Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all;

I brought her home on Monday, and she has since eaten one fuzzy mouse (rat?) on Wednesday night (sometime after 11pm, I left the F/T rodent for her in her plastic tote-cage and it was gone a few hours later). She is doing quite well, but I am worried about the cage's humidity level, as I cannot seem to get it above 60-70%. The cage itself is a 45qt tote, at 24.9" long by 17.2" wide (deep) and 9" high. I know it seems a bit large for her, but I do have plenty of hiding places, such as space underneath live moss (a good humid-hide spot) and a place under cork bark where she can curl up on the cooler side of the cage. Her water-dish is a Ziplock plastic container, of the disposable type, it is about 9x5" or so, and about 3" high. (it holds 9.5 cups). I have this water dish directly above the heater which is in the cage itself, but it doesn't seem to get too warm.

I am using a 11" by 11" 'Dragon's Lair' heater by Big Apple Herp. It's only about 10 watts though, and I am thinking I may need more heat for her.

I need to know how I can up the humidity in the cage...

Anyhow, here are the pics - just two, but high-res.

]

-- Crotalidae75 (Shane)

NIce looking snake. You're going to have a great time watching her grow up.

Quote: "It's only about 10 watts though, and I am thinking I may need more heat for her. "

This statement concerns me a little. Do you have an accurate thermometer in the cage, on the surface of the floor, over the hot spot? If you can achieve temps of 84° here, then you don't need more heat. If you can't, then you do. Watch her appetite. That (and the thermometer) will tell you if she's at the right temerature.

Now for the humidity. What is the top of your enlosure like? I'm assuming it's the top that came with the plastic tub. You can control humidity by putting more (if too wet) or less (if too dry) holes in the top.
Light misting with a spray bottle can also increase humidity. What I like to do is mist my animals once a day or every other day and let the water evaporate. I have not found it to be true that these animals need total saturation all the time.

Godd luck with her. Did she come from EBV?

-----
Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

Quote -- "Quote: "It's only about 10 watts though, and I am thinking I may need more heat for her. "

This statement concerns me a little. Do you have an accurate thermometer in the cage, on the surface of the floor, over the hot spot? If you can achieve temps of 84° here, then you don't need more heat. If you can't, then you do. Watch her appetite. That (and the thermometer) will tell you if she's at the right temerature."

Yes, I have a small analog model from Big Apple on the warmer side of the cage. It reads at 80 degrees, so I think I need a better heater here.

As for her appetite, she has eaten twice, once the other night (a f/t pinky) and once last week on Wens. night (a f/t fuzzy). She wouldn't take the food directly from me, though, so I left the rodents for her on top of the cork bark inside the cage. Later, when I checked on her, they would dissapear - into her of course. Interestingly though, I have not actually seen her drink or defecate. I assume she does this at night when I am asleep though. She doesn't seem dehydrated at least, as she is alert and healthy looking, flicking her tongue when I handle her.

Quote -- "Now for the humidity. What is the top of your enlosure like? I'm assuming it's the top that came with the plastic tub. You can control humidity by putting more (if too wet) or less (if too dry) holes in the top.
Light misting with a spray bottle can also increase humidity. What I like to do is mist my animals once a day or every other day and let the water evaporate. I have not found it to be true that these animals need total saturation all the time."

Yeah, the top is just the lid of the tote, that came with it. I originally had about 8 holes in the top, but I decided to cover those up with duct tape and drill holes in the sides of the container, like Slacker suggested. I am hoping that the humidity will go up a bit, now.

As for the new heater I am considering ordering, I am partial to this model I found
at Big Apple Herp - I think I will order the 20W unit, which is about 14" by 8". Here's the picture :

-- And the link for the page is here.

Thanks for the info.

-- Shane

Shane,
...I would not use that 20 watt heating pad unless you go to a much larger cage or have a very cold room that you keep the snakes in. Many of my adult BRBs are in 36x28 inch cages with 11 watts of flexwatt under one end of each cage. The flexwatt is controlled by propertional thermostats and so the flexwatt is only on full power very very occasionally. My BRBs like to stay in the mid 70s except when they are digesting meals. The warm spots over the flexwatt are in the mid 80s but the rest of the cage is cooler. If you have a cage that is large enough to have a temperature gradient the snake can move to the part of the cage that is the ideal temperature depending upon whether it is digesting or just hanging out. If you have too much heat in the cage it will evaporate all of the humidity out of the cage. High temperatures and low humidity are mistakes in husbandry which kill little BRBs.
Jeff

>>Quote -- "Quote: "It's only about 10 watts though, and I am thinking I may need more heat for her. "
>>
>>This statement concerns me a little. Do you have an accurate thermometer in the cage, on the surface of the floor, over the hot spot? If you can achieve temps of 84° here, then you don't need more heat. If you can't, then you do. Watch her appetite. That (and the thermometer) will tell you if she's at the right temerature."
>>
>>Yes, I have a small analog model from Big Apple on the warmer side of the cage. It reads at 80 degrees, so I think I need a better heater here.
>>
>>As for her appetite, she has eaten twice, once the other night (a f/t pinky) and once last week on Wens. night (a f/t fuzzy). She wouldn't take the food directly from me, though, so I left the rodents for her on top of the cork bark inside the cage. Later, when I checked on her, they would dissapear - into her of course. Interestingly though, I have not actually seen her drink or defecate. I assume she does this at night when I am asleep though. She doesn't seem dehydrated at least, as she is alert and healthy looking, flicking her tongue when I handle her.
>>
>>Quote -- "Now for the humidity. What is the top of your enlosure like? I'm assuming it's the top that came with the plastic tub. You can control humidity by putting more (if too wet) or less (if too dry) holes in the top.
>>Light misting with a spray bottle can also increase humidity. What I like to do is mist my animals once a day or every other day and let the water evaporate. I have not found it to be true that these animals need total saturation all the time."
>>
>>Yeah, the top is just the lid of the tote, that came with it. I originally had about 8 holes in the top, but I decided to cover those up with duct tape and drill holes in the sides of the container, like Slacker suggested. I am hoping that the humidity will go up a bit, now.
>>
>>As for the new heater I am considering ordering, I am partial to this model I found
>>at Big Apple Herp - I think I will order the 20W unit, which is about 14" by 8". Here's the picture :
>>
>>-- And the link for the page is here.
>>
>>Thanks for the info.
>>
>>-- Shane
>>

Hmm, mid-70s you say? My baby boa seems to prefer to spend most of her time
on the cooler side of the cage, unless she has just eaten, too.

The warm side of the cage is about 80 degrees but no hotter than that.
The cool side though, is only a little cooler, maybe 77-78 degrees.

As for not using a 20-watt heater, I was thinking that I may want to move her into a shoe-box sized plastic container... Would that be a better idea than keeping her in a 25" long by 18" wide by 9" tall cage?
I assume a smaller volume of air would be easier to keep humid. Were I to do that, I assume also that it would be best to keep only a small part of the shoebox over the heating element I have? I figure heating 1/3rd or 1/2 might do...

To be honest here, I am worried and unsure of what to do about the humidity issue - as well as the heating, for that matter.

-- Shane

Err. I forgot something. There is quite a bit of condensation inside my snake's cage.
Usually the walls and bottom of the lid are slick with moisture. Yet my humidity
gauge shows about 60% humidity. I'm not sure what's going on here, as far as the lack of appropriate humidity.

At least I try to keep her substrate moist, especially in regards to the sphagnum moss
that she hides in (which is under a large chunk of live frog moss).

-- Shane

Hey Shane,

From what I understand, humidity can be a tricky thing to maintain. Humidity is a measurement of how saturated the air is. This is influenced by temperature. Warm air can hold more water than cold air. Warm air with the same amount of water in it will have a lower humidity than cold air. I'm going to assume that the air in your enclosure is not at a constant temperature (why would it be, most of us heat the bottom surface). As the air in the cage heats up, it absorbs water and your humidity drops. As water vapor condenses on the sides of the cage, humidity drops. During the night as the air cools, it releases water and humidity should increase. This is why I've never bothered to get a reading of the humidity in my BRB cages. There are too many variables influencing it. Give your baby a nice misting in the morning and let it all evaporate over the course of the day. Give her a nice sized water dish that she can soak in if she likes. Feel free to increase her misting a bit when she's in shed. if she sheds in one piece, you're doing fine.

In the 17 years that I've been keeping these animals, I've lost one to inadequate humidity. It was gross neglegence on my part and it does not sound like this is happening in your case. Temperature and access to water are very important. Take care of these two things and enjoy your snake. Don't be too concerned about humidity.

I'm really not trying to advertise here, but take a look at the captive care page on my website. I've gone into some pretty deep detail as to how the cages should be set up. If you come up with more questions then let us know.

-----
Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

flavor seemed to cover most of what you asked but with the humdity i never like to drill holes in the top of the plastic lid, i myself keep my baby female brb in a plastic rubbermaid i bought from walmart, and what i did was drill holes on the side of the plastic container instead of the top about 2/3 down the side and kinda lined the 2 long sides and hten put 2 holes on each other side and i never have a problem with humidity, i dont even have to mist it because it works so well, just keep the water on the heatter and it should evaporate in the air, remember humidity and heat rise so if theres no way for the humidity to go out the top chances are you'll keep most of it
zack

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1.1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Anaconda
0.1.0 Suriname Red Tail Boa
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