Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
Don't know if anyone remembers. But I'm the one who was looking into buying a BRB a few months back. Well, I got my baby. A gorgeous little 8 week old female from Randy Wright's reptiles at the Sacramento herp show. She's a doll. And a great eater. Her name is Nyoka (means "snake"

I guess not too uncommon to BRB keepers, I am having a little trouble keeping the humidity high enough. The cage is always wet (unfortunatly the humidity won't stay high if the cage is just damp, so it always ends up being very, very soggy). So far humidity ranges from 90% when the fogger is on, to 60% when I haven't misted in a couple hours. I'de like to find a happy medium where the cage can just be moist, not swampy, and the humidity can be higher at the same time.

I've got a 20 gallon tank. Lid is half glass/half mesh. Mesh side is covered with acrylic leaving just enough opening for the heat light. I did have a heating pad, but it stopped working. And I wasn't thrilled with the way it heated the ground to what felt like too hot, but didn't warm the air at all.

The hot side of the tank (which she rarely goes to) ranges from 86-90. The cooler side goes from 75-85 depending on the time of day.

I have a bubbling bowl which adds some moisture to that corner, but does nothing for the rest of the cage. I bought a small pump to add a running water feature to the cage, but that made it way too wet everywhere (an inch of water at the bottom of the tank). So I took that out and instead put in a fogger. Which is absolutly awesome. The problem is, it only "fogs" for about 15 minutes max. Then, the water level drops and it shuts off. So, to effectively get it to work I have to add more water contstantly. :

I do mist the cage twice a day. But I'm worried it's not enough. And I don't want to always have to do that. After all, that is why I keep snakes. They're low maintenance. (yeah, right LOL)

I was using paper towels but they weren't absorbant enough as a substrate, so I switched to puppy pee-pads. They're ok. But once they're wet they seem to cool off a lot.. so the air is warm, but it seems like the ground is always cool?

Anyways, I was hoping someone would know of an affordable way to get maybe an automatic sprayer/mister/fogger thing which I can set to turn on multiple times per day, so that I only have to tend to watering and all that once a day if possible. I can't figure how to do that. Likewise, anyone know where to get an affordable thermostat to hook the light and a heating pad to? I was told you can get them "anywhere" for 10 bucks. The only thermostats I've found are at pet stores for about $50!

Thanks for any help you can provide. Sorry this was so long. I just love my baby and want to get everything right!

(I'm did post this on the Rainbow forum, but I thought I'de post here, too, since this is the original board I used to post on. Not sure how busy the other board is ~ I haven't been here in a long time)

I would bump down the temp...I've been told rainbows like it more around low 80s, and that temps even above 85 or so can be dangerous. (and if you can get the heat pad working you won't have as much evaporation as from a heat lamp)

You can get a digital timer from Home Depot that you can set for multiple on/off cycles per day with minute increments. I use one of them with a humidifier (ultrasonic humidifier from walgreens) to humidify some of my cages, like my tree boa's, and the high output (don't have to run it for long) and large tank means it can run over a week without refilling. I use that and some sections of 2" PVC to pipe the fog into the cage.

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-audri
Webpage/Pics

The humidity in my BRB cage rarely climbs above 70%. But I keep a moisture box in the cage (Tupperware / Rubbermaid), and the boa spends a good amount of time inside it. He also has a dry and a cool hide, and he hydroregulates as much as he thermoregulates.

He has thrived under these conditions for over two years. Sheds easy. Eats great.

In my opinion, people go a little overboard with humidity for BRBs. But that's just me.

I wish you and your snake the best.

-Brandon

I personally would set it up in a smaller sweater box with holes melted in the sides, a water bowl and a damp moss box. I use paper towel or newspaper. In a closed box like this the humidity will be 80% fine. For heat I kept it in a warm room so most of the time it was 80* and 80% humidity. Now that mine is a yearling she is okay in a bigger cage and more variation in humidity and temp.
Your light is drying things out. And if you keep all the substrate damp all the time you may develope scale rot or other skin troubles. The nice part about a damp moss box is that they can come and go and be dry if they want.
If you really want to go with the 20L I would set it up with a drilled plexiglass lid, a UTH on a rheostat and a bigger damp moss box....like 8"square. What I used is a hollow underneath dog food dish with the handles that create doors to make a hide underneath and fill it with damp moss. That way the majority of the substrate is dry but the ambient humidity is high.
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Sonya

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