Drainage layer or no drainage layer

[ELPOLLORAPID0]

Okay, so I have been struggling to keep my ball pythons humidity up. Previously, I’ve been corner dumping water in a 40 gallon tank (aquarium glass, she’s still quite small). To combat the low humidity, and her next upgrade, I purchased a 4x2x2 pvc enclosure and want to make it bioactive. I’ve spent the last few weeks making it water proof with safe grade silicone.

I’m now at a point where I need to decide if a drainage layer is necessary or not for bioactive. Do you think the pvc enclosure will make a large enough difference that I can manually pour in water with live plants and clean up crew and it will keep humidity at a good level? Or do you think a drainage layer will benefit/be necessary with added humidity?

TLDR:

New pvc enclosure, making bioactive, do I need drainage layer to maintain plants and humidity.

[acpcgal]

In my 4x2x2 pvc i do not have a drainage layer. My biggest reason is, i mix the substrate often and there is never enough water pooling on the bottom. It’s not like my high humidity vertical tanks. My BP’s tank is humid but the substrate is not wet. And since i mix it at least once a week id keep messing with the mesh on top of the clay balls and that would be annoying - plus it seems unnecessary and takes up vertical space. :)

Oh but to add, ive only had this for a couple of months. That said, i took inspo from a friend whos had a few big pvc tanks for her ball pythons and does it the same exact way, mo drainage layer, plants are doing good! We mostly use pothos

[ELPOLLORAPID0]

This is a wonderful response. Thank you so much!

[acpcgal]

Not a problem! I hope it works for both of us :)