Posted by:
wftright
at Wed Apr 19 22:42:37 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by wftright ]
Thanks for asking. I think the answer is both yes and no. I think I can feel a very slight skim of moisture over most of the egg surfaces. If I'm feeling correctly, then the humidity around the eggs is slightly higher than the humidity in my room. If she wanted to burrow in the eggs to experience higher humidity, I think she could do so.
On the other hand, I've yet to see her go into the eggs. Burger King can put a cage full of little balls in front of their restaurants, and kids spontaneously bury themselves in the balls. I figured that maybe it would work for my snake. I was wrong, and she doesn't find playing in the balls to be entertaining. On the positive side, she doesn't scream or whine like a kid would.
She's gone into blue, so I'm worried about her humidity. I think I mentioned on another thread that she refused a rat, but I knew when I saw her cloudy eyes that I wouldn't get her to eat.
With her getting ready to shed, I abandoned my previous ideas in favor of a more brute force approach. I took some packing paper and tore it into pieces about a quarter to two thirds the size of the aquarium. The paper was already crushed enough not to be flat, and I put several sheets into the aqarium. If you looked at the aquarium now, you'd think that it was just an aquarium half-full of packing paper with a water bowl in one corner. I also sprayed some water on the top layer of paper.
I placed a hygrometer on top of that black hide on the cool side of her aquarium, and I'm getting a pretty constant 55% humidity over there. The paper covers the basket full of eggs and water, so any humidity that escapes the eggs will be captured somewhat by the paper. The water that I sprayed on the paper dripped down overnight, and the paper just under her cave hide is damp. The inside top of the cave hide is also damp. I'd say that the humidity is much higher than 55% in the cave where she's staying. I also have the top of the aquarium about 80% covered with that aluminized bubble wrap. MGReptiles told me that the bubble wrap should reflect heat back into the cage and keep humidity. I believe that claim, so I'm using this stuff to try to keep heat and humidity where it should be.
I'm kinda tired tonight, but my new thermostat arrived today. I'll set it up either tonight or tomorrow. I suspect that I'll be able to keep things a little warmer with the new setup.
Her skin feels rough. I sprayed her last night with some Zoo Med Shed Aid. I don't know whether that stuff really works, but I'm afraid that this will be a bad shed anyway. I'm just hoping that it won't be too bad. If it is, I'll do the wet snake bag trick.
The next big step with her will be the shed. Afterwards, I'll try to feed again. I'll be a happier camper when she takes a couple of rats.
Bill ----- It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.
[ Hide Replies ]
- Hey Bill, - jarskie, Wed Apr 19 10:35:10 2006
Yes and no - wftright, Wed Apr 19 22:42:37 2006
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