Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok! I adjusted the temperature and it now now cycles between the 70 and 79 degrees consistantly. I cant really get it any lower than that because that is the room temperature in the dorm room where I live. I have also covered the cage top halfway with plastic to help retain humidity. My humidity guage still reads 80 but I am convinced its broke! The cage is sopping wet and I cant see the bottom of the cage because its so foggy. The humidity has to be at 100 percent by now. I think the guage just isnt showing it. Also I covered the clear top on her humidity box, so that no light would shine in. After doing all of this I tryed feediing her again but no dice! She wouldnt even look at it. Is there anything else I can do to get this snake to eat? I really dont wanna loose her to starvation. Thanks again for all your help!

Prevetherper,
....A healthy young BRB will not starve to death in a few weeks. I have some here that eat regularly and they would be okay if I did not offer them anything for a couple months. You are correct about the humidity being at 100% when it forms a fog. You may actually have the substrate a little too wet now. It may take a few days with the lower temps and higher humidity before your snake is ready to eat. What substrate are you using? I know that there are lots of great substrates that work with BRBs. The breeder who produced the snake probably kept it on newspaper or papertowel substrate. I would keep it on one of those for awhile just to limit the variables. After it is eating and doing well you can try other prettier substrates. Have you tried feeding it a live large hopper or small adult mouse?
Jeff

>>Ok! I adjusted the temperature and it now now cycles between the 70 and 79 degrees consistantly. I cant really get it any lower than that because that is the room temperature in the dorm room where I live. I have also covered the cage top halfway with plastic to help retain humidity. My humidity guage still reads 80 but I am convinced its broke! The cage is sopping wet and I cant see the bottom of the cage because its so foggy. The humidity has to be at 100 percent by now. I think the guage just isnt showing it. Also I covered the clear top on her humidity box, so that no light would shine in. After doing all of this I tryed feediing her again but no dice! She wouldnt even look at it. Is there anything else I can do to get this snake to eat? I really dont wanna loose her to starvation. Thanks again for all your help!

I have tried a live fuzzy but not a live hopper or small adult mouse. I will give it a try though and I'll give her a few weeks and I'll try again. Thanks again for all your help! you have been most informative!

Heavy condensation doesnt necessarily imply 100% humidity. Any cold soda can will sweat in 50% humidity. Condensation is also driven by a temperature difference.
I take it from your post you have a troubled feeder, but I dont know what other advice you've already been given. So here's my 2 cents.
Try a live pinky (I assume you have a juvi snake). Even if it's medium sized, try a live pinky anyway. A snack is less of an event for a snake to eat than a whole meal.
Try one side of the cage with moss or wet paper towels, and the other side with something drier, like aspen or orchid bark, but even the bark might be too moist for the snake to regulate what it's comfortable with.
Thats all I can spout out right now.....best of luck, leaving work now (productive, arent I?)
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Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

I can continue my thought. I had an hours drive to think about it some more. My friend introduced to me this not so special technique we refer to as "deli-cupping". You put your snake in a small container, much a like a deli cup your snake might have been displayed in if you bought it at a show, appropriate for it's size, and you leave food in with it overnight. Live might be better, f/t could work out to your advantage, depending on if the snake gets aggravated and bites/eats the food, or just goes into "flee" mode and tries to stay away from the wriggling meese.
The snake being in such close quarters can finally trigger the feed response you want overnight. I'd say this has been effective for us in maybe 50% of the times we've needed to use it.
Again.......good luck. Keep us posted.
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Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

Tom,
..You are right about condensation forming on a cold surface like a cold soda can. But, if the surface and the air are at the same temperature and condensation from the air forms liquid water drops on the surface it indicates that the air is at 100% hunidity. If the cage temparature is close to the room temperature which is often the case when the cage temperature is in the low to mid 70s then the glass will be not be significantly colder than the air in the cage and so the formation of condensation on the glass is a good indication of humidity at or near 100%. The original poster opined that the hygrometer in the cage may have been inaccurate and that the formation of condensation on the glass supported that opinion. If you have several hygrometers (particularly cheap petstore hygrometers) try putting them side by side in a cage and you will likely see that some of them are very inaccurate.
Jeff

>>Heavy condensation doesnt necessarily imply 100% humidity. Any cold soda can will sweat in 50% humidity. Condensation is also driven by a temperature difference.
>>I take it from your post you have a troubled feeder, but I dont know what other advice you've already been given. So here's my 2 cents.
>>Try a live pinky (I assume you have a juvi snake). Even if it's medium sized, try a live pinky anyway. A snack is less of an event for a snake to eat than a whole meal.
>>Try one side of the cage with moss or wet paper towels, and the other side with something drier, like aspen or orchid bark, but even the bark might be too moist for the snake to regulate what it's comfortable with.
>>Thats all I can spout out right now.....best of luck, leaving work now (productive, arent I?)
>>-----
>>Tom
>>TCJ Herps
>>"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

She finally took a frozen hopper today! I wanna thank you guys for all your help! and a special thanks to Jeff Clark & jon4534! You guys are great! I apprechiate everything!