Thanks for the advice Matt and Tony,



When I first got my emeralds, I kept them in the snake room with the doors closed, but the windows open, the windows were located one across the other. During that time, my main concern was merely temp and humidity ranges.



During that time, I have discovered exactly what you guys were talking about, stagnant air in the room, the temps and humidity were right, but when I went in, it was hard to breathe. I found my emeralds to coil properly, but their mouths were not completely shut. It was as if they just ran a sprint in the olympics I kind of felt that like me, the animals were not comfortable. I also get the same results with my animals if I sprayed/misted their cages and closed the doors afterwards. The air felt heavy.



Today, I always leave my snake door opened to the living room. At night, when I watch TV, the living room has an airconditioner, which pushes air into the snake room and keeps the air inside "fresh". During the day, I open my living room balcony door to create an ambient air temperature draft through the snake room. Also now, I never mist my snakes in the snake room. I have found that with the proper cage ventilation control, I did not need to mist my animals to maintain proper humidity. Misting only increased the chances of molds in the cages, and bacterial/fungal infections. One of my animals actually had such an infection, which was minor and was treated properly. Luckily my wife's a doc



As a result of these changes in husbandry, I now feel that the animals are more comfortable, mouths always shut. I like to keep my snake room humid and windy. with the humidity dropping to the 70s at night. I feel that it was a hard road for me, and I changed all my cages twice over the past year. from tupperware to melamine and now to acrylic.



It truly is a lifestyle to work with these animals. I guess only time will tell if Im doing the right thing....Thanks for the reply matt, it has certainly helped in my confidence in keeping these beautiful and challenging animals.



Arnold

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