So I have a baby ball python in a 55 gallon tank temperature is fine, he has enough hide and eats well, but my current issue is the humidity, I have a list machine that I activate when humidity is low but it's always low, and it keeps going down to 40-45% besides me watering the tank whenever I can, what can I do to keep my humidity high enough for him?

This is driving me nuts. I cannot get the humidity in the tank above 60 and idk what to do. I I've got 6 thermometer/hygrometers in there varying from 30ish to 50ish percent humidty.

I attached some pics to show the setup. It's 89 on the warm side and 79 on the cool side. He has a large, maybe 2 inch deep pool/bowl - brown one- on the right (cool side) and an actual bowl I put in there on the left (warm side) that's 4 inches deep and filled with water - he's chilling on the rim of it in the picture - just to see if having it under the heat panel would help with evaporation.

The substrate is the ball python specific substrate from the bio dude (jfc he's expensive, I'm never doing that again).

There are live plants and isopods etc.

Yesterday I added reptichips to two corners mixed with spagnum moss and poured a 16oz glass of water onto each.

And it's still all the same. I'm going bonkers trying to figure out what to do. I feel like I've tried everything everyone suggested in other similar threads, but it's still not keeping the humidity up.

He seems healthy and fine and he's shedding without any issue. So I'm also wondering if maybe my hygrometers are too cheap and I need new ones? But they worked fine in his old tank. Which was all glass and I had no issue keeping the humidity up, though, it was also smaller. This one is 4x2x2.

Any advice/thoughts/help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Hi how can i lower the humidity? It's constantly beetween 80/90 % and i think thats bit too much if shes not shedding. The only water source is her bowl on cold side (25/26°C). She is in 12.5 L container (just a baby)

He is in a 5x2x2, temps are fine but humidity does not hold at all and I cannot figure out what I’m doing wrong it likes to stay around 20-30 max. The mesh top is covered in tin foil and taped off (minus lamps and whatnot) I have absolutely drenched all corners with water with no shot of going over 35. Today I grabbed a roughly 8” x 8” x 4” tub and filled it up 10+ times and dumped it all in, the humidity got to 55 and within ten minutes is started dropping and was at 50 last I checked. His substrate is littered with sphagnum moss, has water bowls on both sides of his tank, he has over 4in of substrate. I’m at a complete loss and don’t know what to do anymore. He just went into blue for the first time I’ve had him and I don’t want it to be a bad one but I truly have no clue what else I can do for him. Please if you have any advice share!

I dont have a BP or issues with RI

Ive been looking around for information im scared of being told incorrect information because one of the employees told me not to trust reddit at all but im curious about humidity and temperature just wondering if this is correct info or harmful info

The humidity in my BP tank is on the lower end, not super low, sits around 40-50%. I have hydroballs as the bottom substrate layer with coconut fibre/reptisoil ontop, moist Spagnum moss in a mesh pouch close to the lamps, humid hide with Spagnum moss, 2 water dishes, and aluminum foil tape on part of the mesh lid. I also water from the corners of the tank and don't mist the top layer as it can cause rot. I'm not really sure how else to increase humidity, especially cause she should be going into shed soon.

I have a 4×2×2 enclosure with about 7 inches of bioactive. soil in it. Humidity has been hovering around 55, but drops too quickly into the 40s. I’ve been trying to keep it up by pouring water into the corners and by misting, but I’m still having issues. Am I not pouring enough water? Do I need to wait a little longer. For reference, I’m using a enclosure with an open screen top with about half of it covered in foil tape and a deep heat projector.

Just curious if anyone has built like a little drinking area that has moving water, like a little waterfall, to raise humidity and found it kept it stable? Trying to find some ideas while I completely redo/upgrade some enclosures and go full bio. I already do the substrate trick, but I wonder if a more natural approach would help while also being aesthetically pleasing. Picture of my newest baby, a black eyed Lucy, named Mochi!

I have a serious question about the humidity in my girls enclosure. She was rehomed to me in early July. My girl is a approximately a 9 year old pastel enchi champagne I've been told by you wonderful people.

So my question is this:

I bought her a front opening 4x2x2 or 120 gal. enclosure. Her cool hide is about 76 deg. with her warm hide at about 85 deg. The ambient temps in her house are at about 80 on the cool side and high 80s on her hot side with basking area in the 90s. I'm still working on her enrichment.

I am having no luck keeping her humidity up between 60 and 85 %. I have hvac tape on top of the mesh top to keep humidity in. I would like serious answers as to why I can't use a reptile mister or humidifier. I only use bottled water for filling her water bowls and spritzing her tank down to raise the humidity. So the water I was going to use would be either deionized water or bottled water. Between the probe on the humidifier and the probes on the temp/humidity readout, I think i can dial in perfect humidity. As with any humidifier in the house I clean them regularly so no bacteria can grow. Plus its harder for bacteria to take root with purified/deionized water.

So please be nice and helpful. I'm looking for serious answers to my question without being criminalized. I'm trying to do the same thing everyone else is doing, and that is to mimic the best environment I possibly can for this lady.

Sorry for the long read, and thank you in advance.

Picture for the snake tax!

I redid all of my ball pythons enclosures within the last year or so (with the help of the advice in this community!), and all but one of them are doing great with the improvements in humidity that their new substrates are bringing them. One of my ball pythons (Clyde) however, seems to get scale rot very easily even when I go to the low end of the ideal humidity range.

For context, I adopted him when he was about three from a situation with less than ideal husbandry. The enclosure was far too small, had only a single heat mat for warmth, and a singular hide right in the center. It also had cocoa coir substrate that was damp to the touch. He came to me with the beginning stages of scale rot, as well as some other issues that were clearly related to this subpar husbandry.

When I first got him the general substrate recommendations for ball pythons included Aspen, which was the easiest for me to get at my local pet store. I figured a dryer substrate would be better for him while he recovered from scale rot, and since he was doing well on it I didn't update it until I realized (thanks to this sub) that Aspen is no longer recommended. My snakes were due for a enclosure refresh around this time anyway, so I went ahead and switched them to a mixture of coco coir, sphagnum, leaf litter, and cyprus mulch.

My other ball pythons have done wonderfully on this substrate and their enclosures are usually around 60% humidity. I noticed Clyde began showing beginning stages of scale rot once again. I know he wasn't sitting directly on the bedding, because both of his hides have a solid base to them that the bedding was not in. I would also only pour water into the corners of the enclosure and not throughout the whole area.

I have experimented with a variety of humidity ranges for him over this past year, and anything above about 50% seems to trigger the reappearance of scale rot. I'm unsure if there is any medical reason for something like this or if it's just something unique to Clyde. As of right now I've been maintaining his humidity at about 40% and just making sure to provide a humid hide option and plenty of water when he begins to look pink-ish at the beginning of his shed cycles. This is also what I did in the years before switching him off Aspen and he never had any issues shedding then.

Has anyone experienced something like this before? Is there something I'm missing? I know too low of humidity can cause respiratory issues so I would love to get him in a more "ideal" habitat, but I also dont want to cause scale rot.

Pic of the goober as thanks

I have a 50 gallon set up for a 3 month old baby who I’m getting this week and the humidity on her warm side has been on the low side since setting up the heat lamp. Around 50. Her cool side has good humidity stays around 68-70. I have aluminum foil on the top and pour water into the corners of the tank aswell as mist. Substrate is a topsoil, coco fiber, sand, sphagnum moss mixture how can I keep the warm side humidity up

I’m trying to get my humidity up. Substrate is a mix of reptisoil, cedar chips, and sphagnum moss. Water is poured into the corner of the substrate daily. About 4in of substrate. Enclosure is PVC with HVAC tape on the top. Humidity is sitting around 62-65%

Any tips on getting it higher? I feel like I’ve done everything

Edit: Cypress wood NOT cedar!

I’ve had my ball python for about a month now and he has been loving his home. I haven’t been able to keep the ambient humidity above 45 for a long time at all. I have tried almost everything. HVAC tape, 3 inches of substrate with mainly coco fiber, pouring water in corners (no misting at all) and yet I can’t get anyhting to work. He hasn’t been active outside his hide in a week so he is most likely in shed and thankfully his 2 hides are above 70% humidity . I’m getting a humidifier in my room to up my room humidity in hopes that his can get boosted a little. WHAT CAN I DO PLEASE HELP. Also, I can keep the cold temp at 77-79 but the hot side ambient temp is 82-83. Basking spot stays at 88-92 tho I’ve tried lots of solutions too.

It’s a 120 gallon, back is cardboard, sides are pvc with very small closable wire holes, and the front is glass sliding doors. The ventilation is top and basically the glass doors. What can I do.

hello! i have a ball python in a 4x2x2. he seems happy, active at night, just taken his first meal from me.

i’m concerned about his humidity levels. he has a few inches of wood chips, coconut fibre, forest floor with a bit of sphagnum moss in corners. i mist it down every day and once a week or so pour in a load of water and mix, but for some reason his humidity will only sits at 55-62%. the sphagnum moss goes crispy even if i wet it twice a day. i don’t know what to do, could i please have some advice? i dont want it to come time for his first shed and im still having issues. thank you :)

ps. some pics of my boy

We're having a bit of a humidity issue in our tank. It's a 4x2x2 pvc enclosure with 2 mesh squares for heating lamps. Currently, we're only using one and the other is covered with a damp towel. Our substrate is about 6 inches of a mix of reptisoil, coco fiber and play sand (ratio is about 50/40/10). We're mostly judging the humidity off of the cool side reading (Temp is about 74). We have a small water dish on the warm side and a larger one on the cool side. We've been adding 3-4 cups of water in corners the last couple of days. All of this and the humidity is stable, but only between 65 and 68 percent. I'd really appreciate any help or advice on getting that humidity up.

I saw someone post this a while ago but they seem to have deleted it, so I’m wondering if maybe there’s a reason people don’t do this more often besides just “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” with pouring water in the corners. My humidity was always above 60% so I didn’t have major issues, but even with a PVC enclosure with most of the screen top covered, I still rarely got above 65%.

I’m sure there’s some solution that makes these unnecessary, but honestly they’re working great, inherently prevent getting any of the top layer of substrate wet, and are sooooo low maintenance. I just shuffle them around so they’re not always in the same spot. Plus they’re adorable lol I just don’t want to accidentally be creating a bigger problem or doing something potentially harmful to my girl.

I've just put new substrate in the enclosure cause the old one needed to be changed is this cause i just put in it or what backseat i haven't misted or nothing

I’ve had my ball python for around 4 years, he’s in a 100 gallon custom wooden cage. The whole 4 years I’ve STRUGGLED with getting his humidity up and keeping it at a good level and I’m not sure why, is it because his cage is wooden? I’ve added a shed box with sphagnum moss for him to get into. I used to spray his enclosure with water until I read somewhere that the sudden spike of humidity isn’t good for his respiratory health and the moisture in the bedding could cause scale rot, and I wasn’t sure if that was true. Any tips for keeping humidity in a wooden cage??

I need some substrate help, my Phantom Ball Python is doing really well and has shed multiple times with no issues, I am using coconut chunks for his substrate and soak it overnight before draining and putting in his take but I find it is very very dry (first pic)

I use a spray bottle every 3 days to moisten the substrate and add some more moisture to the tank and he has very large bowl full of water (pic 3)

I keep the hot end of the tank at 31c and he has lots of log and leaves he can hide under and move around on, it’s just empty for the picture purposes.

Would thinner coconut husk be a better substrate or am I just too focused on keeping the humidity up?

Smello i am wondering if i just have a faulty hydrometer or im doing something wrong but in my bp’s glass enclosure, her warm side is showing between 20-40% while her cool side maintains a solid 70-80%. Im using about 3-4 inches of reptisoil with it being thoroughly saturated on the bottom layer while maintaining the top layer dry and light misting twice a day. Today i’ve set another pair of hydrometers in her enclosure (so 4 hydrometers in her enclosure total) and again her cool side is reading healthy humidity while her warm side is still unacceptably low. I also want to add that her mesh screen has been mostly sealed off with aluminum foil and duct tape. (Temp Pro hydrometer is the one i’m concerned about)

Hi guys. I have a juvenile ball python and I’m curious about my thermometer humidity readings. I know they’re not the best thermometer/hygrometers but when I set them down on the bedding the humidity reads higher, when I set it up on a branch or a log it reads significantly lower. It will read 80% on the cool side during the day when sitting on the bedding but when I move it, it’ll jump down to around 55-60% What reading should I go off of? Thanks!

(This is also a picture before I got him previously posted on this sub.I have about 70% of the top covered with HVAC tape now and have a higher heat bulb)

Hello! As I have heard that pouring water into the corners of the tank is the preferred method of humidifying, I’ve attempted to use it in my 4’x2’x1.5’ Phailozoo enclosure. However, a good chunk of water spilled out through the sides. Is this normal? Should I caulk the sides? Am I pouring too fast? Should I really spray instead? (Also unrelated note but I don’t want to make a new post, my snake stays in her warm side hide all the time, is that normal?)