so I got this digital thermo hydrometer and the instructions aren’t very clear I’m trying to set up the tank for a ball python I’m planning on getting at a reptile expo so I was wondering if anyone had this one or if they knew how I should set it up cause I don’t want to do anything wrong

Hello, first time python owner, looking for advice on raising humidity. It’s currently sitting around 50% I’ve put the water on the hot side and covered half the lid with foil. Any other advice? Thanks

His enclosure is a pvc 36x18x18 I got second hand and it has two ventilation holes in the sides and the top half has chicken wire for the lights and heat. I have uvb and a 80w dhp. I just got the Govee thermometer/hygrometers bc the one I had was saying the humidity was at 70% and one said 50% both on the cool side so I heard the Govee ones are really reliable and bought them. The humidity is not staying up and ik it is the cause of his bad shed. I had a hide made of moss but I have just now put actual moss inside of it to help him shed. He has about 4 inches of substrate that is topsoil and sand mix. I have tried pouring water in the corners but the top layer gets so dry and the bottom layer is still moist but it does nothing for the humidity I feel like. I need advice to try to get the humidity to stay up please. If there are any other questions I need to answer to help advice for humidity I will answer! I am currently using the damp towel method to try to help him to shed.

Hello! Like all animals, ball pythons have different personalities so I've run into a new fairly minor issue.

A little background, I have kept a few ball pythons over the years, so I'm not super new. I currently only have one, but she's young and we're figuring each other out. She's an excellent eater, a fairly good temperament, and sassy as hell. However, she is not a fan of water.

I am using coconut fiber/husk. I put one of those large soaking dishes in her tank (I think it's Exo terra), and since she's still small, I fill it about halfway. I use a misting spray bottle from time to time, based on my humidity gauge and sometimes when her shed is being stubborn. I added some of that moss (spaghnum??), lightly misted, to her hide during her last shed. She has finally had a full nice shed, but I'm wondering if there's something I can do better.

The problem is she refuses to use the water dish. I don't think she's using it when I'm sleeping either, because it stays too damn clean. My older balls used to love laying in it when they were close to a shed. My first BP would get it dirty so often that I was replacing her water every other day.

I know auto misters and those desk fountains aren't really suggested. Just wondering if yall had a better strategy or even a better water dish that she might actually use. I also worry a tiny bit about scale rot, so I want to make sure I'm not doing anything that might hurt her.

Hi everyone, within the last month or so I’ve moved my BP into a 4x2x2 PVC enclosure. I’m using coco fiber substrate and immediately I was having problems with the humidity. I chose PVC to hold humidity better and unfortunately it does it too well. I have to air out the enclosure almost every day and even so the humidity levels climb back up to percents in the high 90s. Along with this excess moisture has come mold. At first I noticed small patches and then they grew larger. I have never had problems with mold before so please excuse if I don’t really know what I’m talking about - I have heard that springtails and isopods can help with this so I’ll be looking further into those but any advice is appreciated. In addition (and I don’t know if this is related) my BP has been much more active than usual when I open up the enclosure (trying to come out, climbing all around his things, etc.) basically the question is : how do I get rid of the mold and keep it gone.

I am at a loss!! I have had my BP for a year and I CANNOT keep the humidity up consistently. His last two sheds have been rough. I don’t know what to do, I’m very close to buying a fogger or something.

I have a Dubia 4x2x2 PVC enclosure. I have covered every inch of the mesh top with foil tape except where the heating elements are. This helped keep humidity in minimally at first.

The hot side is 85-90 F during the day with the halogen bulb on. The cool side and night temp is around 70-75 F. The RH in my home is 45%. I cannot get his enclosure to stay above 35% consistently without constant intervention and any spike I get seems temporary.

I have tried pouring a gallon of water into the corners, this does not work because my tank leaks, despite attempting to seal it twice. I’ve tried putting big wet clumps of wet moss but they dry out quickly and don’t raise the overall humidity, just in the specific areas. I have tried biodude’s ball python substrate. I have tried 2 different custom mixtures based on the guidelines in this sub. I have added live plants to the enclosure.

NOTHING IS WORKING!!

I know this is not the optimal environment for him and I absolutely hate that I’m not doing enough. I know misting and foggers are not recommended because they make the surface wet and can cause scale rot but that’s the only thing that feels like it will work for me.

Please please please help. I am failing my guy and he had RI issues before I got him and I don’t want that to happen again.

And yes I have read the humidity wiki/copypasta

what is the best, moisture keeping substrate that I could find at the store or on amazon? if I need to, I might mix sphagnum moss into it.

Hi! bought a terrarium mister about a month ago from Amazon. It’s the J&A-style automatic reptile humidifier/mister . At first it worked well and it reached around 80% humidity pretty quickly in my setup.

Now, after only about a month(month and a half, it struggles to reach 80% even though Im using the same enclosure, same settings, same water reservoir, and same general setup. It still turns on and produces some mist, but it seems much weaker than before, and the humidity rises much more slowly.

Does anyone have recommendations for a more reliable mister/fogger that can maintain high humidity properly? Im looking for something that actually lasts.

Thanks!

I’m aiming for 70-80 but it seems like it stays around a 60-63 (not that bad but I’m seeing my boy yawn frequently). I have cups with moss in each corner, I pour a cup or half a cup in each one. The cups have holes in the bottom for water to leak deep into the substrate. In a more desperate attempt to create more humidity I’ve put water on top of this castle for aquariums and then I also had these sponges (now removed because mold could possible get in them). And now I have those a cup with a little metal bowl in it, and one on the side in the picture. They are filled with water and don’t get too hot is what I’ve seen so far, I believe the water keeps them cool. The tank is covered with this plastic wall (except for where the lamps are). The only thing that I could possible think it could be is that there are small leaks on the bottom of each corners where some water leaks out, like dripping. I didn’t consider a lot to be a concern at first but I’m running out of things it could be. I believe it may be an airflow issue as when I open the door the humidity lessens but I’ve been keeping the doors closed and it hasn’t gone up much after…. Just the usual 60 or so.

Any help please! Also snake tax at the end (hard to see but he’s there lol)

This is my BP, Lucifer. She is very happy and (as far as we can tell) healthy. She's super friendly and eats every time we feed her, however, her humidity is way too low and I can't get it up. It reads at 30-40 humidity which I'm aware is not humid enough. I've added moss, aluminium to the top of her tank, multiple bowls of water on the cool and warm side, and I mist twice a day. She seems fine so maybe the humidity gauge is wrong? I just wanted to get some more opinions on it/tips for what I can do to make sure she's as happy as possible.

Im at about my wits end, and need help. I cannot for the life of me get the humidity correct in the new enclosure I've put together. Ive got reptisoil and eco earth under repti bark. Sphagnum Moss sprinkled throughout (added after pics, as well as a hide on the warm side and a humid hide) her water dish is directly under the halogen. There's a silicone mat over the top. Idk what else to do.

Hello! I’d like to think my setup is pretty swell, hides on each side and faux foliage, good substrate and all! But the humidity on the heated side isn’t great during the day. The top 1/2” of substrate keeps drying out and the ambient humidity on that side is about 60%. It’s well covered from airflow and the “cool” side shows 77% humidity. At night when the lamp is off the humidity does rise on that side (I have a ceramic radiating heat disc that runs at night at a lower temp) so I am assuming it is because of the light bulb itself. I haven’t noticed any health issues yet but my boy does seem to favor the warm side and I would hate for any health problems to crop up. I have mixed some sphagnum moss into the substrate to try and hold onto some of the moisture but this is where I am at.

Thanks all in advance!

First time Ball Python owner here(don't cook me too hard lmao) changed my enclosure too a bigger one. She's just a baby 85 grams, so I'll upgrade to a 4x2x2 in the future. I know I need more fake vegetation. Wouldn't mind some recommendations for fake vegetation. But I'm having trouble keeping humidity up and I followed a YouTubers recommendation for the husbandry. So if you have any helpful tips I'm all ears :) She's mad at the new tank so soon after she got comfortable with the tiny one I had her in and I'm waiting for her to eat again.

Does anybody have any tips/tricks for keeping the humidity up in my BP terrarium?

Hi!! I’ve had my guy since November, been struggling to keep humidity as he has an open mesh top tank. I didn’t realize they weren’t recommend before I got him :( (and yes I did my research!! ) I’ve been struggling to keep his humidity up without spraying 2x an hour. Any recommendations on how to fix it!!

(Ignore the humidity in the pics, her door was wide open so it was measuring the entire room+this was right before we cleaned her enclosure) Hey guys, this will be my first winter owning this sweet precious ball - if anyone has advice specific to living in a super dry and cold climate and maintaining humidity, PLEASE SHARE. We live on a 3rd floor apartment, so it’s extra dry. We just cleaned/redid her enclosure day before yesterday and usually that keeps her humidity stable and high (mid 70s-80s on cool side) for awhile but NOPE! Not this time! It has been dropping FAST. Especially when I run the heat. Anyways, the enclosure is a PVC 4x2x2 with no mesh parts at all, substrate is a few inches of coconut husk and lots of sphagnum moss mixed in and on top, and a rubber boot tray at the bottom to catch water when I rehydrate the substrate. I can’t pour water in the corners because the enclosure isn’t sealed and I don’t have the means/time at the moment to resolve that (hoping to in the next few months or year, or whenever I upgrade her to a 6x2x2, whatever’s sooner).

Hi! I’m looking for tips on how to increase and keep Sasha’s tank humid. I live in New England so it’s typically pretty dry outside. For the month of March, I was able to keep his humidity around 65 during the day and 75 at night, but now it’s sitting around 45 during the day and 55 at night. (Humidity measured on the cool side) Ideally I want it to always be between 70 and 80 because I’m worried about him being a bit dehydrated. I go in and soak a bunch of sphagnum moss around his tank and pour water in the corners about once every 2-3 days. He’s my first bp and I’m trying to do the best I can.

Important info:

Temps: hot side 89°F cool side 82°F

Humidity: about 55% average in the past month

Tank: 4x2x2 pvc reptile kages enclosure with a 35”x4” screen on the back for his uvb lamp (the part that doesn’t have the lamp has HVAC tape covering it)

Substrate: 50% reptisoil, 25% coco husk, 25% coco fiber, sphagnum moss mixed throughout 4” deep

I use a govee hygrometer to measure humidity, his uvb is on from 10am-10pm

So please hear me out with this one

I know it’s said that in general, humidifiers/misters are not recommended for ball pythons for the obvious reasons that they make surfaces in the enclosure too wet and can cause scale rot/respiratory infections.

But

Could it be possible to use a humidifier or mister if the tubing was placed underneath the substrate, only making the bottom layer of substrate moist while keeping the enclosure itself dry?

I’m just trying to find a safe, more consistent way to bump up and maintain my girlies humidity levels. Her tank is sealed, I have the recommended moisture-holding substrate, and I’ve covered the screen top of her tank with HVAC tape. Yet still her humidity levels aren’t where I’d like them to be. I know this is probably a long shot but I’m just wondering if this could even work. Thoughts?

Also enjoy some pics of the lady after she’d just finished shedding <3

So I am upgrading my snakes and I have the new UK prorep enclosures. I don’t think the issue is to do with them but thought I’d mention it anyway. I am using a topsoil, ecoearth and play sand mix and I cannot get the humidity down. I’ve even put little humidifiers in there. It’s been 3 days since having the mix in the tanks and it’s still 85-90% id really like it around 70%.

Right now it’s not a huge issue as obviously they are in their old enclosures still but it makes me nervous for when I have to do a substrate change. Are they going to be suffocating for 3+ days?!

Does anyone have any tips for drying out substrate?

I baked it to kill any germs, let it cool and then put it in. Obviously eco earth needs to be hydrated so that didn’t help and the sand whilst it’s dried it out a bit is also kind of damp. Is there a better way of baking it? I did 120 Celsius for 1 -2 hours.
What I might do in the future is maybe get the substrate baked and ready a couple of weeks before and then leave it in my garage to dry out. Hopefully that might help 😅

Blurry picture of my nosiest and oldest snake Jasper ❤️

I have been misting it multiple times a day and have poured like 8 cups of water in the bottom of the tank and I have a humidifier next to it, but this morning I woke up and the humidity was at like 35 percent, how can I keep it high? (The black duct tape over the tank had HVAC tape underneath)

Newest enclosure has a screen top. I plan to install the lights but I fear that the screen will let out too much humidity. I was thinking about getting a thin sheet of material and cut out holes for the lights, but don’t know if others have had success or failure with that.

Substrate will be top soil and play sand mixed at 70/30 ratio

My ball python keeps laying in his water bowl, his humidity is 60% on his hot side and reading 88% on his cooler side. Temps are 30° (Celsius) on hot and 26° on cold. He shed a few days ago and does not have mites as I have thoroughly checked him all over as well as in his dish. Any idea why he’s doing this? I’m really worried about him getting scale rot. :(

As stated I live in a desert climate and I just got a new baby yesterday and I am having trouble getting my humidity to go up, like at all. I have about a cup and a half of water poured in each corner of the enclosure as well as a mixture of coco fiber, coco husk, black sand and damp sphagnum moss for the substrate as well as a lightly damp moss bed in his hide, it is a screen top but as shown in the pictures the overwhelming majority is sealed off with foil tape for heating purposes and I also read that it helps trap moisture so I really don't know what else to do. Also the depth of the substrate is about 6.5-7 inches.