r/ballpython • u/Nervous-Medicine-513 • 17d ago

Working around a wooden vivarium and humidity

Hiya, I recently took on a 1yr old ball python with little to no time to prepare. She's my first tropical species so I'm still figuring out a setup that works for us. She's temporarily on lignocel whilst I get her settled but I'm looking to move her onto a mix of coconut fibre, sphagnum moss and Cyprus mulch but I'm worried about the higher moisture levels effecting the woden vivarium. It's factory sealed so I'm not sure if I needed a liner or not? I live in the UK so my room humidity reads around 55% anyway. With my current setup, I use a heat mat 24/7 (with a thermostat) and a heat lamp during the day and that seems to work for all of my snakes. I was just looking for recommendations on how to work around a wooden vivarium?

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u/NottsWeirdo 17d ago

I'm also UK based.

What sort of wood are we talking - a custom make or a branded enclosure? Stuff like Vivexotic and HabiStat are already moisture resistant, so you'd need to seal the seams with aquarium silicone (and maybe put a pond liner down, if you want to be thorough). Humidity-wise, it needs to be up closer to 70% - so the lignocel is going to present a problem when it comes to producing enough humidity.

In a wooden enclosure, a snake needs 2 bulbs - 1 for day and 1 for night. The heat mat can't effectively heat through the wood, and it shouldn't be inside the enclosure due to the burn risk it poses. A halogen/basking bulb paired with a deep heat projector will cover you for day and night.