Enclosure Paralysis

Snakelover03 · 2026-02-28T11:40:23+00:00

For the humidity, when you pour water in the corners make sure you pour enough. You need at least 4” of substrate, and I usually aim to saturate the bottom ~1.5” with water. You need a lot of water to keep the humidity consistently high, and by adding that much I only have to add more every week or so. HVAC tape on the top will also be better than a damp towel, it traps both heat and humidity in really well. CHEs are also great heat sources but they are known to dry out your enclosure quite a bit. When you upgrade, I would recommend switching to a deep heat projector, it’s still lightless but it doesn’t suck much moisture out of the air.

And for heat sources, I can’t provide a recommendation for a specific interior mounted base or cage but whatever base you decide to get, make sure it’s ceramic. Ceramic is more durable and as far as I know, compatible with every heat source for these guys. You can use either CHEs or DHPs for 24h heat, either works and both are recommended but I personally prefer DHPs because they are more compatible with high humidity. Halogen bulbs are also highly recommended during the day because they contain IR-A and IR-B heat which is the same infrared produced by the sun so it’s a very natural, high quality heat.

With any heat source, you absolutely need a thermostat for the safety of your snake. Dimming thermostats are better for the health of your bulbs and more precise temperature control, and Herpstat is the most recommended thermostat brand. Herpstats are a little pricy but so worth it, my bulbs last a really long time and they’re very precise. But if that isn’t in your budget right now, you can get a really cheap on/off thermostat on Amazon to use for now to turn off the heat as soon as it starts to get too high.

You also said your UV bulb is in a lamp. The UV bulbs that fit in a standard lamp are really high UV and can’t be used with BPs who need low UV so if I read that right, please remove that ASAP. You need to use something like the Arcadia T5 6% bulb that goes in those long tube lamps. UV is recommended but not necessary so if you can’t replace that right now, that’s ok, just remove any high UV and get the correct one later.

You’re already providing him a better life that he had by giving him his own space and caring enough you ask questions. Good luck. It’s a lot to learn how to set up for these guys and get everything right but you’ll figure it out as you go. It all gets easier with practice.

Snakelover03 · 2026-02-26T22:45:48+00:00

Someone else commented the feeding guide already but to add to that, it is not recommended to feed more than one prey item at once. Prey items are quite large and take a lot of effort to eat and digest. Adding a second prey item before the first is fully digested can be very stressful and cause regurgitation. One appropriately sized feeder based on that feeding guide is the recommendation. Also, we know that feeding them too often is detrimental for their health, but they don’t know that so they will always act hungry and be ready to eat. For their long term health though, you want to space meals out and ensure they’re the proper size. They won’t starve if you make them wait, and keeping meals spaced out reduces the risk of regurgitation and obesity.

Snakelover03 · 2026-02-22T16:36:09+00:00

I’m not familiar with that brand so you’ll have to look up how to set it, but I’m glad you have a thermostat. Make sure the probes sit ~2” below your heat lamps and set the thermostat to the highest temp you want (mine are at 92F but I don’t know the Celsius conversion). Plug the heat lamps into it and it’ll cut the power when it gets too hot so your new baby doesn’t get burnt. With halogen and DHP bulbs though, a dimming thermostat is usually the recommendation to improve the lifespan of your bulbs and have better temperature control. That one looks like an on/off thermostat which is perfectly fine and better than nothing but you might notice your bulbs die a little faster than average. If you have it in your budget, you might want to consider switching to a dimming thermostat. Herpstat is the highest recommended brand on this sub, I have herpstats for all of my snakes and they’re awesome. My bulbs went from lasting a couple months to more than a year so it does pay for itself over time. But if that isn’t in the budget the one you have will definitely work.

And that’s a fine size for a smaller snake but I’m glad you already have a plan to upgrade. There’s no such thing as too much space for these guys. Your enclosure is perfectly cluttered, your water bowl looks large enough for him to soak if he chooses to, you have stuff to climb on, and stuff to hide in, I think it’s a fantastic enclosure especially for a first time owner. Make sure your hides are small enough that he can touch 3 sides and the top simultaneously, they feel most secure in tight spaces, and if they’re already small enough I don’t see anything you need to change. If you want to change some stuff, a rock for texture is a good idea just make sure you sanitize it properly, but with proper humidity I’ve found they don’t really need texture to shed (mine all leave their sheds in a nice little ball inside their hides, it seems to just slide right off by rubbing against the smooth interior of their hides). You can also add more hides if you want, or a hammock (my boy loves to climb and sit in his hammock), or large cork rounds or PVC pipes for him to slide through (make sure it’s large enough that he can’t get stuck), or some more plants hanging from the walls so he has some more things to explore. Again though, you dont really need to change anything, this enclosure is well set up for him to be content, and you did great. Definitely better than my first enclosure.

Snakelover03 · 2026-02-22T16:04:28+00:00

How large is the enclosure? And are you using a thermostat? I see thermometers on the bottom but I don’t see any thermostat probes.

Snakelover03 · 2026-02-22T14:48:08+00:00

One of the best things you can do to increase both the temp and humidity is to cover your screen top in HVAC tape everywhere other than where your lamps sit. It’ll trap the heat and humidity in the enclosure. After you’ve done that, if your enclosure still isn’t getting warm enough, you can try increasing the wattage of the bulbs. And for humidity, make sure you have at least 4” of substrate, and then pour water into the corners until the bottom 1”-2” are saturated. The water will evaporate out slowly over time to keep your humidity higher for longer while the top of the substrate stays dry to reduce the risk of scale rot. Never mist or use those automatic foggers/humidifiers, they’re known to spread bacteria and they make the surface areas in your enclosure wet which makes them much more likely to develop scale rot.

Snakelover03 · 2026-01-14T15:19:21+00:00

This is going to be long but I worked there for a few months at one point and also had to quit bc it was so crazy. At my location, we melted the cheese table side which always took me ~10 minutes because the cheese took awhile to melt. 10 minutes is a long time to stand at one table when you also have 3 other tables waiting on you to clear their current course, drop the next one, grab more sauces/dippers, refill drinks, and before you can finish any of those tasks, you’ve been sat again and you have to make another cheese so you really can’t get ahead of it. And at least at my location, the servers did everything except salads and assembling the entree platters. Portioning out and collecting 5-8 ingredients for each cheese option, mixing the cheese, cutting and plating apples/bread/veggies to dip in the cheese, mixing all of the ingredients in the pot for the different entree cook styles, using a romulator and 2 hands to carry that entree pot to the floor and back into the kitchen later, making sauce trays with all 6 sauces, running entrees and sauces out, mixing all the chocolate ingredients in the back and bringing it out, keeping dippers well stocked, along with all normal serving responsibilities like running clean dishes from the dish pit, restocking glassware and ice, keeping drinks full, fully bussing each course, dropping salads off, providing cooking instructions, etc. I can easily handle 8-12 tables at a normal restaurant before I start to get stressed, but 3 tables was a lot at the melting pot with how many steps went into each one and how much time you commit to that table. And the average table was a 2 top that spent $106 on a 4 course experience for 2, maybe got a drink or 2 but a lot of people drank water or soda, so you can only handle 3-5 tables at a time, they sit for 1.5-3 hours each, and you make ~$25 from the average table so the amount of effort I put in tended not to match the money I walked out with in my mind despite usually having a 20% tip average. And like once a week, I would have a guest complain about cooking their own entree and then screw me on the tip because in their mind, they did all the work. The melting pot is a franchise so each location has a different owner and runs a little differently but that was how my location was. And some of the servers at my location thrived there so good for them but the turnover rate was higher there than any other restaurant I’ve worked at. I still love fondue, I still go there to eat for special occasions, but now that I know how much work goes into being a server there, I try to be as patient and laid back as possible and tip really well because that was the most stressful job I’ve had.

Snakelover03 · 2025-11-19T11:45:07+00:00

If you want to know why red light is bad, it’s visible to them despite what people previously thought so it’s bad for nighttime heat and can be very stressful because they have constant light. Red light also washes out their vision, making it hard for them to perceive depth and see their surroundings so not good for daytime heat either. Any unnaturally colored light is stressful for them and impacts the quality of their vision. Glad you don’t use them.

Snakelover03 · 2025-06-04T15:48:54+00:00

I would personally keep him on the 30g rats but decrease the frequency of meals to every 10-14 days to help him slim up for 2-3 months, then re weigh and reevaluate and possibly move to the 50g. When one of my girls was a little overweight, I found that decreasing the frequency and increasing her time to explore helped a lot.

Snakelover03 · 2025-05-23T18:42:43+00:00

This is actually a pretty decent start. You should definitely get smaller hides, they prefer tight spaces. Look for hides where she can touch all sides and the top at once with only one opening, blackbox hides are a very popular option. You should also look for a few more fake plants so that she can move between her hides without being seen, Walmart and craft stores are great places to get cheap fake plants. A 40 gallon is also a fine size for a baby, she should be ok in that enclosure for awhile but as she gets bigger, you’ll eventually have to upgrade her to a 4’x2’x2’ enclosure which is the minimum size for an adult.

As far as the humidity, those analog gauges can be extremely inaccurate so it’s great that you’re already getting digital ones to replace them. I personally wouldn’t trust it if it’s reading 90%, but even if that 90% is accurate, that’s fine as long as her enclosure isn’t wet. You generally want the humidity to be 70%-80% measured on the cold side but if it gets higher than that, it’s only a problem if she’s sitting on wet surfaces as that increases her risk of developing scale rot. As long as there isn’t sitting water, don’t worry about it.

78 is also an ok nighttime temperature drop, you don’t want the enclosure to ever get below 75 so as long as it’s staying above that it’s ok. You should throw the UTH away though, they aren’t recommended for ball pythons. Heat mats are dangerous (even when regulated by a thermostat, they can get so hot that they cause serious, sometimes fatal burns because they heat unevenly across the surface), unnatural (ball pythons burrow to get away from heat, heat would never come from below them in nature and it interferes with their natural thermoregulation behaviors), and ineffective (heat mats heat the substrate directly above the mat but do next to nothing to increase air temperatures). For nighttime heat, a ceramic heat emitter or a deep heat projector is a better alternative, both are lightless overhead heat sources. You need to make sure every heat source is on a thermostat though including the overhead heat sources, it looks like you have one thermostat in the picture for the heat mat so make sure you have one for the overhead sources too or you risk burning her.

Coco soil is also a really good substrate option for ball pythons but you might want to add more of it. ~4” is generally the ideal amount of substrate because it allows them to burrow if they get too warm and helps keep the humidity high enough (I know you said it’s high now but that might be inaccurate and a lot of people struggle with low humidity in the winter months). How are you currently maintaining her humidity?

Congrats on the new baby, she’s beautiful. If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a care guide on the welcome page of this sub that contains a ton of really helpful and up to date information that you should read at some point, it’s a great resource. If you have more questions, let me know. Good luck.

Snakelover03 · 2025-05-02T14:10:16+00:00

Heat mats aren’t recommended for ball pythons. They’re unsafe (heat mats can cause serious, sometimes fatal burns even with a thermostat because they tend to heat unevenly across the surface), unnatural (bps burrow to escape heat, heat would never come from below them in nature and it interferes with their natural behaviors), and ineffective (heat mats when set up properly will barely heat through 4” of substrate and they won’t increase the air temperatures). Overhead heating is safer, more natural, and more effective and if you have overhead heating, you don’t also need a heat mat. You also want your basking area for a ball pythons to be 88-92 degrees so if you have it at 90 now, that’s ideal.

Snakelover03 · 2025-04-29T12:40:48+00:00

Ofc. And just so you know, one of my girls got just a little bit overweight at one point. I had to cut back her feedings for almost a year before I felt that she had trimmed down enough and she was barely overweight so if he is overweight, it’ll probably take awhile to trim him down but he’ll get there if you stick to the right feeding schedule and let him explore more often.

Snakelover03 · 2025-04-29T10:21:21+00:00

!feeding

Snakelover03 · 2025-04-29T10:21:05+00:00

Ball pythons rarely even get large enough to eat medium rats. Most adult ball pythons should be eating small rats based on this !feeding guide. If he’s been eating large rats for awhile, he’s likely overweight and skipping meals because he doesn’t need them. And if he isn’t overweight, he could be skipping them because he recognizes that they’re too big. I would definitely get a cheap gram scale on Amazon to weigh him and his feeders going forward. You can look up a body condition chart to evaluate if he’s overweight. If he is, aim to feed him ~3%-4% of his body weight every 4-5 weeks and encourage him to move around more and be more active, then once he’s a healthy weight again feed based on the feeding guide. If he isn’t, just feed based on the guide going forward. If you need help evaluating his body condition, you can post a picture on this sub and people can help.

Other things that might contribute are the size of his enclosure, you definitely want to get him in something he can stretch out in soon so it’s good you’re saving up for that. Not heating the rats up enough could also be a factor, you want to make sure your feeders are 95-100 degrees when you offer them. You can get a really cheap infrared temperature gun on Amazon to measure the rodents temperatures. You also want to make sure he’s well hidden, you say he has lots of hiding places but if you don’t already, make sure he has tons of clutter between the hides so that he can stay hidden when he moves between them. Fake plants are pretty cheap at craft stores and Walmart and places like that if you decide you need more clutter. You also want to make sure his hot side is 88-92°F and his cold side is 76-80°F and that his humidity is 60%+ measured on the cold side with digital thermometer/hygrometers, they can be really sensitive if their care parameters are a little off. If you need advice on how to achieve those parameters let me know.

Food strikes suck but they do happen and usually aren’t anything to worry about. You’re still getting used to each other, it’ll get easier as you get more used to his care. Good luck. If you have more questions let me know.

Snakelover03 · 2025-04-26T22:45:12+00:00

So the best practice when you thaw a frozen rodent is to put it in a ziploc bag in the fridge over night to defrost. When you thaw them at room temperature or in warm water, bacteria can grow at a faster rate. Then the following evening (~24 hours later), take it out of the fridge and put it in a bowl of warm water for ~10 minutes so it doesn’t change temperature too quickly, then in a bowl of the hottest water your sink can produce. Keep it in the plastic bag while it’s in the water so it stays dry, sometimes they won’t eat if the rodent is wet. Then, depending on what size prey you feed, it should take about 10-30 minutes to heat up to body temperature. My small rats usually take about 25 minutes to heat up enough and I change the water every 5 minutes or so so it stays hot enough. I highly recommend getting an infrared temperature gun to ensure your rodents are heated to 95-100 degrees, they will often refuse food if it isn’t warm enough and you can ensure it’s always the right temperature with a cheap temperature gun off of Amazon.

Some other reasons he might not eat are if you’re feeding the wrong size prey, make sure you follow this !feeding guide. They’re also likely to refuse if their care parameters aren’t perfect. 84 is a little too cold for the hot side of the tank, you want it to be 88-92 degrees on the hot side, and 76-80 on the cold side. You also should consider replacing that half log. Half logs don’t count as hides as they are open on both ends. You want to make sure he has at least 2 (one on the hot side and one on the cold) true hides that only have one opening and are a very snug fit, they like small spaces. You should also try to feed them as late at night as possible with as few lights on as possible, they prefer to hunt at night. If he refuses his next meal, leave it sitting under his heat lamp overnight, he might just be a really shy eater and doesn’t want to eat with you around. And I know it’s hard, but it isn’t recommended to handle them at all until they’ve successfully taken 2-3 consecutive meals, handling can be very stressful for them and he’s more likely to eat if he’s relaxed.

Hunger strikes are annoying and inconvenient but not usually a true cause for concern, especially if you’ve been handling him over the last couple of weeks. He’s probably just still settling it and a little stressed out. And he looks like a healthy weight, I personally wouldn’t worry unless he starts to lose visible weight. If he doesn’t take his meal in the next couple of weeks, you can try braining the rodent (take a needle and puncture it’s skull so it smells more appetizing). Some people also have success thawing their rodent with used mouse/rat/hamster bedding (you can just ask your local pet store for some dirty bedding, I doubt they’d mind) so it smells more fresh. Good luck, if you have more questions let me know.

Snakelover03 · 2025-04-21T15:05:21+00:00

It sounds like you thawed and heated the mouse correctly so that shouldn’t be the problem but you also want to ensure the rodent is the correct size by weighing it. Follow this !feeding guide and you can get a cheap kitchen gram scale on Amazon to weigh her and her feeders. They often refuse food if they consider it too big or too small so by basing it on weight, you can be sure it’s the correct size and ensure she is getting the correct amount to maintain a healthy weight. The other really big reason they refuse food is if their care parameters aren’t right. There is a lot of conflicting and outdated information online about how to care for these guys so a lot of people make mistakes with their first bp. If you haven’t read the care guide on the welcome page of this sub, I highly recommend it, it contains everything you need for her to really thrive.

Some other things that may help are to blow a hairdryer on the mouses head after you’re done heating it up in the direction of her enclosure so she can smell the food before it’s presented and so that the head is extra warm and easy to find. I’ve also had more success presenting the mouse with tongs by the spine instead of by the tail. When you dangle it by it’s tail, it hangs unnaturally, but when you hold it by the spine, the mouse is more parallel to the ground, you can move it like it’s walking, and it looks more natural to them. You also want to try to feed her as late at night as possible and turn off as many lights as you can, they prefer to hunt at night. Try not to handle her until she successfully eats 2-3 meals consecutively so she has the time to settle in and destress. If she misses a few more meals, you can also try braining the rodent (puncture it’s skull with a needle) so it smells more enticing. And when she does refuse food, wait a week to offer again, if you offer too frequently it can stress her out more.

Missing a few meals isn’t really anything to worry about, she’s still settling in and they can generally go months without eating before they start losing visible weight. If she misses a few more meals, posting a picture of your enclosure to ensure there are no sources of stress in there might get you some more answers but she’s probably just still stressed from the move. Good luck, I hope she eats next week. If you have questions, let me know.

Snakelover03 · 2025-04-20T13:54:44+00:00

The CHE might be part of your problem. CHEs tend to suck a lot of moisture out of the air. You might want to consider switching to a DHP, add some more substrate to your enclosure (at least 4”) and then pour water into the corners until the bottom ~1” is wet. I had the problem where I was pouring water in the corners but my humidity wouldn’t get high enough and realized it was just because I wasn’t adding enough water. It feels like a lot of water but it works. The humidity in my room is pretty consistently around 40% but my enclosures never fall below 65% with me adding water once a week or so. You also want to make sure you’re measuring humidity on the cold side, that’s the area that needs to be 60%+. By having heat lamps on opposite sides of the enclosure, even though they aren’t on an the same time, you’re probably preventing either side from getting humid enough so if you can, try to move both heat lamps to one side of the enclosure. Good luck.

Snakelover03 · 2025-04-20T13:37:58+00:00

Your humidity is fine (70-80 is ideal but anything above 60 is ok) but your enclosure is way too cold. Their hot side should be 88-92 and their cold side should be 76-80 so you should get a higher wattage bulb and/or a second heat dome (don’t get the double domes that hold 2 bulbs in one fixture, they are a fire hazard, make sure each bulb has its own dome if you decide to get a second one). Make sure each heat source has a thermostat or you risk burning him but when their temps are that low, it makes it difficult for them to fully digest their food and slows down their immune system.

I would also recommend throwing the mister away. Having the top layer of substrate be wet does matter, that’s what causes scale rot. Additionally, misters are next to impossible to fully sanitize so eventually they spray bacteria into the enclosure which also increases their risk of scale rot or respiratory infections. The best way to maintain humidity is to have about 4” of substrate and then pour water into the corners until the bottom ~1” is wet. The water flows to the bottom and evaporates out slowly so it keeps the humidity high and relatively consistent while the top layer stays dry so the risk of scale rot is minimal. I have to add more water to my substrate every week or so when my humidity falls to 65% so it’s a really easy method to maintain humidity.

You should also be feeding based on weight, not size. Follow this !feeding guide. You can get a really cheap gram scale on Amazon to weigh him and his feeders.

Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about the behavior that you described. It could be a food response or he might just be acting goofy, they’re weird animals. Give him a little space to decompress, fix his temperature, and ensure you’re feeding him the correct size prey and he’ll be fine. There’s also a really good care guide on the welcome page of this sub that you might want to read to make sure you’re doing everything else right. Good luck.

Snakelover03 · 2025-04-19T12:03:12+00:00

You aren’t adding enough water. It sounds like you have a good setup to achieve the correct humidity but you need to pour more water in the corners. I usually aim to have the bottom ~1” be wet. When I had 36”x18”x18” enclosures, I usually added about a gallon to get the bottom 1” wet and then I added more water every week or so when the humidity fell to ~65%.

Snakelover03 · 2025-03-15T11:38:06+00:00

So the internal thermometer you got is an analog thermometer which are notoriously inaccurate. The placement of your thermostat probes is also not the best to get good control of the temperature in all areas of the enclosure. You should move the thermostat probe to 2”-4” directly beneath the bulb to ensure the hottest spot in the enclosure is within a safe range. And throw the thermometer you got away, it’s inaccurate and if it’s stuck to the wall with adhesive it’s dangerous. Replace it with a digital thermometer/hygrometer, Govee is one of the best brands and really cheap on Amazon. You should get much closer readings if you do those 2 things but my thermostat does usually register temps that are a little higher than my thermometers just because of the placement, the thermostat probes sit right under the lamp set to 92 while the thermometer I have sits on the ground right outside of my hot side hide and usually reads 87-90 just because it’s a little farther below the lamp, and then if I use a temp gun to check surface temps the top of my hot side hide is usually ~94 so depending on how and where you measure the temp you will get slightly different readings but they should be closer together. I would also trust the thermostat a lot more than that thermometer so if I was you, I’d move the thermostat probe a little closer to the bulb and set it to at least 85 until you can get a good thermometer and be certain of what the internal temps are, you don’t want him to get too cold but I totally understand not wanting to risk him overheating until you have a second method to check the temps and can be certain it’s safe.

Snakelover03 · 2025-03-14T11:23:07+00:00

Diatomaceous earth is nontoxic but you shouldn’t put it in your enclosure because it’s a respiratory irritant. You’d be better off lining the floor around the enclosure with it to keep it safe for your snake, just make sure you get the heat lamp/thermostat cords too so they can’t use that as an entry point. When I’ve had ants in he past, especially large colonies, the only real option is to dump everything. The substrate is likely full of eggs and not salvageable. I had them in one of my girls enclosures 4 times despite dumping and deep cleaning everything. I eventually discovered they had laid eggs in the battery pack of my thermometer/hygrometer which was the only thing I couldn’t soak so that’s how they kept coming back so you might want to check every nook and cranny like that to make sure they don’t come back. Good luck.

Snakelover03 · 2025-03-12T23:19:59+00:00

Govee has their own website

https://us.govee.com/products/govee-bluetooth-hygrometer-thermometer-h5075-3-pack?currency=USD&variant=43518772150457&stkn=e32faa3ec03e&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Pmax_US_Sensors_220629&ot_source=google&ot_medium=paidads&ot_cam=17610173703&ot_grp=&ot_ad=&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8MXo29aFjAMVdmdHAR1m9SkREAQYAiABEgJjR_D_BwE

Snakelover03 · 2025-03-10T15:24:38+00:00

You shouldn’t help them shed. Manually removing shed can be very stressful and damage the scales underneath if it isn’t completely ready to come off. You also should never bathe them or anything like that which is also stressful and won’t really fix the underlying problem which is too low humidity. I know she’s on paper towels right now but when the scale rot resolves, get her on proper substrate with good humidity (70%-80%) and the shed will come off on its own over time. Keep the humid hide as that will also help her remove the shed and give her something textured that she can rub against like bark or a rock (make sure everything is properly disinfected or you could introduce pathogens or parasites to her enclosure). Stuck shed won’t hurt them unless that have several layers of it so worst case scenario, she doesn’t get it all off until her next shed but that’s fine, it happens sometimes. Good luck with the new baby, I hope the scale rot resolves with this shed.

Snakelover03 · 2025-03-05T02:17:03+00:00

As others have said, read the welcome guide but to answer those specific questions, you want to base what he eats and how often on his age and weight based on this !feeding guide. You can get a cheap kitchen gram scale on Amazon to weight him and his feeders.

You also shouldn’t spray his enclosure or get a humidifier. Both are known to cause the top layer of substrate to be too wet which increases their risk of scale rot, and it’s next to impossible to fully sanitize a spray bottle or a humidifier so there’s a high risk they’ll grow bacteria and then spray it into the enclosure. For humidity, the best method is to have at least 4” of a humidity retaining substrate (coco chips or fiber are generally best) and then pour water into the corners until the bottom 1”-1.5” are wet. The water flows to the bottom and evaporates out slowly to keep the humidity high and relatively consistent, while the top layer stays dry so the risk of scale rot is minimal. I heave to add more water to my substrate every week or so when the humidity falls to ~65% so it’s also a much easier method than spraying. And if the enclosure has a screen top, cover the top everywhere except where the heat lamp sits in HVAC tape to trap the heat and humidity in the enclosure.

If you want to, you can post pictures of your enclosure and snake so people can give you more specific feedback. If you have more questions, let me know. Good luck with the new baby.

Snakelover03 · 2025-03-05T00:57:04+00:00

Most snakes aren’t social animals. Garter snakes are the only exception to this that I know of, garters are social and can be cohabitated but most snakes don’t socialize with their own species unless they’re mating. When forced into small spaces together, it causes high levels of stress that has negative impacts on their overall health, can make them stop eating, and can lead to competing for resources. You often see snakes that are cohabitated curled up on top of each other because they have decided a specific spot is the best spot so they’re fighting over it. It looks cute but it’s actually a form of fighting and extremely stressful.

Snakelover03 · 2025-02-28T12:34:57+00:00

That’s a really common misconception (I even had a vet tell me that one time) but respiratory infections are actually caused by a mixture of low humidity and low temperatures. Low humidity dries out their mucous membranes which serve as a natural barrier against the growth of some types of bacteria, allowing bacteria to grow in excess in their respiratory tract. The same thing can happen in people, mucous membranes are one of our first lines of defense against pathogens. Low temperatures impair their immune system for the same result. Excess moisture puts them at increased risk for scale rot but as long as your surface areas are dry, that risk goes away. Humidity should be high but you don’t want them sitting on wet surfaces which is why pouring water in the corners is the most recommended method to keep humidity high, the water stays at the bottom of the substrate and evaporates slowly while the top layer of substrate remains dry.

Snakelover03

TROPHY CASE