Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i keep my subadult ball in a 45 gallon long tank with a 100 watt heat lamp. I hardley misted at all but never really noticed any signs of humidity problems. Recently my python has had 2 bad sheds and I read up and noticed that it was a humidity problem. I use cyprus mulch that hasnt been changed in a while and i am confused about methods of spraying and tank covering etc. I recently put in a humidity indicator. If you could post anything about improving humidity to what it is supposed to be as opposed to the 30-40% that i have been keeping it at, it would be greatly appreciated.

also my ball has refused a live and prekilled mouse. Would this be because of low humidity?

Im sorta new at this, but from what i have read, low humidity definitly can be attributed to the bad sheds, also low humidity stresses out the snake apparently, and a low humidity can result in a loss of appetite. I am struggling with the same situation as you and am looking for ideas to keep up the humidity too!

I hope this helped..even a bit!

Going off feed can be natural or not for a Ball Python, if he's been an agressive feeder up until now it could be the humidity.

I keep mine in a 55long and the only tank covering I had was a long black screen - well that doesn't help with humidity. I would cover the screen with duct tape and cut out holes for the heat lamp. I also keep two heat lamps on mine 24/7 on one end, with the waterbowl half under the heatlamp and half on the cool end.

To up humidity (besides doing daily sprayings) you can place a watering dish/bowl at the cool end of the tank (away from the heat lamp) and one directly under it, it'll evaporate the water and raise the humidity...but unless the tank top is covered it won't really get trapped and stay there.

Hope I helped
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1.1 Ball Python

When I used aquarium style tanks for display snakes I used newsprint, so I can't comment on the bedding spraying.

Nowadays this is what I feel aquariums are good for:

Notice the foam weather-stripping adhered to the top.
Then I placed a piece of Plexiglas over the top.

This worked great for me. I also positioned the water bowl over part of the UTH and it maintained 50% humidity regularly.
During sheds I misted every three days and it held humidity at 80%, again that was using newsprint.

TomChambers

thanks for all the help, i am going to use a sheet of plexiglass over a portion of the top and keep the water bowl under the light, and mist daily. How often should i mist and how much though? because i do not want to cause scale rot.

As i said I placed the water bowl slightly over the under tank heater, and my humidity was about 50%. 50% is fine when the snake is not in shed. During shed I only had to mist every three days to maintain humidity of 80%-85%, which is a good level during shed. I was using newsprint as substrate though, so your results should differ since you use a mulch substrate. Just get yourself a reliable hygrometer(to measure humidity), and play around with placement of the water bowl to see what levels you get. If you can maintain 50% without misting, then only mist during shed cycles. If you do set it up with the plexiglas you will be shocked by how well it holds humidity. Also, it cost me like $5 to modify a forty gal. breeder whith plexiglass and weather-stripping to spare.
good luck
TomChambers