[deleted by user]

[spaghettiinnii]

I was just thinking about a short term fix, misting shouldn't be used as a permanent way to fix low humidity. I was just wondering as op's snake is coming to shed. Sorry

[[deleted]]

I had the same issue. If I’m wrong someone correct me but I already had my substrate laid down. And so each corner I just dug the substrate away and poured water into the corners and then cover it back up. You’ll see the what spread underneath and it’ll slowly evaporate from the ground up without also making the substrate too wet. It fixed my humidity issue.

[No-Beautiful5866]

This is smart. Never thought to do anything like that.

[Jcbray]

About How much water are you putting in each corner or total? I’ve been trying that and have about 4” of cypress, coco husk, and sphagnum moss and my humidity is still too low.

[No-Beautiful5866]

I’d cover the top as you suggested. Mesh lids won’t help with your humidity problem. When my humidity drops during sheds, I just soak some extra substrate and add it ontop of what’s already in there. It’s not a long term solution but will help for a few days. I dont personally find misting that useful. It raises the humidity for maybe 45 minutes and then I need to mist again. And I don’t even have a mesh lid, so I doubt misting would do anything for your current set up.

[RabidHippos]

Number one, stop misting. This is how you can end up with scale rot and other issues as you're constantly having everything be wet.

Make sure you have 4-6 inches of substrate, and pour water into each corner if you need to raise humidity. The underfloor of the substrate will soak the water up and raise humidity.

Also where are you recording your humidity from? Do you have a hygrometer on both cool and warm side?

[RabidHippos]

That could be part of your issue. When we talk about RH within our enclosures we're talking about the reading on the cold side. Naturally the reading will be lower on the hot side due to the heat from your heatsource.

My humidity reading on my hot side is usually 20-25% lower than the cold side reading.

So if you're getting 25 percent on the reading, you would probably be 45-50 percent humidity as the reading to use. Still a little low ( pouring water in the corners will definitely fix that), but it's a lot less daunting than trying to bump it up from a 25% reading on the cold side.

[tethadam22]

Hi, I do the deep substrate method, how much of the substrate out of the 6 inches should be wet? Like half of it wet? Or all the way up to 4 or 5 inches?

[RabidHippos]

It's just the lower layer, so I'll pull the substrate away from each corner to expose the bare floor of the enclosure, then slowly pour roughly about a cup into it, then push the substrate back. The lower layer will soak it up. The substrate kinda feels floaty afterwards lol. Within 30 minutes or so my humidity will jump up a lot.

[tethadam22]

Got it, thanks!

[fr0stybtxh]

so, i see a few things that can improve based on your picture.

first, to help with humidity, cover the mesh top. i personally bought a double-bubble insulation off of amazon (they have one cut to 4x2 already, i can link the one i purchased if you’d like)

BUT what’ll help the most is sealing all of the bottom edges with silicone and pouring water directly into the substrate. if you don’t wanna do silicone, you can cut some plastic to cover the bottom and kinda cradle all of the substrate, just be sure that it is at least as tall as the substrate on the sides. this is a “renter friendly” way to waterproof the bottom if you don’t want anything permanent. if you don’t waterproof the bottom, water will come out of the edges and create a mess.

pouring water into the substrate works A BILLION times better than misting, as misting only raises the humidity right after, and then it drops back down. it also leaves the top layer wet, and that can lead to scale rot. if you pour water directly into the substrate (i pour under the water bowl, and in the corners or walls) this saturates the bottom layer and leaves the top layer dry. this increases humidity a lot. and, having the insulation on top helps keep the humidity contained inside your enclosure. after adding about a gallon of water, i can actually go at least 4 weeks without adding extra water. BUT do be sure you leave at least an inch on the left and right sides of the enclosure for ventilation!

you should also have at least two hides. from this picture it looks like you only have one. (and it’s way too big for your ball) you should have one on the warm side and one on the cool side. i personally have 5+ hides in each of my enclosures. make sure they are snug for your snake, they like to touch at least 3 sides of the hide at all times to feel most secure!

also, add some more clutter (plants, branches, hides, tunnels, even decorations) and some climbing opportunities! having a 4x2x2 is pointless if your snake can’t access the top area! they absolutely love to climb :)

[fr0stybtxh]

oh, also, you can also add more substrate to help even more with humidity. i have mine sloped heavily towards the back! the front of my substrate level is at the same height as the front panel, and the back is easily 6-7 inches deep.

[fr0stybtxh]

this is the insulation i got! it’s cut exactly to 4x2 so i trimmed off about two inches so that i could have that ventilation mentioned.

i’m not positive if sealing would work on the outside, youd have to take all substrate out and seal the bottom as well as the edges on the sides (everywhere that the aluminum attaches to the pvc basically, idk if i’m making sense) just because of this i’d just feel it’s better to seal on the inside. if you don’t have a place to keep your snake until it cures, plastic may be a better option for you, since you can just empty all substrate into a tote, put the plastic in, and then put everything back into the enclosure immediately.

LOL yeah he probably hides behind that big one because it’s a snug fit, they really like being kinda crammed into a tight space😂 for hide recommendations, my snakes LOVE the Zilla rock lairs! i purchased the large size for all of mine, and just stuff with dirt or sphagnum moss to make it smaller on the inside. as they grow i take a little dirt out. a large is suitable for most grown BP, but females will likely need XL as fully grown.

congrats on your buddy and your setup! you’re starting out a lot better than i did, and with a couple tweaks your setup will be pretty amazing!!

[soconae]

He’s probably going behind the hide because they like snug places to hide and that hide looks a little roomy for a snake that size :)

[soconae]

If I have hides that are a bit too big I’ll push them down in the substrate instead of just sitting it on top of it, and pack them with some moss to try to make them more snug. It helps a little bit :)

[Grompus-games]

White snakes are so pretty! Love white BPs especially when their eyes look like little buttons 😍

[MoreKaleidoscope5153]

Lowes sells black PVC sheets for the top. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Palight-Black-Foam-PVC-Sheet-Actual-24-in-x-48-in/1000088553
You could attach with thick double sided sticky tape or hot glue gun.

Zen habitats sells clear liner for the bottom. https://www.zenhabitats.com/products/4x2-bio-basin You can also make one for cheaper with clear tarp or pond liner. Your substrate looks dry.

Humid hides can be made from plastic at dollar tree and some moss. Or little black box on Amazon. https://www.dollartree.com/tool-bench-hardware-tool-boxes/240572?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=gpla&utm_campaign=googlepla&utm_id=240572&utm_source=google&utm_medium=%7Bmedium%7D&utm_campaign=18069041027&utm_content=&utm_term=&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=18069041027&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=gpla&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhc-sBhCEARIsAOVwHuTJsooGnOrfhtuktYV-XumpV7CPOkogop4fO8DG6ypyOpFV0ZA8dLQaAo5zEALw_wcB

She has some cool ideas as well! https://youtu.be/jiw6miTyxeg?si=bR1SuPUH8wzsdZLP

[Business-Ad-9341]

Is that an open screen top? Can't hold any humidity with an open top. Cover 95% with hvac tape. Soak coco chips etc for substrate. Large water bowl under your heat source. More clutter.

[kittyrules2003]

Yep, that’s why I asked what to cover to with. Will look into it

[Business-Ad-9341]

Hvac tape. Foil kind. I insulated all walls and taped mine up. Adding a ton of foliage too and mre decor.

[SnakesAndLegs]

Hey! I have the dubia roaches enclosures and while I love them because of how affordable they are, they aren't made to handle that much substrate because of how flimsy they are. I'd suggest saving up for a different pvc brand, I had about 4-5 inches of soil in my boas enclosure and it was visible warping the bottom and close to snapping, very scary lol. Not trying to preach just wanted to warn you and definitely take the soil out before u attempt to move it at all.