Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First off, I wanted to say thanks to Fred for answering my last question. =D

I'm confused at what humidity level is required by balls. I always thought they were tropical/moisture loving, so I used to mist the tank all the time. However, on anapsid.org it says that they actually need dry conditions, and of course wet substrate will cause illness. So, I stopped trying to raise the ambient humidity and instead added a moist box.

My question is, do I need to raise the humidity from the room level it's at now if he always has access to a humid hide? If I do, I can buy a Tropicaire humidifier like I just got my BRB. But, this will require that I cover the mesh portion of the lid. Will health problems result from this?

I'm just confused because bad shed after bad shed leads me to beleive that he still isn't in the right conditions. But I don't want to get the cage so tropical that it causes health problems, either.

~Very confused...

PS~ I am going to get the vet to do a fecal the next time he poops.
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...So many snakes, so little time...
Don't litter ~ Please spay and neuter your cats and dogs!

Below is a link with humidity information on Ghana. It looks like it dries out a little in the Northern Hemisphere’s winter so it probably isn't so bad that our furnaces dry out our homes then too. All in all I would have to say it's pretty darn hot and humid there but I'm not sure which part of the country is the heart of the wild ball python population.

Depending on where you live it might be very difficult to maintain proper humidity in a screen top tank. If you must use this type of cage try to cover most of the screen with plastic.

I hatched a ball in 2001 that has consistently been a poor shedder from the start, I’m thinking it might be genetic in her case.
Ghana Weather

I normaly keep the humidity at around `-p exept when she is in shed then i raise it 2 about p-€

i M sorry my coputer or I did something wierd I keep it around `-p and when Smo'ore is in shed then I raise it 2 about p-€.

I M sorry sorry something happened but I normaly keep the humidity around`-p but when she is in shed I put it up higher 2 about y-€.

HOPR THIS HELPS

I M sorry

I think of them as coming from a tropical place with rainy seasons but mostly I think of the fact that they go into burrows. I go with a dry cage but with a damp box all the time. The damp box is their 'burrow'. The rest of the cage is dry substrate. I have my adults in 50 breeders...which I love the room but hate the screen top. So I cover it with plexiglass too if they are getting dry. I only mist the moss box, not the rest of the cage.
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Sonya

My snakes never seem to use a humid hide when I provide one, so I try to raise the ambient humidity. I think it is fine to do that, of course you don't want the snake sitting on wet substrate, but that's pretty much the standard for all species, tropical or not. Just sitting in 65% humidity isn't going to hurt the snake. What you don't want is stale air, you need some airflow to keep fungus, etc. from growing.

Also, I would not recommend anapsid.org as a resource. A lot of the info there is outdated or simply incorrect.
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-audri
Webpage/Pics

Ball Pythons may come from a overall dry climate but they spend a good portion of their time underground in burrows or under termite mounds where the humidity has been measured at around 80-90% I use a rack system with plastic boxes with air holes punched in the front and back. The top is covered with the shelf above. I also use cypress mulch as a substrate. Cypress is nice from the standpoint that the top layer stays fairly dry while the layers underneath can be quite damp causing the humidity to be high without the snake actually sitting on wet substrate. I use newspaper for all of my snakes EXCEPT ball pythons where I use Cypress. Since I switched to cypress, I have complete full sheds every time.

Also. Anapsid.org is Melissa Kaplans web site. Melissa may know something about iguanas, but quite frankly she doesn't know jack about snakes. None of her care sheets about snakes have been upgraded in many years and I wouldn't trust anything I read there.

VOT