Humidity or the lack thereof

[Valkarih]

I purchased my very first ball python, or any snake for that matter, last week. I'm having a heck of a time keeping my new baby's humidity level where it needs to be.
I have her in a 30x12x12 glass aquarium with a screened lid. I started out with Aspen substrate but given my humidity issues I switched to coconut husk as I heard it helps with the humidity. I have a squirt bottle that I fill with warm water to mist the enclosure and I have covered part of the screened lid, also to help with the humidity. I do have a 100 watt daylight lamp that I use to heat the enclosure. During the time I am home I keep misting the enclosure and can keep the humidity hovering between 50-60%. The problem is when I arrive home from work the humidity is around 30%. What can I do to help this? Would changing the daylight bulb to just a heat emitter help? Please help...I don't know what else to do!

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[Aste88]

Covering part of the screen top will help. Also switching to a UTH instead of a lamp helps reducing the humidity loss. There's no difference on that between bulb and ceramic emitter.

Read and follow this sticky https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...With-Pictures!

[Valkarih]

Thank you for the response! A couple of questions though...If I switch to a second UTH instead of the lamp wouldn't that mess up my ambient temps? I notice they use an infrared bulb, do those not burn up the humidity as bad?

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[BPGator]

Thank you for the response! A couple of questions though...If I switch to a second UTH instead of the lamp wouldn't that mess up my ambient temps? I notice they use an infrared bulb, do those not burn up the humidity as bad?

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You already have a UTH? I missed that from your first post. What's the temperature of the room in which you keep your snake?


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[melcvt00]

I would cover ALL of the screen (I use foil), except for a hole just big enough for my che to sit on. I also have 3 sides of my tank covered with Reflectix to keep in heat. With the this and coconut, my humidity takes days to drop.

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[Valkarih]

You already have a UTH? I missed that from your first post. What's the temperature of the room in which you keep your snake?


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Yes, I have a UTH covering roughly a third of the bottom of the tank... Probably closer to a quarter. The temp of the room it was in usually hovers right around 70.

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[Valkarih]

I would cover ALL of the screen (I use foil), except for a hole just big enough for my che to sit on. I also have 3 sides of my tank covered with Reflectix to keep in heat. With the this and coconut, my humidity takes days to drop.

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I will look into Reflectix as I don't really have anything on the sides and back of the tank. Would covering the entire screen not block out fresh air?

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[melcvt00]

I will look into Reflectix as I don't really have anything on the sides and back of the tank. Would covering the entire screen not block out fresh air?

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Don't forget that in the wild, they live in termite mounds. Covering most of the screen will be fine. :-)

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[bcr229]

I would cover the whole screen top and use two UTH's. Set the thermostat on one to create a hot spot of 90-92*F on the floor of the enclosure and put a hide over it. Set the thermostat for the other one to 80-82*F and put a hide over it. Trying to heat a tank from the top, whether with a light or a CHE, just dries it out.

If you don't have thermostats you need to get at least one ASAP for the UTH you currently have.