Reader Questions: Ball Python Humidity

Posted by Sarah on September 29, 2008

Ariel emailed me last week with a question, and agreed that it was ok for me to share it with you.

If you have any advice please let us know! 

Thank you!

Here is Ariel’s Question:

Hello, I adopted a ball python in need of a home a couple of moths ago.  She’s about 1.5 years old and is kept in a 29 gallon tank. I have been having problems getting the humidity in the tank high enough and as a result, she doesn’t shed properly.

I heard that the humidity should be between 60% and 70%. To keep the tank more humid I put it in my bathroom. After I take a shower it gets to 60, but that’s the only time.  the rest of the time, its between
30 and 40.

I have a black light on the water dish 24/7 and a lamp in daylight hours. I also mist the tank with a spray bottle. What else can I do to raise the humidity? and preferably get her out of my bathroom (which was small to begin with).

And here’s my response.

Hi Ariel, thank you for reading the blog.

How big is your water bowl? A larger water bowl, or a second water bowl at the other end of the tank might help.

We had our ball pythons in a 75g for a while, and the only way that we could keep the humidity high enough was to have a 2 pretty large dog water bowls in there. 

We’ve moved the snakes into their own 30X30 square aquariums with a wood lid with 2 large holes cut out and covered for ventilation, and now the water bowl normally keeps the humidity around 60 without us having to worry about it.

We also use an infrared light and an under the tank heater for heat because they aren’t supposed to dry the air out as much – I’ve heard some people say that if you have a light it’s really hard to keep the humidity up in the tank.

What are you using the blacklight for?

I hope this helps and you can figure out how to get the humidity high enough for her soon.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and if this helps.

Ariel’s response:

The water dish I’ve been using is about 7 inches in diameter and is filled with .5-1 inch of water.  It is directly under the black light witch is the heat source day and night. 

At one point, I had 2 dishes of water under the lamp, but it didn’t seem to help much. 

How much would one of these under the tank heaters cost?  I’m in college right now so my finances are somewhat limited.

Thank you very much for your time, and I’ll see if I can make any more changes to increase the humidity.

And my response:

Ariel, the under tank heaters are less expensive online – we got ours in a couple of snake kits that were on clearance at Petco, and then we got a repti therm under tank heater from Drs. Foster & Smith. They are on sale for $11.99 for the 10-20 gallon size, and $21.59 for the 30-40 gallon size.

Unfortunately they don’t have one specifically for the 29 gallon tank.

I hope this helps!

If any of you have any advice that could help Ariel please leave a comment!

Thank you!

What’s in your snake cage?

Posted by Sarah on March 19, 2008

Sheila and Monty want to know what’s in your snake cage?

 Right now we’ve got substrate, a water bowl, driftwood, and a half log hide, and another water bowl turned upside down for a hide.

What’s in your snake cage?

Snakes, the easiest pets?

Posted by Sarah on March 10, 2008

I overheard someone saying that snakes are the easiest pets the other day.

You know, they really are!

All you have to do is give your snake a proper habitat, make sure it has fresh water every day, and feed it once a week or so and you’re good to go.

The snakes are the only pets I don’t worry about when we go on vacation – as long as we have someone stopping by every few days to make sure the power is still on, the heat light hasn’t turned off, and the snake has water you’re good to go. 

If you’re not worried about that stuff then you don’t have to have anyone stop by.

We made sure that we had chameleon sitters before we got the chameleons, and I’m still nervous about leaving them.

With the snakes its no big deal.

What do you think is the easiest pet?

Monty

Posted by Sarah on February 5, 2008

Here’s a picture of Monty exploring his new cage.

He comes out a lot more in the 30 gallon tank than he did in the 75 gallon tank, and it’s a lot more fun to see him more often.

Do snakes drink? Of course they do!

Posted by Sarah on January 12, 2008

I don’t know why, but I love to watch my snakes drink.

The first time I saw Sheila in the water bowl, I didn’t know what she was doing, but as I moved closer I saw her mouth opening and closing slightly.

 Then I realized that she was drinking.

 It was so cool!

Unfortunately, by the time I can get the camera to try to take a picture or a video she’s gone.