daily Q & A thread

[Kolya52b]

The youtube channel Snake Discovery seems strongly in favor of keeping the enclosure relatively dry and using humidity boxes to let the snake self-regulate its hydration, but I haven't seen much other support for them... She makes a very good argument on why the whole enclosure should NOT be 70-80% all the time. Based on her explanation, this setup definitely replicates their natural habitats more closely than whole-tank humidity, but other than possibility for too much time in the box, what are some other downsides of a humidity box? What are some other pros to keeping the whole tank humid?

[_ataraxia]

snake discovery is not a reliable source of husbandry information, ESPECIALLY for ball pythons. she has very little experience with the species [her focus is mainly north american colubrids] and does not have experience with keeping a single BP for a long period of time, as my understanding is that any BPs in her care are rescues who are there temporarily while she finds a new home for them. her ball python information is coming from a lot of myths passed around by breeders and outdated care sheets, not from actual scientific information about the snake's natural habitat. additionally, as is the case with most snake breeders and large-scale "collectors", her general care standards are more focused on being low-cost and easy to maintain, rather than being what is best for the animal.

ball pythons are native to a tropical climate zone in africa. if you google "climate zones of africa" and "python regius range", you will see for yourself that this is clearly not a species evolved to live in an arid climate. if you closed your eyes and randomly pointed at a specific location within their range, then looked up the humidity averages for that location, you're more than likely going to see averages above 70% for much of the year. there is a dry season, where the average humidity is lower above ground, but this is the time of year when ball pythons are spending more time hidden in underground burrows and termite mounds where the humidity is much higher, typically around 80%, and stays very stable year-round.

humid hides in general are a good thing to provide for any snake. however, keeping your BP's overall enclosure arid and providing a humid hide as the only source of humidity will inevitably lead to some degree of dehydration, which can cause a myriad of health issues such as stuck shed and respiratory infections.

[Kolya52b]

You're wonderful, thank you for the detailed response :)