Proper Humidity for a Ball?

Hi Everyone,

What is the best way to provide the proper humidity for a Ball? I have him in a 20L tank with a screen lid and aspen as the substrate. I have read two different books, and either really covered humidity at all.

(Hydrogen Cricket) -- I have done research on balls, before you lose your mind!

If anyone can help me I would appreciate it.[b]

Get rid of the aspen. Switch to cypress mulch or newspaper. Keep it as you do now until it is opaque then mist the tank and snake daily until it sheds and/or give it a hide area filled with damp substrate.

Thanks Evan,

I appreciate the advice. I'm going to switch to newspaper, but just curious whats with the Aspen? Why is it bad?

Awsone web site by the way?! Do you ever go to the Taylor Reptile show?

Aspen isn't bad, I use it for colubrids, it just doesn't work very well for balls because it gives you no flexibility on humidity. If you get aspen wet it molds and gets nasty. With cypress or newspaper you can keep the animal clean and dry, spray when it is going through shed and once it sheds you can throw the newspaper away and go dry again or let the cypress just dry out on it's own. It's easy and it works. Thanks very much. Just re-did the bulk of the site. Still have some pics and text to get done. I have not been to the Taylor show in years. I took high end balls, retics, boas and others there before and had little luck selling so now I just save my stuff and do a couple large shows a year and sell an animal here and there on this site. Evan

Evan,

Thanks again, I think I'll go with Cypress. When you have a chance, one last question, or opinion. Sorry to take advantage of your expertise!

Do you prefer live mice or frozen? I personally dont care, just want to do whats best for my ball. Someone mentioned to me that if I feed them live food they tend to stay aggresive and are not as easy going to handle? This didn't sound real logical to me? I do know a little about reptiles in general.

Thanks again Evan. Let me know if you and Henry come up with some cool phases....

No problem. It is nice to get them on frozen. It is much cheaper and more convenient but most balls will either not eat frozen thawed or will go back to live after doing frozen thawed for awhile. That is just how they are. Henry is just kicking off a bunch of spoken word shows in europe today. I'm here cleaning snake cages. That makes it clear who the smart one is, eh?

Thanks Evan, I will try frozen and see how it goes. If you want I would be more than willing to put a link on my site for you, or a banner if you use one? Let me know..

Thanks Tim. I don't use banners but if you want to put up a link that would be great.