little more about them. They were taken from a home where the owner was charged with animal cruelty and was made to surrender (his/her) dags, cats and snakes. The only thing they told the officers about the snakes is that they cost them a lot of money...

Anyway, the girl has mites... I was told they were kept separately but in very bad conditions. I'm treating the girl for mites now. I'm using the only thing the local pet store had, Jurassic Mite. It seems to be working very well, I've seen lots of dead mites in her bath and in her tub( white paper towel). It's also a daily use spray.

My question is, even though i haven't seen any on the boy should i go ahead and treat him? The little girl is really calm and doesn't seem to mind being handled even though we just got them but I don't know if the boy will be the same way.

[don15681]

yes, most will treat all the snakes if one snake has them.

[dr del]

Hi,

I would also order provent-a-mite online as jurrasi-mite will probably not do the job.


dr del