I'd love anyone's educated thoughts on a current issue. I live in NC and, as you may know, we've had a pretty severe drought for many months. I keep my snakes in a room in the basement, and since it's subterranean, I've never had to be too concerned about humidity. In fact, I have always run a dehumidifier in the open part of the basement to cut down on the possibility of too much dampness that could lead to mildew.
Well, the dehumidifier hasn't run in 6 months...the humidity levels in the basement hover around 30%, and I got caught off guard with my animals. My big female albino Blood has an RI, and I can only assume that it's due to the lack of humidity. I tried misting her for a while, but it's now becoming a chronic situation, and I have finally purchased a humidifier. I use two hygrometers to gauge the humidity in different parts of the room and have the relative room humidity up to about 50%. Along with this, I mist my snakes each morning.
QUESTION: Does anyone else use humidifiers? Any dynamics I need to know about their use? And are there other ways I might be addressing this problem? I know that Kara has recommended adding a humidity container to a cage where the animal can retreat as necessary, but my two females are 6' and huge, and this kind of set-up won't fit in their cages (48" Freedom Breeders).
Sorry for the long post, but I much appreciate your sticking with it.
Merry Christmas!
Jim Lineberger
-----
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
the Humidity monster...
Replies (15)
Live in the midwest and you learn to deal with dry air. I put extra large water containers in the cage to help increase humidity and give the animal opportunity to soak in. I can count on them to flip this over when they are getting ready to shed.
URI versus respiratory distress: URI occurs when you have a bacterial or viral infection of the air passages. Respiratory distress is caused by too low humidity and can lead to URI. Check to make sure you aren't dosing an animal that doesn't have an infection. The nares get dead unshed skin caught as well leading to symptoms that are misleading. I recommend soaking your snakes periodically also to help them stay hydrated.
-----
================================
Support your local herp society
www.chicagoherp.org
Thanks for following-up and the good info, Rich. At this point I haven't gone to meds for the symptoms...hopefully won't have to go there.
All the best-
Jim
-----
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"
I'm really sorry for all you guys who's animals ,and families are affected by the drought!
Any health issues I've had, with my borneos have all been related to humidity issues.( living in an old dry house in the north)I have recieved soem great advice from Keith KcPeek.He recommended to use cat pans (cheap litter boxes) halfway filled with water in the cages to raise humidity.
You just have to make sure your cages are sealed because they splosh the water around a bit.
On my sick girl... who was not nearly as big as yours, I actually placed her in a vented 32 qt iris tub with cover, with about 3" of wet spagnum inside the cage halfway over the hotspot. You might be able to do the same with one of the larger tubs for your blood until she feels better.
Good luck
-----
"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
Just curious.
I had hoped to breed both females this year, but looks like I'll be waiting a while longer- I want to make sure they're both stabilized and set-up correctly.
This is a photo of my het female, taken a year ago. She's a brute now.
thanks-
-----
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"
Yes, She has recovered.
-----
"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
Were having the same drought problem down here. GA is usually really humid but not so much lately. Regardless I always use large water bowls/tubs so they can soak if they want to. My adults have sweater boxes in their cages for water bowls, and I do use a small humidifier for the room when it gets on the dry side. The only precaution you may need to take is to make sure you are still getting air circulation throughout the room as it can get pretty stagnant without it.
-----
"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior
Hey Jim-
The Freedom Breeder is probably half of your problem. I have one and humidity was a constant problem. If you can seal up the ventilation on top your humidity should be good with just the regular water dish inside. I cut sheets of plexiglass to size and ran a bead of silicone around the edge and its worked great for me. The humidity in my snake room is around 30% and it stays around 55%-65% in the FB. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the input. I had thought about this.. initially I put plastic sheeting over the metal grid to trap humidity but then became concerned that I was blocking air flow. I think you are correct, though...these cages don't hold humidity, and that's the greater priority.
Once I get this down to an art I'm liable to start buying more Bloods, so I'm probably in a good place right now!
-----
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"
I have run both humidifiers and vaporizers in the past. Now I increase the water bowl sizes for my animals that require more humidity. I also have a 5 gallon bucket of clean water in the middle of the floor. I replace water each day with hot. My reptile room is 10 x 10 and I have various species in there from sulcatas to iguanas to burms balls and bloods. I have the bloods on the side of the room that has the bucket as they are my humid animals.
-----
Cindy
PHFaust
how much work we'll put into our hobbies? I was up at 5:30 this morning cleaning water bowls and cages, refilling humidifiers with distilled water, soaking Lilly, and talking all the while---to my snakes. The day they begin to talk back I know I'm in trouble.
-----
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose." (quote from Jim Elliott, "Shadow of the Almighty"
Like I say in my sig
"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
LOL
-----
"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
My bloods do "talk" to me... 
-----
================================
Support your local herp society
www.chicagoherp.org
>>enjoy
-----
fargo731@aol.com
That is pretty funny.
-----
================================
Support your local herp society
www.chicagoherp.org
>>how much work we'll put into our hobbies? I was up at 5:30 this morning cleaning water bowls and cages, refilling humidifiers with distilled water, soaking Lilly, and talking all the while---to my snakes. The day they begin to talk back I know I'm in trouble.
>>
Honestly, I really dont think of the whole water thing as work! Hehehe I dont have kids, so it is just part of the morning routine. Much like friday night counting rats.
I do find it humorous that my grocery budget includes money for crix, occasional roaches, live mice and rats.
-----
Cindy
PHFaust
