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. 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 going to crosspost this on the Boa forum since I'm not sure how active this one is. I haven't been here in a long time)

Crittercrazy,
Though you'll get alot of opinions on keeping BRB's, most will agree the temps could be too high. Cool end around 70-75, warm end 80-83 (my adult male likes it slightly cooler than my female, she will often hang out where the temps are around 83-87, where as the male only lingers in these areas after eating, prefering temps in the low 70's). Personally I think the 20 gallon is a bit big for a two month old. Maybe go with a rubbermaid initially then move up to the 20 after a few more months. Up to you but the rubbermaids maintain the humidity well, and you'll not have to mist at all if you keep damp moss over the heat pad. My adults I mist thoroughly once a day with one of those pump sprayers. The bark and moss maintain the moisture well. Check the main page here for the supplies, no shortage of venders.
Post some picks of your new snake!

I was wondering that about the temps, as well. That's why I'de like to find a thermostat for the heat pad. Thanks for all the advice!

I have a 4-month old BRB in a 40-gallon breeder-size "critter tank." It originally came with a screen top, but I replaced the screen with plexiglass. I then drilled a small hole in the plexi and added an airline fitting to it. The airline is attached to a "Tropic Aire" unit (essentially a canister of water attached to an aquarium air pump). The Tropic Aire unit pumps humidified air into the tank and keeps the humidity at 80% at all times. (I can adjust it to make the humidity 90%, but the glass gets too wet to see through at that point.)

The Tropic Aire costs $20. at PetSmart. The air pump, if you buy a decent one, will cost anywhere from $35 to $70. But my point is, the Tropic Aire **works**, and works well. It's almost no maintenance, also.
-----
David Leary
Durham, NC

.

Crittercrazy,
. Paul and David have posted some good advice. I think you need to totally rethink how to keep your BRB and what you are doing. You are using a heat light to overheat a moderate temperature snake which is nocturnal. It seems like a total mistake to me. The light will cause stess and may cause the snake to hide from the light in a location in the cage which is the wrong temperature. The too hot condition is evaporating loads of water out of the cage. Those puppy pee pads are cold due to all of the evaporation of moisture from them. If you will stop the evaporation it will be easy to keep the cage humid and warm. If you will change the cage so that all the moisture is not escaping from it you will find that it will take much less heat to keep the cage at the right temperature and also will require much less work adding moisture to the cage. If you keep the tank you should cover between 95 and 99% of the screen. You should also get rid of the heat light. There are simple ways to control the amount of heat from a simple heat pad. You could use a rheostat to control the amount of electricity going to the heat pad or you could provide insulation between the heat pad and the bottom of the cage. It seems like the suggestion to switch to a rubbermaid type container would actually be easier than modifying the tank. A very small heat pad controlled correctly can keep one end of the cage warm which is all you need. Little BRBs will overheat and dehydrate at temperatures above the mid 80s. Ideally a cage should have a temperature gradient from the low or mid seventies in the cool end to the very very low 80s in the warm end.
Jeff

>>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. 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 going to crosspost this on the Boa forum since I'm not sure how active this one is. I haven't been here in a long time)

I'll unplug the light now and get another heat pad tomorrow. Where can I buy a Rheostat?? The cage has only risen to 90 degrees one time (and that was only on the very far end - her favorite hide box is at the other end and hasn't risen above 85), because the room itself got hot. On hot days, I unplug the light (and I unplugged the heat pad, when I was using that) because the room itself gets up to nearly 80 on it's own in summer time. It is not a light producing bulb. It's a red bulb that gives off no light at all. That's why I'm able to leave it on even at night without disturbing her. It's very low wattage. But on hot days, that one corner can get too warm (which is why I wanted a thermostat..) So I'll stop using it.

The cage substrate is always moist, and she's always got water. So I'm not too worried about dehydration. The fogger is good, but like I said, uses all of it's water too fast. I think I'll get the TropicAire mister. I was deciding between that and this when I bought this, so I'll exchange it.

Thanks for all the info. This is my first BRB, and I don't know anyone with them, so everything I'm trying to learn is just from people online. There is not much information about them in books or even from experienced herp people around here.