How Do You Increase Humidity

[hockey9934]

Vector had 2 bad sheds in a row so we went out and bought a hygrometer.
His viv is a 30 gal tank with a screen top. There is a large water dish inside ,more on the warmer side under the heat bulb. The humidity in the tank is 30%. From what I read here it should be 40-50%.

How do we increase the humidity to get it up where it belongs?

 

[Baba-Lou]

Try placeing his water bowl on the hot side.

 

[jazzgeek]

Another way is to mist the tank once or twice a day when you first notice Vector is in blue to the day he sheds....no big investment, you can get a misting spray bottle at Wally World for about 3 dollars, tops.

And yet another way is to create a humid hide; add wet (but not soggy) paper towels or sphagnum moss inside Vector's hide areas.

Have you done anything regarding the current "bad" sheds? Is there still old skin on the snake from the prior sheds?

regards,
jazz

 

[schilsound]

Another note to follow up on jazzy and baba's ideas; this is the time of year that a lot of retailers are closing out on their winter items and moving into spring/summer. You should still be able to find some pretty good deals on hot/cold mist humidifiers. These can be used to raise the relative humidity in a single room if you're lucky enough to have it dedicated to vector: This would be useful if your schedule made it unable to check the other items used in the different humidity-raising techniques, or if you don't have a spaghnum supply readily available, etc.

And let me put a pointing neon sign to the geek's last question:

Is there still old skin on the snake from the prior sheds?

. . . Because if there IS still skin on the snake it's not a dire emergency, but it's crucial for his safety and continued well-being that you deal with the issues carefully and quickly to avoid serious complications.

The treatment is simple; my personal favorite is to warm a washcloth with some tap water, grasp the snake, and let them run through your towel-covered hand to soften and slough off the dried skin pieces that weren't part of a properly shed skin with no pain or discomfort to the animal.

Not only is it soothing to have the itchy skin off but the snakes I care for usually respond favorably to the welcome combination of mild pressure and warm sensations.

It almost makes me feel like a snake midwife. Almost.



You can also use this as a preventative measure; one or two days after you notice vector has gone blue you can start the "warm towel bath soaks". Not only will this not hurt him [unless he has some dislike for handling and thrashes about causing trauma, etc], but it can be a way to find that extra pet handling/familiarization time when simply picking him up without a soothing hot bath will again lead to more stress and so on.

So hope that helps. . . and let us know what Vec [can i call him vec? I know we just met ~sHrUg~] is up to.

[one final note to the Donald Fagen fan; I would appreciate the honor of being forewarned should you consider purchasing a male hypo het ANYTHING corn to be imminently tagged with the monniker "Sherriff Bart" anywhere in the near future. I'd prefer not to choke to death on my vampire-shift snacks anymore. Thanks!

". . . But this is my breedin' hand . . !"]

 

[Rorryy]

Like the others have suggested create a moist hide with paper towels or sphagnum moss (my personal favorite). You may also try placing the water dish on the warm side (sounds as if you have done that) and covering a portion of the screen with a towel or plexiglass. I recently cut a piece of plexi to fit 1/4 of the screen on our RTB's viv and the humidity increased dramatically. Just be sure that you have enough air flow/exchange if you try that. Best of luck to you and yours!

 

[zwyatt]

covering a portion of the screen with a towel or plexiglass.

This is what I was thinking. Using a towel over part of the lid will help to hold in some of the moisture.
Also, from what I've read, overly dry tanks are not a new phenomenon for people who use heat lights, as they tend to dry the air. If possible I would try to use just a UTH if you can get by with it. Unless you are in a very cold place, a UTH should be plenty to keep your snake comfy. And moving the water bowl more toward the side of the UTH will help to increase the humidity as well.

 

[pasam]

This is what I was thinking. Using a towel over part of the lid will help to hold in some of the moisture.

I put a wet towl over a potrion of my Boas cage when I need to bump it up, be careful it can really up it.

 

[Cora]

it gets really dry here in the winter, and I find that while misting raises the humdity temporarly, I need to put a moist hide in the viv when I notice that they are going to shed, otherwise no matter how often I mist they still wont shed completely! so keep your eye open, if you mist and the humidity levels fall quickly make sure you put a hide in.

good luck getting the humidity up!

 

[skullmaster]

i just put a wet paper towel under his hide when his eyes clear and spray it damp when it dries a bit...i used to spray the whole tank but i find this easier

 

[Lore]

Moist Hide

I've had total success with Moist Hides. I have photo's of a Moist hide that I use in my 10 gallon tank, I have a bigger version that I use for my larger Corn.

Here is what I do to give you an idea. Other members have described my method as a "moist resort"

 

[hockey9934]

I appreciate all the replys. Addressing some of the suggestions and comments,

The water dish is already pretty much under the heat lamp which is needed. A UTH will not suffice in the winter.

I think I will try misting and/or a moist hide. I need to get him a better hide first. After both bad sheds we put V in water and let him crawl through a wet towel which worked great for getting the old skin off.

V stays in my son's room and both could probably use more humidity but I will try the other suggestions first.

I am going to try a moist towell over a part of the screen as soon as I get off the computer.

Silent Lore: What is your moist hide composed of, both the shelter itself and whats inside?

I appreciate the help and will report back on the results.

 

[brownsfan222]

With my boas cage, I just put a towel over about 3/4 of the top screen and spray the inside every day or whenever the humidity goes below 50%. When I get her a bigger cage I am going to build her a big humidity hide if she needs one. Depends on how well her cage keeps humidity.

 

[jenkva]

I've had total success with Moist Hides. I have photo's of a Moist hide that I use in my 10 gallon tank, I have a bigger version that I use for my larger Corn.

Here is what I do to give you an idea. Other members have described my method as a "moist resort"

Thanks for that, it is a good idea for mine when she is in blue.

I have a couple of questions:
- do you have that only when your corn is in blue or permanently?
- to keep it wet/moist, do you spray the inside or just replace the material (kitchen towel??) which is inside?
- does the material even fall off? I would hate to have a flattened Freya...lol

 

[diamondlil]

With the moist towels, I read a thread on another forum which cautioned that there can be some problems with bacteria growing on the towels, so maybe if using them it would be a good idea to rotate to a fresh towel every day?

 

[ChiaraMom]

i use moist towels and my kiki has never had problem with shedding. to rid of possible bacteria problem i put the towel in boiling water twice a week. but BE VERY SURE that your snake is not in the towel! i always got a huge panic when putting the towel into the water. now i always check three times that kiki is really NOT in the towel.

i also used moos sometimes when it is really dry in the room. but once i found an ant crowling from the moos and since then am apprehensive about moos. are the micro creatures that must come with moos harmful for snakes?

 

[Cycal]

My humidity runs low in my room also. Right around 20%.

Bradley has only shed once since ive owned him, however it was a dang near perfect shed (just a lil' left on the tail tip).
I pretty much used an old dark colored t-shirt to cover the heated side of the tank lid, and sprayed down the viv about 4 times a day. Doing this kept it between 55 and 60%. I also kept a moist paper towel stuffed in his warm wide that i changed out daily.

Not sure if this would be overkill for corns, but i found this on a ball python site...
DIY Humidifier

 

[hockey9934]

To give an update, I put a moist towell on top of his screen last night and this morning the humidity had gone from 30% up to 48%. I am hoping this will be sufficient to keep the humidity at this level and that the higher humidity will stop the bad sheds.

 

[3330PHILIP]

I always have a smaller water dish at heated end and a bigger water dish at cool end. Never have any bother with shedding at all!

 

[Jimmy Johnson]

simple solution

I think I saw it mentioned to try a larger water bowl but one thing I didn't see was to cover most of the screen top.
Cut a piece of cardboard to cover 1/2 to 3/4 of the screen and this will help hold the humidity up a little higher.
You'd be surprised how well that works.

 

[jenkva]

I think it is more the case of combining it all.
I have a 26g tank and I covered half the screen top above the water bowl to keep the humidity but it raised it only 3% but when I sprayed the substrate as well I got a raise of a total of almost 10%. When Freya was shedding, I was spraying morning and evening and she had a full shed.

Currently she is not shedding and with just with the cardboard and without spraying I have just 39/40%.

Good luck!