Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I have read all the GTP books and the general conclusion is that they need very high relative humidity. Alot of books talk about misting systems, and many are commercially available online. Yet when I see pictures of pro keepers' cages, none of them seem to have these systems. What gives? What do the people here use?, is humidity that gigantic of a problem?, any info would be appreciated.

You will be suprized as to how often keepers actually mist their chondros.

A good set up you should only really have to mist once every other day. Misting systems are condusive to lazyness which you cant really be with these animals. They also tend to be more of a problem then just using a spray bottle.

I'm not going to tell you to NOT mist your chondros every day, because i think its a good idea. However, i will tell you that i mist my animals about 2-3 times a week. I also will tell you there are alot of keepers and well known breeders who mist less than i do.

A good enclosure and a watchfull eye is all you need for sucess.. Tubs also keep humidity very very very well. I mist tubs once a week (if that).

if there is little screening(most chondro cages have minimal ventilation,and the temps are high enough,all it takes usually is a large waterbowl and daily misting to get the humidity up the the desired range.although the humidity needs to to fairly high,too high can cause lung infections.what i do is keep the humidity at a reasonable level and only bring it up to the 95%-100% mark when the snake is shedding amd maybe once a week for a couple hours for good measure.i think many new chondro keepers make 2 mistakes.one,they believe a chondro needs super high(95-100 percent)humidity all the time,and two,they think that misting brings up the humidity.misting,combined with high temp and little ventilation does bring up the humidity,but if the cage has a large screened top,all misting will do is make your cage wet and do little to the actual humidity(if anything maybe a quick rise then quick drop.its not untill one invests in a nice humidity reader,that you understand the dynamics of humidity and the difference between a wet cage and actual evaporated water in the air(true humidity).so basically,a misting system is not needed as long as you do daily mistings and have the top of your cage covered mostly with glass or plexiglass to prevent the watervapor from escaping.a good sign to look for is if you own a glass cage,look for fogging on the glass.if youre spraying your cage and all you see are water drops but no fog,then that may be a sign that your humidity is low.if you live in a dry area,and youre away for long hours and are not able to mist,you can use a waterbowl with an airstone,or a waterfall feature.moving water in this way creates a lot more moisture in the air than stagnant water.foggers work well also but tend to create large areas of very high humidity on the lower levels of the cage.this can be fixed by using a small computer fan to circulate the humidity all around the cage.

i keep my humidity between 65-80% and about 85% during a shed...
my normal day temps range between 80-85 degrees... my humidity remains vary constant because i use an appropriate sized water dish and mist when needed... (size varies from cage to cage)
i also only mist about 3 times a week... i dont see that my chondros need misted every day... (i mist chondros under 1 year every day, but only a small amount)

screen tops are probably not good for any snake expecially a chondro... a screen can cause horrible damage to a snake... plus it makes it near impossable to hold temps and humidity...

i dont have too many of my cages get foggy, i think that will differ from location to location and the weather outside... mine will fog up every once in a while, but not often...

i also dont see much gain with a fan... dont get me wrong i under stant the concept, but i know several breeders and i you are the only one i can think of that has one... it seems like if you are going to have a nice cage it will more or less take care of itself as long as it is set up properly...

not trying to pick your post apart icey, i was just pointing out some opinions i have and the way thinks work at my place... no offence intended..

Shiloh
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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

yea i dont feel that a fan is needed and i think you may have misunderstood what i was saying.in a normal setup,a fan is not needed.but if you are relying on a fogger to supply humidity,the fog tends to drop to the bottom of the tank(i have taken humidity readings in a tank with a fogger and all the humidity tends to drop to the bottom of the cage with still air.place a small fan to stir things up and the humidity becomes more uniform throughout the tank.as far as the glass fogging,well glass fogs when the temp is cooler outside of the cage.depending on how much cooler and how much humidity,thats what determins if youll get much fog.

I also keep my enclosure at 65-85% humidity. I find right now with the Santa Ana winds we've been having that I have to mist twice a day or the humidity levels get to 50%. She had her first difficult shed since I got her this last time, so I've increased the humidity since then going from 1 to 2 times a day. I think Greg Maxwell also recommends that you let the enclosure dry out between sprayings so that the humidity starts out high, and then gradually drops down thruout the night. I'll let you know how her next shed goes. I've also removed the pvc and placed real branches back in the enclosure as I don't think the smooth surface helped either.

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1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.3~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin
0.1.1~Green tree python~Tempest, Whisper
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
1.0~Black fat cat~Topper
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....

yea meg and the real wood may help with humidity as well.pvc does not absorb much water.i found that when i switched to wood,not only did my snake shed better by having something to rub against,but the wet wood next to the skin maybe helped to hydrate the shed.

I have had the pleasure of seeing a couple "professional" chondro set ups.... Both Trooper Walsh and Greg Maxwell use the garden style pump sprayer filled with water and hand misted. I believe the general consensus is that the misting systems are high maintenance in their own right with plugging nozzles, etc.

This works well and is quite easy and gives you complete control to mist some snakes more than others when needed. I've got a fancy misting system sitting here with all the bells and whistles that has never been used!!! Viva la garden pump sprayer!!!

I happened to have one of those personal misters that I had won at some business meeting laying around. Cathy Maynard was using one at the show and it works great. I only need to fill it every few days. I mist the snake and the stuff near her, and then use a regular spray bottle to spray the substrate and other walls. It's also better tolerated than the heavier spray on the babies.

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1.0~amel corn~C.S.
1.3~Aztec Okeetee corns~Coatl,Maya,Acatl,Tepin
0.1.1~Green tree python~Tempest, Whisper
0.2~Rhodesian Ridgebacks~Akilah, Ona
1.0~Black fat cat~Topper
3.0~Horses~Zaarah,Galliano,Achilles.....