Hi everyone, I’m new to Ball Pythons… 1 1/2 months in. As heading says I’m just Dazed and Confused on how to care for my snakes. Yes, plural. I have a year old pastel female and a normal male 4-6 months.
I started out getting info on you tube then jumped on facebook groups. I hear 50-60 humitidy is good from Facebook and here. Then some readers say 50% is to low. They say 65-75% is good year round.
I heard on several you tube videos from several people that say to help get humidity up during shed to use a cool mist fogger (just clean it every couple of days). Now I’m getting info they can cause RI. Green Room Pythons laid out RI’s and said moisture does not cause RI but bacterial and viral cause RI infections.
I’m so dang confused and wondering if it’s actually worth it… (of course it is)… Part of the problem may be my OCD and wanting everything perfect.
Here is my current set up. My smaller male is in a 120 gallon zoo med terrarium, coco substrate 2 inches thick. Heat mate under enclosure and under large water bowl. Yes on a thermostat. Uva/uv lamp on timer. 2 ceramic heat emmiters on top each on its own thermostat to have more precise temp. gradiant, temps steady on hot side 86, cool 78. Humitidy stabile at 60%. My problem is, little dude is in shed, I could not get 75% to 80% humidity during shed. So bought a cool mist humidifier now easy to hold 80-85%.
Now finding out some say humidifiers are OK for short term during shed. Others say no way.
I know this is long, but man my brain is on information overload.
Is there a reputable book I can go by?
There is a lot of information out there, so it definitely can be confusing. Of the souces you’ve listed, I’d would agree with Green Room Pythons, from what I’ve seen of them their information usually is pretty solid.
People love to say high humidity causes respiratory infections, I’ve even seen it on here, but he fact of the matter is the regions ball pythons come from are known for having high humidity. If simply living in a high humidity environment caused respirtory infections….they’d be keeling over right and left. The information just doesn’t check out because you see data on average ambient humidity in regions ball pythons live in from the wild.
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That been said, I don’t like humidifiers or misters just because they can make the surface of your bedding damp and tend to be hard to clean, so they can grow bacteria and algae in there, which promptly gets sprayed all over your enclosure. It can be a tricky thing because while humidity itself isnt’ bad, warm humid conditions are ideal for bacteria growth, so you need to tread the line between keeping it warm and humid, but also clean
As long as your ball python looks visibily hydrated and isnt’ have difficulty shedding, you should be good.
I did in fact shut it off. I cleaned it today. If I run it for 5 minutes I get 70% and it stays there for a while. My house thermostat has the house at 23%. I have an extra digital timer. Going to get humidity up before leaving in morn. Set it to come on for 5 minutes at 11 am. Off till I get home. At least till little dude is done shedding.
Thanks for confirming green room pythons, I like his channel and strikes me as a dude that shoots straight.
Oh I did soak him for 10 minutes in Zilla Shed ease.
I am keeping door shut to hold humidity. I can’t just raise humidity in room because of all my guitars and amps in there.
Thank you
It really can be a jumble of information. I agree with what chesterhf said. And Green Room Pythons checks out well from me too. I like his work.
As long as the habitats are clean and the snake is shedding well, I wouldn’t stress too much. Humidity can be very frustrating depending on where in the world you are located.
I definitely prefer the hand sprayer for mine cause I can do a light mist around the animal but still can do a little soak and stir up the bedding elsewhere.
As long as you have a routine for rinsing/cleaning out the humidifier and use a reverse osmosis or distilled bottle water, you should be golden. I’d just monitor it for any of the worrying issues like was mentioned with any potential fungus/bacterial issues in the habitat itself. Or if the bedding becomes wet in one area from it then definitely cut back because that can lead to bacteria growth.
Being that I have never had to pay attention to humidity, a quick search on guitars and humidity they are best at 40-50%. Ran to Walmart and got a steam humidifier. My man cave is 27% so I can raise humidity in room. Plus my wife said her face was dry… Roflmao.
50% humidity in man cave will totally help my buddies.
I will stay on this site and GR Pythons, I got more help here than other places.
Rock on, Ride Hard and Slither softly!
Btw this ouhgt to be pinned somewhere. I know I am not the only one struggling in this area and Chesterhf provided proof that BP can have higher humidity all the time and not get RI.
One tip that helped out when I was first getting my humitidy good is deeper substrate. The magic bullet that worked for me that kept it up ner 70% was:
~2 inch layer of those clay balls that people use to grow orchids in (like these: Amazon.com )
~2 inch layer of lightly wetted coco coir
~1 inch layer of reptibark
And then what you do is when you notice your humidity dipping you carefully pour water into the corners of the enclosure so it makes it down to that clay ball layer without wetting your top layer. That way the balls and the coir stay really nice and moist and give off ambient humidity, but the reptibark makes sure your snake isn’t resting on wet substrate, which can cause scale rot.
It’s not perfect – it’s a pain in the butt come deep-clean time and I’m still working on how to separate the clay balls out for re-use easily and quickly (if they get mixed in with the coir by golly it takes an age to pick em out by hand). But it does keep the humidity up very well.
I would recommend going to a hardware store and picking up some window screen and then cut it to 1 inch bigger on all sides then the dimensions of your enclosure. It will still allow for water to pass through but keeps the substrate separate from the clay balls
Oh I love this, thank you! I was considering something similar with a mesh bag tailored to the dimensions of the bottom of the tank, but this does seem faster.
I agree with the deeper substrate comment, i’ve had mine on a thick layer of reptichips for almost 4 years now, and ive never had to monitor the humidity, and have never had any retained shed, and he almost always sheds in one piece. About once a month i will remove everything from the tank, add water to the substrate and mix it all up. I always take out some dry substrate beforehand, and afterwards place the dry substrate underneath where im going to place his hides so that he doesn’t have to lay on wet substrate. The top layer of substrate dries relatively quickly due to the heat-lamps, but the lower half or so doesn’t so it keeps the humidity up, while leaving the substrate he actually touches dry. He also has a decently sized water-bowl, so he has the option to soak if needed, but ive never actually seen him in it on purpose lol.
High humidity does not cause RIs, i think the reason a lot of people might think so is because often times the reason for high humidity is that they’re over-misting their enclosures which causes the surfaces to never dry out, which in turn creates a breeding-ground for fungi and bacteria, which do cause infections. But if the humidity is kept high due to something like a high relative humidity in your home, or a thick layer of substrate then it doesn’t cause any problems.
See this allot and being new to the hobby, now I know better.
Welcome to the forum! I know how confusing it can be trying to research and finding all kinds of conflicting information. This forum is a great resource, it allows you to interact with people who have a wide range of knowledge and experience and get answers to specific questions.
I don’t have a bp, but I have another species with similar environmental needs and live in a pretty dry climate. Personally, I’m not a big fan of automatic misters and foggers. In my (admittedly limited) experience, they’re more trouble than they’re worth in most cases. I just use a pump sprayer and give the substrate and decor a nice misting when I notice the humidity getting too low. In the winter when things are dry, I usually end up needing to mist once a day, sometimes every other day. (Though of course your needs may differ depending on the ambient humidity in your home.)
Does your enclosure have a screen top? If so, covering up some of that screen with foil tape would go a long way to maintaining proper humidity. Also, the CHEs are probably drying things out. You could try switching to a deep heat projector, which doesn’t dry things out quite so much.
You’ve already received some great advice, I just figured I’d throw those suggestions out there to keep in your back pocket if you continue to struggle with maintaining humidity.
My top is covered, my house humidity was 23%, raised humidity in the room and everything is perfect. Enclosure is a steady 75%. I was getting worried cause little dude has been blue for a week. This last week I did use a fogger to get humidity up. Now, no fogger needed. Relitive humidity in my house was biggest issue.
I agree about MorphMarket, I have got more solid advice here than anywhere.
Thanks
Just wanted to say Happy New Year 
and welcome to the forum!
Btw we love pictures!!! 
Thank you, Happy New Year. New beginnings and farewell to the old.
Welcome to the community, @llawen! You have gotten great input. Glad you discovered us. You will never be sorry. I just wanted to bid you hello, and let you know that I will be borrowing this:
Absolutely, use it. If you do make it happen captain!