Chris is right too much humidity causes more problems than drier conditions for the snake and your house. I've tried just about every kind of substrate over the years but here is what I've found to work best to produce perfect donut sheds every time. It's also much better than walking into a hot swampy feeling snakeroom with a humidifier running.

I use plain old newspaper in the cage, this also makes it much easier to feed when you have multiple Boas, you don't have to watch if they're eating mulch. Get a Rubbermaid tub that covers about half the cage, I use the 28 quart low tubs.
Cut a hole in the top just big enough for the snake to go in, this can be enlarged as the snake grows. I use wet cypress mulch in the box to make a very moist hide box that the snake can use to adjust how much humidity it needs at any time. Try to adjust your heat source to keep the box half on the heat and half off if possible. This setup keeps the tank or even the hole snakeroom from getting moldy which can happen quick with too much humidity from a humidifier running.
You won't see your Boa as much during it's shed cycle but it will shed perfect every time with this setup and doesn't lead to respiratory problems and blistering associated with too much constant humidity.

Just make sure you MICROWAVE THE CYPRESS MULCH with some water in a bowl till very hot to kill any bug eggs. You won't get mites but you will have some annoying little white bugs flying around if you don't nuke it first.

Brock

[ Hide Replies ]

• Can't get humidity right for the life of me. - drasticplastic, Tue Jun 22 21:06:56 2004
• RE: Can't get humidity right for the life of me. - Chris Olson, Tue Jun 22 21:39:59 2004
• RE: Can't get humidity right for the life of me. - diggy415, Tue Jun 22 21:55:45 2004
• Chris......I live in California, about 30 miles south of san francisco. np - drasticplastic, Tue Jun 22 22:17:58 2004
• RE: Chris......I live in California, about 30 miles south of san francisco. np - BennyD, Wed Jun 23 10:39:47 2004
• Ok here is what I'm going to try....let me know what you think guys. - drasticplastic, Tue Jun 22 22:31:55 2004
• Covering the vent works great, But..I think Chris is right - tomas, Tue Jun 22 22:36:11 2004
• horrible advice... - Jonathan_Brady, Wed Jun 23 11:08:58 2004
• RE: Ok here is what I'm going to try....let me know what you think guys. - boidmorphs, Tue Jun 22 22:49:27 2004
• Save your money on the humidifier - Brocks Boids, Wed Jun 23 08:31:46 2004
• try doing this - onlyboas, Tue Jun 22 23:51:04 2004
• More ideas... - triniian, Wed Jun 23 01:31:44 2004
• My solution - snakepimp, Wed Jun 23 11:08:24 2004
• Try not using the light and using some kind of under tank heater.... - munchkins, Wed Jun 23 13:32:50 2004
• RE: Can't get humidity right for the life of me. - tmflyfish, Wed Jun 23 14:33:20 2004
• another cheaper solution - tmflyfish, Wed Jun 23 14:38:07 2004
• I've found the name of the humidifier..... - tmflyfish, Wed Jun 23 14:48:39 2004