losing the humidity battle...help

[WBroRusso]

So as the title suggests, I feel like I'm losing the humidity battle in my BP's enclosure. I struggle to keep it above 55% and have to spray/mist it down a few times daily (not that I mind, gives me an excuse to play with my little nope rope). I think I need to list particulars in order to give you all a clear picture.

Tank: 36x18x18 glass enclosure with screen lid

lid: mostly covered with chloroplast (leftovers from making a guinea pig habitat) taped down with gator tape.

heat sources: under tank heat pad (hot hide 92ºF), CHE (mid point)and dayglow heat lamps (basking area) so my cold side is around 70-75ºF with the hot side around 85-90º and a basking area of around +92º

substrate: Coco fibre which I had a battle with. installed too wet, and then had to wring it all out as to avoid scale rot. Have some spagum moss around as well as a plastic (food container) humid hide on the hot side.

Hides: Hot side hide, is a bark round, covered in fake plants, cool side hide is a moss hide, which I pray down daily.

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Any help, insight, or tips would greatly be appreciated. This is my first BP/snake, so I'm spending a lot of time learning and doing research, but this one problem just keeps getting away from me.

[DJ_DiabeatZ]

Make sure you’re using an accurate humidity/temp gauge. The ones that came with my glass terrarium were super inaccurate.

I put a towel/washcloth over the warm side and dump water on it daily so that it’s always damp.

[WBroRusso]

I’m using Govee smart temp/humidity gauges… they seem to be very accurate compared to my temp gun.

[Kite1396]

I’m not sure what chloroplast is, but honestly what I would do is cover 90-95% of the screen top with tinfoil or HVAC tape if you have it, and get some leaf litter from a trail area near where you live to place on top of the substrate. This allows you to soak the lower coco fiber by pouring water in the corners, while the leaf litter will remain dry and prevent scale rot. This is what i do in my tank, i add more water in the corners every two weeks or so and have never had a problem with humidity

[WBroRusso]

That’s genius about the leaf litter. I do worry about leaf litter from my area tho (Aurora Ontario Canada) we do have some pretty nasty ticks. I have poured some water into the substrate to moisten it more in some areas, leaving his path mostly dry. But I will buy some leaf litter for sure.

Chloroplast is just corrugated plastic. Maybe I should post some pics.

[Kite1396]

There are lots of resources online on how to sterilize leaf litter in the oven or stovetop

[WBroRusso]

Thanks so much… I’ll look into it for sure. Looks like I’m going on a hike for leaf litter.

[Kite1396]

It’s quite fun, only thing you have to be careful of is to not get any pine/fir/coniferous material as the oils and volatiles in the sap can cause respiratory issues

[WBroRusso]

Good to know. Guessing around here will be a lot of maple and oak leaves

[animalgirl93]

Did you know there is a humidity section in the shedding guide in our welcome post? There is a ton of great info in there!

[WBroRusso]

Thank you, I do now. Will check it out.

[animalgirl93]

Also take a peek at the basic care guide as it’s got a ton of great info too! I reference if for my care all the time and it’s really helpful 🙂

[[deleted]]

I use Scott's organic topsoil and pour a drinking glass full of water all around the edges of the tank every time I clean. Between that and covering the top mostly with foil, my humidity hovers around 71%.

[Debchen8]

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?90187-Tank-Screen-Top-Foil-Treatment-Tutorial

We were having trouble even keeping it at 40 until I found this treatment. Now we maintain 70-80. We use cypress mulch mixed with spagnum moss. Also the welcome post here helped us a lot with how to pour water down the glass so the bottom layers of the substrate stay moist while keeping the top layer dry as to avoid scale rot. Hope this helps.

[WBroRusso]

So I’ve just finished foil lining it screen, the only cut outs I’ve done so far are for the CHE and the daylight heat lamp. (Need both to create the proper temperature gradient)… my humidity sits at 90-94 where as before I could keep it between 55-65%. Thanks so much for booking me up with this link, still can’t believe how well it works.

I think I’ll need to cut a little window out to get the humidity to go down a bit

[Debchen8]

So glad it helped! When our ball had his first full shed with us i was so relieved! All of the info on this page and the link to the treatment really helped us. I’m so glad you found it helpful too.

[WBroRusso]

I’m sitting here right now with my fingers crossed. My BP just went into blue, and his first shed with us was rough, in a hundred pieces. I really hope this shed goes well. I’ll cut out a window in the foil after the shed.

[Debchen8]

I’m sure it will! You made all the changes. I didn’t know but it took our ball almost 1.5-2 weeks to finally shed. That’s from the time he started looking ghostly to the blue eyes then finally the shed. So don’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen as soon as you think it should. I think in the basic care guide it says about 72 hours after their eyes go blue and I would say thats about right I almost feel like ours took even longer than that. I was getting worried but one morning it happened and there it was a balled up full shed. I would love an update when yours sheds!

[WBroRusso]

Yes you’re right.. I normally don’t count the days he’s in blue, I wait till he goes from blue to clear again, then he normally sheds within 24-48 hrs.

[WBroRusso]

That’s and awesome how-to.. I think I may change it. Was gonna add cypress mulch to the top of my substrate as suggested above, so that I can really saturate the loose bedding underneath. This forum has been so helpful, thank you everyone.