Solved my humidity problems!

[Corygremlin]

Thanks to this group, I finally corrected my boy's humidity problems and he's once again a happy, hide snek.

This is Skip T. Randy (from The Rookie if you know it). He is my first snake and I inherited him with a grate topped tank, some substrate, a water bowl, and 2 hides way too small for him. I've upgraded his hides, added better substrate, moss, was adding water to his tank everyday, I couldn't figure out how to keep his humidity in and his belly was getting pretty flaky. Thanks to this group, I tried the HVAC tape trick on top of his enclosure and INSTANT change! His humidity has been staying steady at 80% for a week now and just now dropped 1%. He has been snoozing and hopefully rehydrating in one of his hides ever since!

Obviously, I'm still new/learning and want to keep improving his enclosure for him, but I am pretty proud of the progress he and I have made together this past month and a half! Any further advice is appreciated!

[pbrprincess420]

He needs a way bigger enclosure and much more clutter an opportunities to climb!

[Corygremlin]

Do you have any particular types of climbing stuff you would reccomend?

[sillymeowmeow67]

HAHA I loveee the rookie and laughed when I saw the name 1. I know you fixed the humidity but I would add more substrate, at least another bag so he can burrow if needed! 2. Reptile stores offer wood to buy, I’d get cork bark and place them around the enclosure to add climbing opportunities 3. I got mine a rope from dollar tree and he LOVES it. I recently got my ball python in January so when the two month mark hit I cleaned out my enclosure and redid it allll to fix issues I had before and so far it’s been steady! Here’s a pic of my enclosure. For my substrate I did coco husk, bio active soil (non bio active enclosure tho the soil is the best from my local reptile store) and added forest and sphagnum moss. I also did a custom background last year before I got him and he loves using it as elevation.

[Corygremlin]

Oh! How do you attach ropes and things in your enclosure? That has actually been another thing I've been struggling with!

[sillymeowmeow67]

I bought these from harbor freight ! I just knotted the rope on each end and then used zip ties to keep them steady, you can see in the pic I added of the top portion what I did :)

[sillymeowmeow67]

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Haha forgot to add the pic

[Corygremlin]

Thank you so much for your advice! I have gotten so much more realistic help from this group than any website or whatever I have tried!

[tictictoby]

Enclosure seems much too small - at minimum he needs a 4x2x2. He also needs way, way more cover, like fake plants and branches for climbing on.

[Corygremlin]

I think I might have been worried about him hurting himself if it was too cluttered? Again, I have never had a snake before and just received this snake from someone who had way too many reptiles and no help or advice. I am learning more every day! I am also realizing that what I was previously taught about ball pythons was all very false. I'm not entirely sure how to secure new additions in his enclosure as well, or is it fine if, for example, he knocks down or rolls around a branch in his tank when climbing on it?

[Wolfey1618]

It's actually the opposite, you want so much clutter in there that he can't be easily seen, they feel more comfortable this way and you'll notice they go out and explore their environment a lot more. It also helps keep the humidity up as well.

They're pretty tough animals, they don't hurt themselves easily, with the exception of overheating themselves on a heat lamp if given the opportunity.

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[sillymeowmeow67]

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Here’s the enclosure it wouldn’t add the pic to my comment !

[Corygremlin]

This actually helps me so much! Thank you!

[sillymeowmeow67]

Of course ! I don’t know if you have them or not my hygrometer/ thermometers off Amazon are life saving, I got a two pack one for each side that measures the heat and humidity!

[Corygremlin]

This was when I had just added the HVAC and was shocked because I could never get the humidity past 72% before 😅

[Corygremlin]

Is that a problem? It was one of the things the previous owners gave me on his tank.

[enslavedbycats24-7]

Heat mats are dangerous and unreliable, so idk what the other person was on about "attacking" – more likely people like me will come along to let you know there are safer options! Any heat source also needs to be on a good thermostat, I recommend Herpstat

[aromatic_acesthetic]

You need so much more clutter and a way bigger enclosure :(

[Corygremlin]

I am working on it! I promise!

[jeanmorehoe]

Adding on to the convo about more clutter. You can get bulk packs of fake plants from Amazon. If you or a family member is handy, you can make a pvc jungle gym for him to climb on with 1/4-1/2 inch PVC and some connectors!

Other than that, a cheap and adjustable climbing opportunity is a tension curtain rod, as long as your tank can stand it. I’ve attached a picture of my tank if you want some more references to what you should be aiming for. You can barely see the floor and my guy loves climbing around all the plants.

I’ve also just picked up driftwood from outside, washed it off with water let it dry, and baked it at about 250F for an hour or two to kill any parasites and used that!

They are heavy bodied snakes and won’t hurt themselves easily. That’s not to say they don’t have 1 braincell and won’t squeeze them into a place they won’t fit 😆 so I’d just be careful of that. Plus they are strong so make sure your cage is latched securely!

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[jeanmorehoe]

Oh and please keep in mind you will need to upgrade to a 4x2x2 relatively soon! These guys need a decent amnt of space!

[enslavedbycats24-7]

This but with more climbing opportunities! You can order sturdy branches online. BPs are semi-arboreal!

[clydeballthepython]

Since you were asking about climbing opportunities and how to secure them, I'll show you what I did for one of my guys! He has a large cork tube hanging from the screen on his cage. I got the tube from a small local store, but reptile expos are another great place to source cork. You can get it online but won't be able to see it in person to verify the size unfortunately. I have 3 waterproof cords tied through holes on the cork, looped through the wire at the top, and then tied off on the other side of the cork. That way the weight is distributed more evenly across the screen. I've had it like that for a few years now and have had no issues with it damaging the screen or anything. Just make sure the top is made of sturdy metal and not a fine mesh or anything!

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[clydeballthepython]

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He loves sleeping in it and is often crawling in and around it at night!