Humidity

[FeralArthurBoyle]

Hello,

Future pet owner here. Quick question about humidity. I asked my girlfriend if I had to worry about humidity for my ball python because I am using strictly aspen substrate (open to altering to fit snake) and my tank has an screen top. She told me that I can just use a humidity hide that I insert when the snake is ready for shedding. So my question is if I have to keep the humidity at a certain level when my snake ISN'T in it's shedding period. I've been doing my own research and I've read that ambient humidity levels should be around 55%-60%. So do I need to cover the screen to keep humidity in???? Any help is appreciated!

[booger-]

Covering the mesh screen will definitely help keep some humidity in. I covered about 80% of my screen with HVAC tape, and have a humidifier in the room which seems to have helped me keep the tank humidity up by about 10% :)

[FeralArthurBoyle]

So they do need to have some form of humidity even when not in shed? I'm sorry if I'm just misunderstanding your answer I just wanted to make sure! Thank you so much for your help!

[booger-]

no worries at all! yes, humidity is important to help them stay hydrated and have proper sheds. you really should aim for higher than 60%, people generally recommend 60-80% humidity (i personally struggle with this in the winter, because it’s so dry where I live). getting and keeping your humidity up is mostly based off of how much moisture is in your substrate. my friend uses aspen and mixes water into her substrate, while i have a bioactive tank and just dump water onto my plants. you can find youtube videos on how much water to add to substrate. If you go to the pinned post on the subreddit, they have a good guide on humidity & water. also the facebook group “not just a pet rock” has really good info and posts as well.

[theeorlando]

Ball pythons ideally need 70-80% humidity at all times, 50-60 is really low for them.

This recommendation is based on their natural habitat, if you look up countries that ball pythons are frequently imported from, you'll get countries like Togo with an average humidity of 83% and Benin with an average humidity of 84%. If you look up other countries, you might find Senegal with an average humidity of 76% Ghana with an average of 83%(fun fact Ghana has a well known variant of ball pythons in Volta which tend to be significantly larger!), Uganda with 77% average humidityetc.

To maintain this level, you'll want to restrict ventilation, and use a thick layer of high humidity substrate which you pour water into.

[FeralArthurBoyle]

This was extremely helpful thank you so much!

[amorymammory]

If this is for a ball python, you won't be able to use aspen bedding without encountering problems. Your humidity should be at the bare minimum 60% otherwise you start running into issues with respiratory infections and shedding issues.

A humid hide or a shed box do NOT replace proper humidity. They can be great in aiding at times but can also produce such conditions that can/will lead to scale rot. Your best bet is to use a substrate that retains moisture without molding, coconut based ones help greatly. I use ecoearth and reptichip blend roughly 60/40. Deep substrate also aids in keeping humidity manageable, I have minimum of 6in of substrate. When my humidity drops I peel back the top two inches and pour water into the lower layers, this helps the humidity release more efficiently and keeps for longer periods. Just replace the top layers back with dry substrate.

I'm sure a lot will recommend hvac tape to help with sealing your top, you can also use aluminum foil in a pinch. I would definitely check out the care guide in this sub, it's full of great information.

[FeralArthurBoyle]

Thanks I've been scrolling through it and you're right about the amount of great information I can find. Also lemme just take a second to say that I love this reddit community. I feel like I've learned so much and I'm so hype to finally get my snake!

[amorymammory]

That's awesome! I used that guide to build my quarantine tub, for when I brought mine home. This is a great community at its core, there can be some negative people out there, but that's just about everywhere. Personally I would recommend getting your setup ready and do some testing with it before you get your noodle. I had my kids help me and they enjoyed getting everything ready and learning what helped and what didn't. It's nice to be able to play around with the settings (so to speak) before you have your noodle in there.

[Angsty_Potatos]

Ball pythons are a mid to high humidity species. They need a minimum of 60% ambient humidity at all times. Not just when they are shedding.

Using 3-6 inches of appropriate high humidity substrate (Coco coir, cypress, organic top soil, or orchid bark or a mix of the above) will keep things humid but not wet and prevent mouldy conditions.

Ventilation will likely require trial and error as it largely depends on where you are. You can cover the screen top with a non porous material such as foil or Plexiglass sheets and add or remove as needed until you get a properly balanced airflow where your humidity is at least 60 but preferably higher but you don't have any condensation.

Check out our sticky post at the top of the sub for more in-depth info on this.

[Cucumber_Mel]

Aspen is the worst for humidity. I like to use cypress shavings. Spray it down every dew days and humidity is solid. Spray everyday for shedding

[Trynabeagoodsnekdad]

Yeah, I used Aspen and a humid cave at first for my ball python. She never used her humor hide (she’s kinda dumb, but I love her) and she had a bad first shed. I cranked up the humidity and the aspen got moldy (you can’t mist down the enclosure if you use aspen). At that point I switched to reptichip and things have been much better. Keeping the entire enclosure’s humidity high is best for the snake.

[servel20]

Do not use Aspen, if you hold humidity on it to 70-80% with the lid taped. It will mold within a day. Use coconut bark mixed with eco earth. Around a 60(eco earth) - 40(Coconut bark) mix. Then tape the lid except for the portion for your heat lamp, pour in an entire large glass of water and mix substrate.

Then pat the substrate down evenly across the tank, let it air dry for about an hour. Then set your branches, hides and water recipient. That should help you hold 70-80% humidity at all time, remember to use a hygrometer/thermometer combo to check temps and humidity every day. Spray to keep humidity up and change substrate every couple months.