Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two vision cages model 332 on top of one another. The heating is no problem...got that down. I can't get the humidity above 50 for more than about 2-3 hours a day. On the bottom cage I have a ball python and the top cage I have a bolivian boa, and I have carpet as my "substrate" I have tried water under the lamp, those strips that hold water and slowly lets it evaporate...nothing seems to work. Any suggestions with things I can try would be a great help. Thanks again.
-----
1.0 Ball Python - Keo
1.0 Silverback Bolivian Boa - Cyn
0.0.1 Albino Banded California Kingsnake - Sax
1.0 Ferret - Bijou
2.0 Cats - Bocephus & Arnold
2.0 Dogs - Bo & Stewie
0.2 Rats - Gwen & XG1

Humidity requirements for boas is often overestimated. What area of the country do you live in? Is it dry there? I live in Idaho (for a few weeks longer anyway) and it is very dry here. I mist the cages lightly every one to two days. A room humidifier would also help tremendously. Becareful not to keep the humidity too high. That comes with it's own set of health problems.

Chris
-----
www.chrisolsonreptiles.com

Yep i have a vision also, where there is a vent, cover it up with towel moist if wanted and then lift to ariate as needed, my heat hit 100 and my hum was 75 GULP, so i vented it and even opened a door a bit until it adjusted and then fgured out how much coverage over the vent i needed. good luck
-----
My roomates are 1BP,1BCI2corns,Rotti,3cats,desert scorpions, and snake food AKA the food chain. See my kids at: http://community.webshots.com/user/diggy415

.
-----
1.0 Ball Python - Keo
1.0 Silverback Bolivian Boa - Cyn
0.0.1 Albino Banded California Kingsnake - Sax
1.0 Ferret - Bijou
2.0 Cats - Bocephus & Arnold
2.0 Dogs - Bo & Stewie
0.2 Rats - Gwen & XG1

I live about 20 miles east of San Francisco and I have the same problem
-----
"Kings are not born, they are made from universal hallucination..."

I'm going to try a humidifier for my "reptile room." I'm going to buy a Bionaire model bcn5520rc. This is a quote from the site....."The humidistat allows you to precisely set the level of humidity you prefer and will then monitor the room and it will automatically turn the humidifier on and off to maintain your desired level." Let me know if you think this will be a good idea with all other aspects. BTW....what would be the desired temp and humidity for a bolivian boa and a ball python....every book I read has something different.
-----
1.0 Ball Python - Keo
1.0 Silverback Bolivian Boa - Cyn
0.0.1 Albino Banded California Kingsnake - Sax
1.0 Ferret - Bijou
2.0 Cats - Bocephus & Arnold
2.0 Dogs - Bo & Stewie
0.2 Rats - Gwen & XG1

Too much humidity will cause health/respiratory problems.

Boas don't need it moist. Hot and dry with with water to drink and your boa will thrive.

Boas do not thrive in hot dry environments. Whoever told you that has ZERO clue as to what they're talking about. MOST of the boas that are commonly kept come from a hot environment where they seek shade and cooler temps or it is greatly covered by shade (trees) and a good number of them (especially BCC) are from rainforest (high humidity) areas. So, humidity from 70-95 % is the norm. Temperatures kept in the low-mid 80's are ideal.
The big problem people have w/ excessive moisture is cleanliness. I've kept my animals in 90-95% humidity for months w/ zero ill effects, but I cleaned on a daily basis to absolutely destroy any possibility of fungus, etc... I backed it down just for my own convenience though. Now I maintain at least 70% and let it spike on it's own to 95% by keeping a water bowl on the warmer side of the cage.

or, who knows, maybe all this is just my opinion?
jb
-----
Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

Just make sure that model or whatever you decide on is a warm vapor humidifier and not a cool mist one. I heat my entire reptile room and found a cool air model worked against me by cooling the air I was trying to heat. I took it back and got a warm vapor one which contributes to the heat plus sterilizes the air by boiling the water and a UV light bulb kills bacteria, fungi, and mold.

Chris is right too much humidity causes more problems than drier conditions for the snake and your house. I've tried just about every kind of substrate over the years but here is what I've found to work best to produce perfect donut sheds every time. It's also much better than walking into a hot swampy feeling snakeroom with a humidifier running.

I use plain old newspaper in the cage, this also makes it much easier to feed when you have multiple Boas, you don't have to watch if they're eating mulch. Get a Rubbermaid tub that covers about half the cage, I use the 28 quart low tubs.
Cut a hole in the top just big enough for the snake to go in, this can be enlarged as the snake grows. I use wet cypress mulch in the box to make a very moist hide box that the snake can use to adjust how much humidity it needs at any time. Try to adjust your heat source to keep the box half on the heat and half off if possible. This setup keeps the tank or even the hole snakeroom from getting moldy which can happen quick with too much humidity from a humidifier running.
You won't see your Boa as much during it's shed cycle but it will shed perfect every time with this setup and doesn't lead to respiratory problems and blistering associated with too much constant humidity.

Just make sure you MICROWAVE THE CYPRESS MULCH with some water in a bowl till very hot to kill any bug eggs. You won't get mites but you will have some annoying little white bugs flying around if you don't nuke it first.

Brock

Try changing the substrate to something that will hold humidity better like wood mulch. I find eucaliptus works great for holding humidity, and gives the boas a more natural ground covering and they seem to really enjoy it just a thought.

I once heard using clay pots soaked in water as the hides helps tremendously and works for long periods of time.

good luck...
-----
-Iman
1.1 Sugar Gliders (Gizmo and Nema)
1.0 Ball Pythons (Spot)
0.1 Guyanan BCC (TBA)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow (TBA)

Loving to Learn
Learning to Help
Helping to Love

Stimulate debates, stifle arguments.
Please be nice always.



Imans House of Herps

I heat the room with an electric radiator attached to a RANCO Digital Thermostat. The best price I have found is here:
http://diyreef.com/shop/
But I digress, the humidity in my room stays at a constant 40-60% by using a $35 ultrasonic humidifier I bought at Wal-Mart. It is a Reli-On brand, and I had one die after a year but I took it back to Wal-Mart and they replaced it with no hassle. I run it 12 hours a day on the same timer as the lights, at about 3/4 of full output. To keep it clean I put a small amount (1 or 2 ozs.) of diluted (1.5oz. per gal) Virosan solution in it about once a week. It seems to keep growth of icky-stuff down to a minimum, but I wouldn't over do it because the ultrasonics are really sensitive to chemicals. I just put it in the resevoir. I am very pleased and all my snakes (corns/boas basically) are too.
SNAKEPIMP.COM

-----
Jeremy J. Anderson
No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful.

I have heard that light bulbs tend to dry out the air more than an under tank heater. Just a suggestion. You might have to go with a heat panel if you can't put an UTH on the vision cage.
-----
sue

Anyone that tells you not to worry about humidity except for clean sheds doesn't know a damn thing about the environment where these animals are found in the wild. Rain forests gets rain more than half the days in the year. They recieve at least 80 inches of rain a year, usually more - like around 200 inches a year. There is no wet season or dry season, like the Savannahs in Africa. It rains all year long. It rains during the day, stops at night, the water evaporates and condenses on the leaves, then it drips all night long. The freaking place is just plain wet. Also, regarding temperature, the average high throughout the year varies less than 5 degrees, with the coolest average high temp being about 86 degrees and the warmest average high being about 89 degrees. The coolest average low at night is about 68 degrees and the warmest average low is about 71 degrees. Bottom line is - when in doubt, imitate nature. Here's what I do. It's pretty inexpensive, and it works great. The best part is, you don't have to mist your cage all the time.

Go to Petco and pick up a couple terrarium humidifier(s) since you have two cages. I forget who makes them, but Petco recently started carrying them. They work like this: They have a water reservoir which has a big sponge in it that stays moist and humidifies the air in the reservoir. Air gets pumped in to the water reservoir via a seperate air pump. The air circulates through the humidifier and travels through an outlet hose and into your terrarium(s). You can completely seal off your terrarium because the air pump is constantly pumping fresh air into it. The humidifiers cost about $20 bucks each. They don't come with an air pump, so go to the fish department, and grab an aquarium air pump with two output nozzles - one nozzle for each humidifier. There's different models for different size aquariums/terrariums. It will cost you about $15 to $30 depending on the flow rate of the pump and the quality of the brand you go with. The quieter ones are more expensive. Each humidifier comes with a hard plastic tube with tiny holes in it that that pumps humid air directly into the terrarium. If the cage gets too humid, just increase ventilation slightly until you maintain the right humidity level. The reservoir water lasts well over a week, so you won't be constantly refilling it. This setup along with a water bowl keeps my boa cage at a constant 75% humidity without needing to mist whatsoever. That means no water spots on the glass, no wet substrate, and therefore, no nasty mold, fungus, etc, no scale rot, and no shed problems. The air that is pumped in is not hot either, so it won't make your cage too hot. You also won't have to make your entire snake room uncomfortably humid. Obviously, my method is geared for people with only a few snake cages.

I hope this helps!

Tyler

Instead of buying the humidifiers I mentioned, just get a dual output air pump and some tubing. Use the air pump to pump fresh air into you cage. Seal off the ventilation screens and mist once a day or so. The air will stay humid longer and fresh air will constantly be pumped in.

It's called TropicAire. You can find it online for as little as $10.