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I am still a new owner of a ball python. I am having trouble keeping up the humidity. The cage currently has a T-Rex heating pad underneath the tank, a 100 watt light on top of the cage. I use forest floor bedding, with a water dish on the cool side of the cage, a hide box in the center, and piece of slate rock above the heat pad(which is also underneath the heat lamp). The temperature varies from 70-85 degrees depending how long i have the heat lamp on. THe humidity stays around 50%

I debating if I want to try a waterfall setup or a fog generator to keep the humidity up.

I am upgrading from a 20 long cage to a 4o gallon cage.

I have also found that my snake likes to climb. Any recommedations on what type of wood and how to seal the wood, when i build him something to climb on?

Thankyou for all the help.

>>I am still a new owner of a ball python. I am having trouble keeping up the humidity. The cage currently has a T-Rex heating pad underneath the tank, a 100 watt light on top of the cage. I use forest floor bedding, with a water dish on the cool side of the cage, a hide box in the center, and piece of slate rock above the heat pad(which is also underneath the heat lamp).

I would put two hide boxes in the cage, one on the heat pad end and another at the cool end of the cage. I would get rid of the light altogether, or switch to a fluorescent light if you really want a light.

You can spray down parts of the forest floor bedding once a week or so to keep the humidity up if needed.

Remember, Ball Pythons are natives of the dry grasslands and savannahs of west/central Africa and so don't require high humidity. 50% doesn't seem like it would be too low.
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Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

Are you saying that with the UTH on, but the 100 watt bulb off, the temperature in a 30”L x 12”W x 12”H cage gets barely above 70 degrees? And where are you measuring the temperature? In the air midway between the top and bottom of the cage? Directly on top of the UTH?

Regarding the humidity, the measure I use is how is the snake shedding? If the old skin comes off in one or two pieces, I know things are fine.

-Joan

Ok, I left a few things out of the last message, that I now feel like I should have put in. The humidity gauge and temp. gauge are in about centered in the tank. It is a 20 gallon long tank. The gauges indicated that the humidity was normally around 55% and the temp was around 70. About 2 weeks ago I noticed a clear fluid coming from his nose and mouth area, and that he was less active then normal. The day after I noticed the fluid, i bought the heat lamp to boost the temp. Being that I live in the Chicago area, we had our first real temp. drop that week.

I took him to the vet and he had two small hemorraghes in his mouth. I told the vet of the symptoms and cage setup and how i added the heat lamp. The vet gave me some directions on how to care for the mouth. And was ok with the setup. When first got him in March he was 77 grams and is now over 180 grams.

Being that i added the heat lamp, that dropped the humidity extensively, and bout a new electronic temp/humiditity gauge, and the sensor is in the center of the cage just above the bedding.

Thanks for all the help.

Your ball python won’t die from lack of humidity, but very well could eventually unless you keep that heat up. Covering up a lot of the screen top as has been suggested will help retain heat AND humidity. Use anything that won’t absorb moisture, even plastic kitchen wrap. It’s not very pretty, but you could put some sheets of styrofoam around three sides of the aquarium to hold in more heat.

Having a light burning 24/7 is probably stressful to any animal used to a day/night cycle. If you could switch to a ceramic heat emitter instead of a light bulb for heat, it would be better for the python and more efficient for you.

Compared with some other species of pythons, ball pythons are pretty tough critters. But they can’t put up with constant sub-optimal temperatures for long without developing respiratory problems. I always monitor temperatures in my pythons’ cages on both the cold and warm sides to make sure I’ve got a proper gradient.

-Joan

Cool, thanks for the ideas.

Matt

Glass tanks make it tough to keep the humidity in. I would look into a plastic cage like www.precisioncaging.com or www.theboaphile.com. Anyway, you can cover the top partially with styrene foam paneling or something to limit evaporation in the tank.

If it were me, and you must have that much to keep the heat good I would get a Ceramic Heat Emitter and use that. Then I would make a humid hide....Moss, misted to keep it damp, in a tupperware with a hole in the lid. If they want humidity they can go in there. Sheds are an indicator. I would also look for 'pepper specks' in the water bowl.....which would be drowned mites.
Sounds like he is doing well otherwise.
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Sonya