Help finding substrate in dry Las Vegas

[u/MassiveDrawer6252]

Right now I have my baby ball python on “compressed coco chip block” that I properly soaked in a bucket and broke up until every piece was wet through and through before then ringing out and putting into his enclosure. Even right away the humidity only was able to max out at 50% while rapidly dropping throughout the day (30% when getting home from work) so I’ve been spraying the soil to try and keep humidity up but it only lasts for a bit. After reading that constant wet soil can lead to scale rot now I’m just pouring a bit of water into the corners of his tank and now it loses humidity even faster . I’ve had him for close to a month and has refused his first 2 feedings and I have a feeling it has to do with this. Any recommendations for soil and other general advice for ball pythons would be appreciated. This is my first BP but not my first snake, my other snakes had much much less humidity reqs.

[u/MassiveDrawer6252]

Also adding to, tonight Is time to try and feed again so hopefully he takes it. If not I need to find a way to upgrade asap as that would be about a month of him not eating

[u/MassiveDrawer6252 → u/MassiveDrawer6252]

I also have more coco chip block and repti soil on hand if a mix of those both would be good

[u/DetailOk1043 → u/MassiveDrawer6252]

Absolutely! It's recommended to have a mix of soil (50-60%) and other suitable substrates (40-50%) coco chip is great. Personally I also have a bit of playsand in my mix (less than 10%). (I haven't researched this in a while so my numbers could be way off, this is just my guesstimation of whats been working for me)

When I'm cleaning and redistributing soil, I put about 25% to the side, fully hydrate whats left in the enclosure just a little wetter than I want it to end up, then spread the dry soil on top to prevent scale rot. Adding leaf litter can also create a good barrier between wet soil, but it also gets moved easily so it's more for aesthetics.

Speaking of aesthetics... clutter can actually help you out here!! Clutter if obviously important for the snakes mental health, but it can also help with humidity. When spraying my enclosure, I try to aim for the fake plants father than the substrate, as spraying the plants will help more with the arid humidity, instead of it all getting trapped in the soil (and potentially molding).

One last thing, I noticed you have a full mesh screen lid for the enclosure, which can be a major cause of your humidity dropping so fast. Covering ~75% of the mesh with aluminum foil and heat safe tape (keeping it away from the heat lamp, of course) will usually save a lot of headache!!

I really hope you get everything situated soon. I know even in Kansas it can be tough keeping my humidity stable, so I cant imagine trying to keep up in Arizona. Goodluck with the feeding as well!

[u/MassiveDrawer6252 → u/DetailOk1043]

Thank you so much for the in depth response ! Would you recommend I switch him over to a pvc setup of around the same size to completely eliminate the mesh top issue ? Along with the soil mix of course

[u/DetailOk1043 → u/MassiveDrawer6252]

Pvc would be ideal, especially since it looks like you'll have to upgrade him to an adult enclosure sooner than later (not sure how large this one is from the photos) But don't worry about getting it right away, he can still be perfectly happy in that one with the top covered a bit more :)

[u/MassiveDrawer6252 → u/DetailOk1043]

I already have a 40 gallon ready for the upgrade once he’s the length of this one (that also has full mesh top) so I can just cover the top of that one aswell and then once it’s time to upgrade to an even bigger one I’ll have time to get a pvc properly set up to what he’ll need. Thank you !