Sick and having trouble keeping humidity

[Tattoo-Hound]

Recently had to bring my little guy to the vet. He became inactive, what looked like skin caps didn't come off when shedding, and after multiple times of knocking down his water dish on the wood chips I noticed scale rot. I brought him to the vet, they weren't sure about his eyes but definitely had scale rot. I didn't have the additional $300 for more testing and was given antibiotics. They said his humidity has to be 90-100% and temp 85. I got rid of the wood chips and replaced it with a liner. Put a dish of eco earth behind his hideaway, Heavier water dish, plexiglass 60% of the lid, and since all of this has me broke still struggling humidity levels I had to purchase a cold mist humidifier. I have it near the tank and something in front of my night bulb to direct the mist more in the tank. After struggling to keep humidity at 60 it's been a consistent 85% since the humidifier. I'm not sure what else I can do or what is safe for him, especially when I'm not home. I know i'll probably have even more issues if I keep the humidifier on 24/7. Top of his tank doesn't have a lot of room ever since he always has a ceramic for heat and night/ day lighting due to lack of sun in my room and getting super cold at night. Any advice on what to do or if I'm doing something wrong would be greatly appreciated.

[T_Sauer]

Can you post a picture of your set up? It will help greatly to offer you better advice .... if it is a ball python there is no need for day light or any kind of day/night light cycle .... ceramics and heat lamps are humiditys worst enemy, what is the average temp in the room the snake is kept in and what is the lowest it reaches?

[Tattoo-Hound]

I have the ceramic because my room is in a basement, night bulb just helps me check humidity and temp throughout the night. The day one is cause my room has horrible natural sunlight. Without the ceramic his enclosure gets 71 and humidity 45%. Now with both ceramic and nigh bulb plus humidifier his enclosure is 70 degrees but humidity 90. This has been stressful on top of work 65hrs a week. Here's a link to a pic of his tank, sorry it's a bit ghetto looking. He's got a probe thromometor dropped by the floor on the left and humidity on the right. http://postimg.org/image/92hq3q1zr/

[Tattoo-Hound]

I'm not sure if it's skin caps, they aren't wrinkled but he seems to move his eyes just the same. His belly is less pink and sores slightly better after 2nd dose of antibiotics.http://postimg.org/image/inlp16tzn/

[Tattoo-Hound]

http://postimg.org/image/rtwd5exrv

[T_Sauer]

Okay, .... so the thermometer is not doing much good where you have it (if it is touching the glass all you are doing is getting the temp of the glass, you want to read the ambient/air temp in the enclosure) unravel that extra wire and get the probe to the center of the enclosure on the cool side of the tank. You should also get another thermometer for the warm side of the tank. I know you said money is a little tight due to the vet visit but if you can get a digital temp gun that would be best to check you temps. You can move the water dish closer to the heat source and then cover the whole screen top with foil except for maybe two or three inches on both ends and a whole big enough for you heat dome to set in, this will naturally increase you humidity and even help with the ambient temp inside the enclosure.

[T_Sauer]

I cannot offer advice on the treatment or measures to take for the scale rot as I haven't dealt with it so I will not offer any advice on it, however within the next several hours there will be some members and mods on that I'm sure can offer you good sound information on that topic.

Another thing that I would advise is a uth (under the tank heat) and a thermostat as soon as you can afford it for the warm side of your tank. When he gets on I'm sure PIT will offer up a drawing he made that explains the set up of a tank like yours with a uth ... until you can get the uth the set up I explained in my above post should do just fine. I hope this helps and good luck with your lil guy

[Tattoo-Hound]

Thank you I couldn't afford a reptile heating pad until Tuesday, he's been using a normal one set on low after eating or when I can't get the enclosure warm enough.

[Albert Clark]

Hey T-H, first , take up the vinyl flooring and switch to paper towels. That will allow the scale rot to get more oxygen and promote healing. The other necessity is to purchase a "versa top" for the tank. Versa top is a folding glass top that is designed to fit the exact gallon capacity of the tank. They are sold at Petsmart, Petland and Petco. Absolutely will solve the low humidity issue. Also it will help the ambient temperature. The scale rot doesnt come from wood chips it comes from too damp an enclosure with associated poor sanitary conditions on the floor of the enviornment. Not to mention the reptiles depressed immune system from the poor living conditions. So, we have to step up our game plan to get this guy healthy again. Keep us posted. The heat pad and thermostat are very important as well.

[T_Sauer]

Thank you I couldn't afford a reptile heating pad until Tuesday, he's been using a normal one set on low after eating or when I can't get the enclosure warm enough.

Just remember DO NOT plug the reptile heat pad directly in the wall as it can get to hot and burn the snake, it needs to be on the outside of the enclosure, not inside under the carpet ... a thermostat is best to use on a heat mat as it monitors it's own output vs temp of the mat, if you don't have the funds for the thermostat right away ... a rheostat/dimmer switch will also work but you for sure need a way to regulate the output of power going to the mat