Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my ball is only up for 2 or maybe 2.5 hours at night , the rest of the time he's sleeping (i think), is this normal, i mean shouldn't he be up more than that. i've had him for two weeks now, he still hasn't eaten yet. from researching, it looks like umidity has something to do with it.Humidity is always at 49-51% in my tank, when i mist the cage it rises to 55-60%, at night it reaches 70%. i've got a 75 watt heating lamp and a UTH, how should i setup my tank for good humidity ?

thanks

BP's are not a very active snake. If they are not moving around and are staying in their hides most of the time...that sound perfectly normal to me.

50% humidity is good for most of the time. The important thing to remember is that you should raise the humidity when the snake is going to shed. The snake's skin will start to look dull and then you can notice that the eyes have clouded over. The eyes will clear up and the snake will shed it's skin within a week...usually. When you notice the signs of pre-shed...raise the humidity. I like to put in a humid hide box rather than go crazy misting the tank. It's hard to keep a high humidity in an open top tank. For a humid hide, I use a tupperware container with the lid on and a hole cut into the side. I put wet sphagnum moss inside. My ball goes in there and comes out all new and shiney. Also, if you offer a humid hide durring shedding then you should not have to worry much about the humidity the rest of the time. Ball are from an arid region of Africa and not a humid jungle type habitat.

Goo Luck
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Oilfan94 - Big Mike

thanks for the tips. i'm not to sure what "sphagnum moss " is ? could you explain ... do i damp it once a day ?

I just bought some, so I scanned the package.

You moisten in when it gets dry. Which is about once a week for me.

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-Irish
My Snakes

Sphagnum moss is the same as pete moss but in an uncut form. You can get it from some pet stores or from home & garden type stores. I usually rinse it off so that it is soaking and then leave 1/4" of water in the bottom of the container. It will usually stay damp for a long time but you can rinse it off and/or remoisten it as needed. You have to watch if they crap in there because that will stink...so change is ASAP.

You can also use paper towels if you want. You might have to change them a few times durring the pre-shed period. Some snakes will even stay in the wet hide if it just has a little water in it.

>>thanks for the tips. i'm not to sure what "sphagnum moss " is ? could you explain ... do i damp it once a day ?
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Oilfan94 - Big Mike

I agree with everything oilfan said exept for this:

[quote] Ball are from an arid region of Africa and not a humid jungle type habitat. [quote]

This is true, but in there natural habitat, they stay in burrows where the humidity is much higher, and they come out at night when the humidity outside is higher. Im not trying to bash what he said, cause it was all really good advise, just wanted to clarify this.

Like him, I like to keep my bp at room humidity unless it is time to shed. A lot of people dont agree with this, and say that the humidity has to be at least 65%, but I have had no problems with my bp, and she sheds completely.

If you still want to raise the humidity for some reason, put the water bowl under the heat lamp, and put a wet towel over the top of about half - 3/4 of the tank.

Well, BPs aren't terribly active. Min only move around if they're hungry. Other than that, it's just "I'm too warm here, I'll go to the cool side. Ah, that's better. Zzz."

You could try covering, like, hal of the screen top with plexiglass. OR you could do what I do - make a humidity box. Get a Sterlite/Tupperware container, cut a hole in the side, and put some damp Sphagnum moss in it. It's easier to keep the humidity up in a little box than an entire cage.
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-Irish
My Snakes