Question :)

[AmandaJ]

Holy cow, I feel like a total newbie snake owner again (not that I'm overly experienced, admittedly). Anyway...

So I picked up my little guy on Sunday, and since we got him home and into his setup he's been camped out in the humid hide on the warm side of his enclosure. He was in shed and my humidity levels weren't behaving even with a decent size water dish; hence the two little buckets of damp sphagnum moss I've added.

My worry is... is he okay marinating in the damp moss? I mean, since he discovered it I don't believe he's come out. Shed-wise he's past blue phase, his eyes are clear, so he's got a few more days before he sheds out I figure, and I'm fine with leaving him alone (I'd have to anyway since he's still acclimating) but I just want to be sure he's not going to get a fungus or scale rot or something. I'm misting the moss to keep it damp but not soaked, and I've carefully lifted the layers of moss to just mist him gently as well.

Or am I driving him crazy? I'm still not tickled to death with his setup, so I'm tweaking. He's in a 10-gallon at the moment (not ideal), well-cluttered and soon to be covered on 3 sides, and I'm already saving for his eventual PVC enclosure because I think that will be our best bet for long-term maintenance of both the snake and my sanity.

Humidity is 60% (with a lot of work on my part), temp gradient isn't ideal with warm spot being 88 and cool being 82. So that's bugging as well. Perhaps I need a bigger tank already. I can accomplish that with I think minimal fuss as my local reptile shop has a buy-back program with used tanks when it's necessary to upsize...

Anyway, babbling. Input welcome. His well-being is more important than my ego.

[4theSNAKElady]

Sounds to me like ur doin just fine. And that hes diggin the moss. Gotta brush that "new bp owner syndrome" aside :p

sent from my incubator

[Gio]

Holy cow, I feel like a total newbie snake owner again (not that I'm overly experienced, admittedly). Anyway...

So I picked up my little guy on Sunday, and since we got him home and into his setup he's been camped out in the humid hide on the warm side of his enclosure. He was in shed and my humidity levels weren't behaving even with a decent size water dish; hence the two little buckets of damp sphagnum moss I've added.

My worry is... is he okay marinating in the damp moss? I mean, since he discovered it I don't believe he's come out. Shed-wise he's past blue phase, his eyes are clear, so he's got a few more days before he sheds out I figure, and I'm fine with leaving him alone (I'd have to anyway since he's still acclimating) but I just want to be sure he's not going to get a fungus or scale rot or something. I'm misting the moss to keep it damp but not soaked, and I've carefully lifted the layers of moss to just mist him gently as well.

Or am I driving him crazy? I'm still not tickled to death with his setup, so I'm tweaking. He's in a 10-gallon at the moment (not ideal), well-cluttered and soon to be covered on 3 sides, and I'm already saving for his eventual PVC enclosure because I think that will be our best bet for long-term maintenance of both the snake and my sanity.

Humidity is 60% (with a lot of work on my part), temp gradient isn't ideal with warm spot being 88 and cool being 82. So that's bugging as well. Perhaps I need a bigger tank already. I can accomplish that with I think minimal fuss as my local reptile shop has a buy-back program with used tanks when it's necessary to upsize...

Anyway, babbling. Input welcome. His well-being is more important than my ego.

You are "In Tune" and sounds like you are doing great. That moss is excellent as it will dry and retake moisture. I had a humid hid filled with that when I first got my fella and he rarely came out. It had a lid on it and the whole works. I eventually took the moss out and scattered it about the cage.

DAMP VS Wet is a separate matter. If he is in damp moss he's just fine. My favorite authority on boas, Gus Rentfro will tell you soaking in water for hours is NOT good and is usually a sign of something being wrong. Also prolonged periods in water can lead to what you are worried about. That said, moss that is damp should be just fine.

There are very good articles and posts regarding care. I can't begging to link them all here, but I personally like the humidity HIGH 70-80% as long as there is no standing condensation. I find my snake rarely drinks and uses both warm and cool side of the cage equally.

There are various opinions and there is no 100% set in stone way to do things.

I have a few long posts in this forum about caging and can help you with that if need be.

Keep him enjoying the moss.

[AmandaJ]

Thanks Crystal and Gio

Yes, the moss is damp and not soaked. I have hopes of actually seeing him someday... the urge to ease him out of the hide is strong, but I'm old enough to resist it thank goodness!

Reading more on the whole RTB husbandry thing, once this week has passed I think I'll put in aspen (are chips okay rather than shredded? I have a boatload of SaniChips for my sand boas). He's on paper towels right now because I'm watching for any sign of mites. So far so good -- the only little brown specks in his deli cup when I brought him home were wood (I checked with our microscope -- yes, I actually bought one several months back so I'd quit freaking out over every tiny speck I saw) and no brown specks have shown up in his tank. Of course, they could all be lurking in the moss hide. *facepalm*

I know my other snakes; this little guy is a mystery still, so I'll likely be asking a few more questions before I'm comfortable with him and with my ability to read how well he's doing. Dang he's cute, though

Thank you again!

[Gio]

The good news is you are in Florida so you'll be ahead of the game with humidity and temps during the summer months. I wish there was a way to edit these posts after the fact. I misspelled things terribly on previous post.

I know the urge you are talking about. Eventually you won't need to expose him. He'll pop out. Unlike some snakes, these boas like their food and it's like clockwork when it's time to eat. They appear like magic and stare you down all day until meal time LOL!

Read up a bit on the care sections of Rio Bravo Reptiles. The Red Tailed boa section will apply to BCC's and BCI's.

Deviant Constrictors website has a few blog pages dealing with climate/humidity and diet as well.

You'll do just fine.

May I suggest however that if you return your cage, consider getting a plastic cage from on of the many quality cage makers. Boas love them.!


This is a Pro-Line 48" x 23" x 14" cage. I have a almost 1 year old male Colombian, Barranquilla locality boa.

[DooLittle]

I have the shredded type aspen and my boas will burrow around in it. Also, (at least my boas) take longer to go through the shed process than a ball. Like my balls clear from blue and shed in a day or two. My boas clear and it could be days before they shed.

[Evenstar]

Great advice so far!

Don't worry about the moss. Gio put it great - damp vs wet are two very different things. Don't worry about tweaking the enclosure as you go along - if you are doing your best to not disturb him, a little tweaking is fine. Boas don't stress as easily as balls so you shouldn't have to worry too much about bothering him.

I'll also echo Gio's recommendation that you ditch the tank and get a pvc or plastic enclosure like he pictured. You won't have to tweak nearly so much.


Enjoy your baby!!

[AmandaJ]

Gio, I'd seen your cage in another thread. It's gorgeous! I'm going to send the link to my husband so he can see what we're looking at for eventual enclosure size. He's the crafty type, so he may consider looking up directions and constructing one on his own. My only concern with that is the eventual weight we're looking at with a melamine or similar type of homemade enclosure versus the Pro-Line plastic. I know I can't keep up the wretched glass tank forever. Even though our humidity down here makes things good, I need something that will hold humidity more than that sucker does. If I don't mist endlessly the humidity drops and before I know it I'm below 50. So... yeah. Something's gotta give, LOL

[Gio]

Gio, I'd seen your cage in another thread. It's gorgeous! I'm going to send the link to my husband so he can see what we're looking at for eventual enclosure size. He's the crafty type, so he may consider looking up directions and constructing one on his own. My only concern with that is the eventual weight we're looking at with a melamine or similar type of homemade enclosure versus the Pro-Line plastic. I know I can't keep up the wretched glass tank forever. Even though our humidity down here makes things good, I need something that will hold humidity more than that sucker does. If I don't mist endlessly the humidity drops and before I know it I'm below 50. So... yeah. Something's gotta give, LOL

I wish I could type and link things quickly. I have a thread on this site somewhere about glass tanks. We have one for my son's Royal and I can get the humidity down to a T even in Minnesota.

I used insulation (Reflectix) and have been happy. But lets face it,,, glass tanks are a pain. I hate top loading water and substrate and feeding from above. I hate heat lamps and always think there will be a fire when we leave town. That's a bit of an overstatement, because the Herpstat is spot on and the light has nothing to burn, but you get my point.

The most important factor is you have a BOA. Male or female, they get big, they get strong and they are semi arboreal. The screen top with a curious, face rubbing snake will be a big downer.

Our Royal is OK in the glass tank, but I'd like to get another Pro-Line.

In the meantime, try getting some foil and cover the top with a cut away for your light only. Put a damp towel under the foil so it covers half the top and you should spike your levels. It will start out very high. 80's, then slowly dissipate and dry which is OK, then re-wet in a couple days and start again.

See if you can search my post here. I'm sorry I can't remember where it is in the various forums.

But once you go with a plastic enclosure chats like this will be a thing of the past for you.

PS.

other options are coconut husk or cypress with misting.

You sound like a great owner so I think you'll be dialed in soon.

[Pyrate81]

Gio, I looked for your thread and couldn't find it. I am not good at finding things. But I did find this: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tment-Tutorial to help with humidity in a glass tank. Hope it helps.