Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchased a tropic-aire reptile humidifier because of my previous difficulty in maintaining constant humidity levels. The humidity in my ball python's enclosure now flucuates from 70%-80%

I recently purchased a tropic-aire reptile humidifier because of my previous difficulty in maintaining constant humidity levels. The humidity in my ball python's enclosure now flucuates from 70%-80% ...is that too high?? Will my ball python suffer respiratory problems from that humidity level??

Here's a couple of URL's with some info on humidity. I would lower the humidity to 45-65%, but that's IMO.

http://www.newenglandreptile.com/CareBall.html
Providing proper humidity for ball pythons is important, but as stated previously too much humidity can be as problematic as too little. First off, let's establish "humidity" as the amount of moisture in the air. To provide your snake with a humidity level of 50% - 60%, you have a couple of options.

http://www.anapsid.org/ball.html
Humidity and Ball Pythons
Ball pythons are native to very warm, but not hot, dry areas in Africa. Many people make the mistake of trying to keep them in a too humid overall environment, using damp sphagnum moss or misting them frequently throughout the day. The problem with this is that keeping the overall environment damp leads to conditions such as blister disease where in the skin, usually of the belly, becomes covered with blisters, leading to bacterial infections of the skin, which in turn leads to overall health problems.

In fact, all a ball python needs is an area within its dry enclosure to which to retreat when it requires higher humidity. One way to accomplish this is to provide a water bowl large enough for the snake to soak in when it wants. Depending on the ambient room (and thus enclosure) humidity, this may be enough, or may be enough during part of the year. Another good, safe option for a ball python is a humidity retreat box.