One of the most challenging tasks for any pet snake owner is keeping the humidity where it needs to be in order for the snakes to not only thrive, but also to simply be content and healthy. Not all snakes require a great amount of attention to the humidity in their tanks or tubs, but many of them do. Especially tropical and sub-tropical species.

Why humidity is important to your snakes

Before we get too much into the hows of humidity it is important to take a look at why humidity plays a vital role to the well being of snakes.

First you need to realize that snakes do not adapt well outside of their natural environments. That’s not to say that they don’t do well in captivity, but that the place they are kept in captivity needs to mimic their natural range as closely as possible in terms of temperatures and humidity.

When a snake sheds higher humidity helps them to get their old skin off. If you’ve ever seen a snake that has old crusty pieces of skin stuck all over it there’s a good chance that the humidity was off (meaning too low) and caused the shed to not go smoothly.

On the flip side of the coin humidity that is constantly too high can contribute to scale rot and other afflictions which can put your snake into great danger health wise.

Beyond the concerns with health and shedding there is also the issue of comfort. A tropical or a sub-tropical snake is naturally more comfortable when kept in higher humidity than something like a Western Hognose would be.

Humidity needs of commonly kept snakes

In this section we’ll take a look at some of the more commonly kept pet snakes and show you what the normal range of humidity is for each snake both during shedding cycles and normally.

Species	Normal	Shedding
Ball Python	50-60%	65-75%
Carpet Python	60-70%	65-75%
Red Tail Boa	50-60%	65-75%
Burmese Python	50-60%	65-75%
Green Tree Python	75-80%	85-90%
Reticulated Python	50-60%	65-75%
King Snake	"Household"	"Household"
Corn Snake	"Household"	"Household"

The above chart is in no particular order and is not meant to indicate any one species of snake is better than another. As you can see the ranges don’t vary a great deal except in a few instances. If you’ve ever been to a large snake breeder who deals with more than a few kinds of snakes you’ll normally see them keeping their temperatures and humidity pretty even across the board despite what kind of snakes they might have on hand. This isn’t to say that humidity levels aren’t important, but it is to say that you have some leeway as long as you fall within the general ranges.

Methods of regulating and manipulating humidity for your snakes

Fortunately with a little effort getting and keeping the humidity at the levels you need them to be for you snake is actually quite simple. First you need to start with a basic understanding of what humidity is and what can affect it.

Humidity is simply:

Moisture; dampness; a moderate degree of wetness, which is perceptible to the eye or touch; — used especially of the atmosphere, or of anything which has absorbed moisture from the atmosphere, as clothing. - Source In plain English that translates to how wet the air is.

Airflow (wind), and heat are the greatest culprits when it comes to humidity issues for pet snakes. Both conditions cause evaporation which lowers the humidity. Controlling humidity levels in your snake’s environment is largely an exercise in controlling these two elements.

The first thing to consider is the living quarters you are going to give your snake. Most average consumers with pet snakes have them as display animals. By that I mean they enjoy looking at them. This of course necessitates the use of a glass tank. Often these tanks are large and elaborately setup. Then you have the breeders. They don’t have time to mess around with glass tanks and fancy setups. Their snakes are usually kept in plastic tubs in racks, or large very spartan setups. In between both of those extremes you have people like me who have snakes as pets and as a part of the family yet have no desire to deal with glass tanks. We tend to come up with solutions involving stand-alone tubs or specially made “cages” which take very little work.

By far the glass tank is the most popular habitat for the average pet snake owner so we’ll focus on that for now. The average glass tank setup has either a hood with a light fixture built into it, or a mesh screen. Neither of which lends itself too maintaining humidity levels. The first thing you should do is cover the top of your glass tank and size a hole just large enough for a heat lamp if need be.

The easiest way to do this is with some tinfoil. Get a piece large enough to easily cover the lid of your tank and tape it, shiny side down, to the lid. Some people use one layer, some two. I myself use and recommend two when I’m using a glass tank (which isn’t often). This one step alone should bump your humidity levels in the tank up by a good 8-12% just by virtue of it severely limiting the amount of evaporation that is occurring.

Once you have the top covered with foil you can always cut out an area just large enough for the heat lamp (if you use one) to fit. I’m referring to the round heat lamps in this case and not the hood systems. Using one of those would totally eliminate 95% of the benefit you get from the foil.

The other option is to have a piece of plexiglass cut and fitted to the top of you tank. It certainly looks much better than foil and isn’t really all that expensive. If need be you should also have a hole fitted for your light cut into the piece of plexiglass. It will only make your life easier.

What’s inside the tank has a large impact on humidity levels as well. Certain substrates help retain humidity better than others. Cypress bark for example is well known to help increase humidity levels in a snakes enclosure. The size of the water dish plays a role. The bigger (meaning wider in this case) the water dish is the more the water will evaporate and the more moisture is released into the tank and the higher the humidity gets. Place your water dish over the heating element in your tank will help promote humidity.

Where the tank is located also has an impact on the humidity. If the room is as dry as a set of bleached bones in Death Valley there’s a good chance your humidity will be difficult to raise. Or if you keep the room like a sauna expect it might be harder to lower. You want to keep the tank in a room that is kept at average temperatures and average humidity levels. The goal is to micromanage the environment of the tank not the entire house. Keep it away from drafts as well.