Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Five days ago I transferred my year old BRB to a new 4' x 2' Boaphile terrerium on newspaper as substrate. Before I had my BRB since she was a baby in a regular terrerium with moist shredded coconut bark as a substrate and the screen top covered by plastic cutting boards with small holes for ventalation and the humidity I could always keep at a good 75-85% level.
Now with the new Boaphile terrerium with newspaper as a substrate I have to mist the terrerium twice a day to keep the humidity around 80%. Right now I don't have the thermostat hooked up to the under the tank heater because my house is air-conditioned to 80 degrees, but if it were in the winter and I did have the heater on I am sure I would get more evaporation from the two good sized tupperware containers with water in them. I am just worried if I have to go out of town for the weekend and kinda bummed I missed surfing an 6-8 ft swell in San Diego yesterday.
Was wondering and concerned what I could do to solve this dilemma. Would putting a wet towel each morning in the Boaphile terrerium fix this? Soaked clay pots? Please let me know if you have any ideas.
Happy Herping
Uncloudy

I only just got my BRB, but from what I learned with my others, you could do the following and your snake would be ok for a while.

If you only have to feed it once a week, there is no real reason that you can't go without misting it for a few days... I'd suggest you could do any of the following:

*A suggested minimum - If you have a waterbowl large enough for your BRB to soak in and are confident the temps are ok, then for just a few days your BRB will be fine since she will soak when she needs to.

For long term solutions you could:
-Put the waterbowl over the UTH
-Get a waterbowl with increased surface area (as opposed to volume)
-Create 'Humid Box' hides with moss/damp towels as the bedding in them
-Cover bits of the ventilation holes, piece by piece, until you have established a good humidity level.
-Purchase a mister/waterfall for added humidty/visual - though they do create vibration

That's about all I can think of.

Good luck and keep us posted.

----------------------------------------------
Now I have a question -

*I have a 29gl tank w/ screen lid and 75% covered to remain humidity. I have one large waterbowl, not over the UTH, with no moss and only astroturf substrate. This tank maintains 65-85% humidity on it's own.

*Then I have a 10gl tank w/ screen lid and again 75% covered. I have cypress bark substrate with 1/2 floorspace covered in moss. I have a waterbowl that is proportionately larger to the size of the tank than the 29gl, yet this setup has trouble maintaining humidity without misting.

Any ideas?

Both have UTH and ceramic heat elements, are house in the same room next to each other and maintain the same ambient temps. This just seems to defy physics to me...

Thanks everyone, I am done rambling for the day.
-----
-Iman

1.1 Sugar Gliders (Gizmo and Nema)
2.0 Ball Pythons (Spot and Speck)
0.1 Colombian BCI (Belle)
1.0 Colombian Rainbow (Rex)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow (Just arrived!!!)

Loving to Learn
Learning to Help
Helping to Love

Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
Please be nice always.

Future Project Wishlist:
0.2 BP
1.0 BCI
0.1 CRB
1.0 BRB
1.1 ARB, GRB, DB & JCP

Uncloudy,
. A soaked clay flowerpot will boost the humidity in the cage for at least a few days. Rather than misting you can just pour water right onto newspaper or cocoanut husk substrate. If you are using a manual hand mister you probably have to squeeze a bunch to dispense much water. The next time you mist check the level in the mister before and after to see how much water actually gets sprayed into the cage. You will probably find that you are only putting an ounce or two in the cage with each misting and it may take a lot more than that to keep the humidity up for very long. BTW, I once weighed my clay flowerpots before and after soaking them and found that when wet they were holding 8 to 12 ounces of water. You would have to squeeze a manual mister for a long time to put that much water into a cage.
Ian,
. Your situation with the two tanks does seem to defy physics. It may have something to do with the size or temperature of the UTH.
Jeff

>>I only just got my BRB, but from what I learned with my others, you could do the following and your snake would be ok for a while.
>>
>>If you only have to feed it once a week, there is no real reason that you can't go without misting it for a few days... I'd suggest you could do any of the following:
>>
>>*A suggested minimum - If you have a waterbowl large enough for your BRB to soak in and are confident the temps are ok, then for just a few days your BRB will be fine since she will soak when she needs to.
>>
>>For long term solutions you could:
>>-Put the waterbowl over the UTH
>>-Get a waterbowl with increased surface area (as opposed to volume)
>>-Create 'Humid Box' hides with moss/damp towels as the bedding in them
>>-Cover bits of the ventilation holes, piece by piece, until you have established a good humidity level.
>>-Purchase a mister/waterfall for added humidty/visual - though they do create vibration
>>
>>That's about all I can think of.
>>
>>Good luck and keep us posted.
>>
>>
>>
>>----------------------------------------------
>>Now I have a question -
>>
>>*I have a 29gl tank w/ screen lid and 75% covered to remain humidity. I have one large waterbowl, not over the UTH, with no moss and only astroturf substrate. This tank maintains 65-85% humidity on it's own.
>>
>>*Then I have a 10gl tank w/ screen lid and again 75% covered. I have cypress bark substrate with 1/2 floorspace covered in moss. I have a waterbowl that is proportionately larger to the size of the tank than the 29gl, yet this setup has trouble maintaining humidity without misting.
>>
>>Any ideas?
>>
>>Both have UTH and ceramic heat elements, are house in the same room next to each other and maintain the same ambient temps. This just seems to defy physics to me...
>>
>>Thanks everyone, I am done rambling for the day.
>>-----
>>-Iman
>>
>>1.1 Sugar Gliders (Gizmo and Nema)
>>2.0 Ball Pythons (Spot and Speck)
>>0.1 Colombian BCI (Belle)
>>1.0 Colombian Rainbow (Rex)
>>0.1 Brazilian Rainbow (Just arrived!!!)
>>
>>Loving to Learn
>>Learning to Help
>>Helping to Love
>>
>>Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
>>Please be nice always.
>>
>>Future Project Wishlist:
>>0.2 BP
>>1.0 BCI
>>0.1 CRB
>>1.0 BRB
>>1.1 ARB, GRB, DB & JCP

np
-----
-Iman

1.1 Sugar Gliders (Gizmo and Nema)
2.0 Ball Pythons (Spot and Speck)
0.1 Colombian BCI (Belle)
1.0 Colombian Rainbow (Rex)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow (Just arrived!!!)

Loving to Learn
Learning to Help
Helping to Love

Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
Please be nice always.

Future Project Wishlist:
0.2 BP
1.0 BCI
0.1 CRB
1.0 BRB
1.1 ARB, GRB, DB & JCP

Thanks Triniian right after I read your post I put a pyrex glass casarole dish with some water in the terrerium and the humidity has been great ever since. (Yeah, no more misting!) Oh, and your perplexing humidity dilemma of those two set-ups seems to defy reason.

Thanks Jeff for the information on the soaking clay pots. Going to go get some tomorrow. The clay pot will also double as a nice humid hide. Been reading RB posts for a long time.........U da' man bro when it comes to Rainbow Boas.

Just my biased opinion but RB's sure make the common BC's look dull and bland.
Happy Herping,
Uncloudy

Repti-Flo 250 pumps are killer for humidity issues in glass tanks
About $12 @ Petsmart.
Their **adjustable** and "WILL" jack humidity levels outta site (95% )even in a 75 gal rep-tank like we have.Far better then those mister gizmo`s IMO.

T/K