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How important is high humidity to the feeding response in bloods?

I've got a little blood that fed okay over the past couple weeks (one fuzzy rat each time) but is refusing food this week. Nothing has changed in my tank setup--I mist once a day and keep the ambient air temp around 80 degrees. I've got her in a 20-gallon glass aquarium (long and low style) with a heating pad under the hide and a cool side on other end under the water dish. I've got a solid top on the tank (plywood) and a halogen light over the water dish to help improve humity. Right now, the glass is never wet on its own--only when I mist it.

I went to look for more fuzzies yesterday at a herp store, and the clerk said my blood not only should be "never skipping a meal" (it's about 14 in. long) but should also be taking larger much prey than fuzzy rats. She it should be eating weanling rats by now (it's only about as round as a quarter at max girth).

My blood readily took the tiny rat fuzzies, but I couldn't get them last night. I brought home a small rat with hair, and she took no interest in it (tried feeding her at night and in the dark. Nothing after half an hour.)

The clerk suggested that I need to raise the humidity significantly in the tank until the glass is wet with moisture.

Do other people out there agree? Is it possible that raising the humidity will improve the feeding response? My ball python eats like a horse with much less humdity. It seems not to be an issue at all. I know they're from totally different regions (Africa vs. SE Asia), but the fact that I got her to eat a couple times already makes me think it's prey size and not humidity.

I'm new to bloods and have only had this little girl since Thanksgiving.

Thanks for any advice!

Ah, the advice of the almighty, all-knowing pet shop clerk! How could you go wrong? Sorry for the sarcasm, but trust me when I say I earn the right after years of relocated pets purchased based on poor information.

I keep and have kept short-tails in unsaturated, relatively mild cage humidity for ten years (alright so a little longer) with great success. They get ample access to clean drinking water and like to jam themselves in their water basin (literally JAM). The feeding response is more related to many factors such as the availablility of security (big reason), comfortable temperature range (not too hot, not too cool) and season/shed cycle. At 14 inches, your little one might actually be going through a shed cycle or feels bloated due to the need to defecate. My animals take jumbo mice up until they are 6-8months old in some cases and I have others that are taking medium rats at 6mnths. They have their own appetites. Have patience. I had some that did not eat until their second month for the first time, then someone gave it a tapeworm (figuratively, folks...) and it took off eating EVERYTHING.

Just my 1.5 cents (discounted rate at the end of the work day).
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Thanks, Rich, for your advice. Basically, it sounds like the "keep it humid, stupid" issue may not really be the issue. Sad thing--this clerk was one of the store owners.

I guess I'll try to stick with smaller prey animals--similar to the size she has already eaten twice. 'Spose she's the best judge of the right size for her belly, not me. I'll keep trying to feed her at night, which is when she took the other two fuzzies. And, I won't stroke out about it not being a sauna in the tank.

Is a "kinda thin" blood something to be concerned about at this age? She doesn't look saggy, but she's certainly nowhere near plump. I just see so many posts of fat and sassy looking animals (much older snaker, of course) and not many thin ones. In fact, almost never. Are the little bloods generally thin for awhile until their feeding response really kicks in?

Before I forget, any advice about creating a more "secure" environment to help encourage feeding? Is a 20-gallon tank too big? Do I need to add more hiding places? My snake likes to burrow into her chipped bark substrate most of the time.

Thanks loads!

sounds to me as though your herp shop owner may not be that dumb. what about your temps? have the flucuated at all? how are you controlling your temps?

With the recent temps changing inside and out, depending on how you heat your specimens quarters, his tempature may have gone up too much or little.

who knows, like rich said, he could be in shed, or he could just be skipping a meal or two.
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www.redpython.net

I've had the snake since Thanksgiving, and her skin has been clear since she got here. If she's getting ready to shed, she hasn't gone hazy yet--or back to clear.

It's hard to keep temps controlled in a house with a furnace going on and off and room temps going up and down. I keep a heating pad under the tank and on around the clock. The surface of the substrate stays at about 90 degrees, but the ambient air temp inside the tank stays around 70 to 80 degrees. I have a halogen light on top that is on about 16 hours a day. That warms it up a little more on the warm end of the tank. The tank has a plywood top with a few vent holes in it. I was told to go with a solid top to help hold humidity in as much as possible (and I suppose to let less heat escape).

Then, in the morning I've been misting the substrate (which is pine bark).

Like I say, she's eaten twice--both times pretty small, hairless (but not pink) rats. Live. And, she hasn't defecated since being here.

dont worry about the defication...oh it will come, and when it does, you will wish it didn't!

but it could be something small like a temp flucuation, that is what was happening with my male hognose, he got a bit too hot, and quit eating, i put him in a cooler area, and now he is eating like a champ again....
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www.redpython.net

Oh man, dump the pine bark. Go with aspen or better newspaper. If you want aesthetics then carefresh or cypress mulch. Keep it clean, keep it from molding. Good security is a tight opaque hide box like the black plastic ones from Reptiletubs.com or equivalent.

My housing setup for juveniles is just like the photo. The substrate is aspen chip. I also use Shop Towels type paper towels. They are easier to replace (had lots of babies this year) and easy to see stains.

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What's bad about pine bark? Really, I just don't know the cons of it.

Pine bark could have harmful oils, and it is just plain hard to keep the cage clean. Are you sure it is not fir bark, like repti bark?
Nick

It very well could be repti bark. It's dark brown and in chunks about the size of a dime. I bought it because it was recommended for all types of snakes. I bet that's what it is.

Read, “ When should I start to worry?” down the page a bit. I am not new to snakes but totally missed that it was going to shed. I gave him a little soak (and he pooped) and he shed the next day. Mine is about the same size as yours and was eating adult mice before me and now is downing almost weaned rats! It is amassing the size pray they can eat! If you’re going to feed small, feed two or more often. One pinky rat a week is kind of meager.

Don’t guess about humidity buy a cheep hydrometer. You should also think about getting a thermostat for your heating system if you’re inside temp goes up and down a lot. Also a 20gl is kind of big unless it has a lot of hiding places, hot and cold side so he doesn’t chose security over temperature regulation. Good luck! Post pictures please, mine is pictured down the page a bit.

Thanks for all the great advice everybody. My blood has definitely spiked in appetite over the past week. She took a freshly killed rat with hair (larger than a fuzzy, eyes open) last Wednesday, then a F/T one of about the same size just last night. The place that had her before me only fed her every other week, which for a snake this small just doesn't seem like enough. I may feed her on a 5-day cycle for awhile to make up for some lost time, now that she seems to be adjusting to her new home.

I don't know if bumping up the humidity helped or not, but she definitely seems to be a night feeder. Both times were lights out. So far, I haven't been able to watch her feed, which is a bit of a bummer, but hey, I'm just glad she's eating steady now. Plus, she's taking the easy stuff to find--F/T!

No sheds yet, either.

I'd post a photo if I knew how to do it. How do you do that on this site? I'm using a Mac, and there doesn't seem to be an easy "click here" way to do it.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

I’m on a 5-day cycle for a wile too.

If you want to post pictures go to photo gallery, hit snakes, then pythons, then blood pythons (or go to http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/index.php?cat=665) and then hit the post pictures button. When you want to use the picture you will see it at the bottom of the page when you post. Good luck!

A fuzzy rat is too small a meal for any blood. A large rat pup or more likely a weaned rat would be more appropriate. I wouldn’t worry about a python that skips a meal, or even several. This is perfectly normal, especially during the winter. Bloods do require a humid environment, but not to the extent of condensation on the glass. Humid is good, wet is bad; shoot for 60% - 70% humidity.
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Dennis