Help! RTB Tub too humid!

[progerian]

So things have been going well with my Red Tail Boa for the last two days and I made a 16 quart tub for him. I'm maintaining good temperatures, low 80s on the one side and low 90s on the other.

The humidity was at about 40 so I put in ReptiBark and now the humidity wont drop below low 90s. I've drilled holes all over the top, all over the sides, my enclosure looks like swiss cheese but the humidity wont go down. (It has only been a day and a half though).

I'm gettin nervous about scale rot. I've never experienced it with either of my balls, but seen pictures of it over the years. How long do I have to fix this humidity situation before I start to hurt the poor little guy? Hes only 2 1/2 months old.

Thanks a ton for any suggestions. I'm new to the RTB world and might be worrying too much.

[Zac Attack]

hmm.. a 16 quart tub is rather small, so the only thing i can think of is that the water bowl is making it really humid? if so you should upsize the tub or downsize the water bowl or amount of water offered.

[SatanicIntention]

You'd probably do fine with a 27-32qt tub for a boa. Ditch the Reptibark, it's incredibly dusty and expensive. Newspaper, aspen, paper towels, even dried cypress mulch from your garden center(Home Depot has it for $2 a bag).

For a bigger tub, put about 6-8 holes on the long sides, and about 5-6 holes on the short sides. None in the lid. Water bowl all the way over on the cool side and make sure it has a small surface area(2-4" in diameter).

Too many holes will just let the heat out and will make the tub too drafty. Cool drafts can predispose the snake to respiratory infections.

[progerian]

Oh, I was wrong. After re-thinking things I realized 15 was too small for it. I checked, I bought 15Q for my mouse rack which is why I had that number in my head.

The boa is in a Sterilite 1886 35Q. Here are some pictures to make this easier. This is my first tub setup, had my ball pythons in built terrariums for 3 years now.

Here are some pictures. He chooses not to use the hides I've provided by the way, and the water dish was just emptied before the picture. I'm not a bad dad

[the_Ryno]

Give the Repti Bark a few days to dry out and your humidity will go back down.

[mr86mister]

I agree when I first used my ReptiBark the humidty was roughly 85 to 90 so I let the bag stay open and let it all dry out for a few days. But now I use Aspen bedding. MUCH MUCH easier and cheaper and it stays right in the middle around 56% all the time for my BP. Hopefully everything gets sorted out for you!

[frankykeno]

You can take out the Reptibark stuff and allow it to air dry to a proper humidity. Just put the snake on newspaper or paper towel as a substrate while that bark stuff dries out.

Personally for our boas we use a combination we mix of 3/4 cypress mulch, 1/4 aspen. The cypress mulch does tend to come wet from the store so you have to let it dry some first but it is nice to hold humidity. The aspen mixed in makes it softer. Pure aspen is fine too though when the boas are bigger and heavier they tend to compress the aspen a lot and mess up heat coming up from a UTH (hence why we started mixing it ourselves - we get the best of both substrates that way).

Just a thought here. That Jello box is going to get nasty fast. Between tub humidity and your boa peeing and pooping it's going to go nasty on you. A trip to the dollar store will net you some nice dark plastic bowls. Melt or cut an entrance into them and bingo you have hides for the baby boa for only a dollar. As your boa grows you can just switch out to bigger hides. Our adult male boa has a massive black plastic bowl I scored at Hallowe'en from the dollar store..... he loves it!

[Schlyne]

You may also be able to bake the reptibark in the oven at like 150 or so to dry it out a bit.

[SherriX2]

What is the besy humid level or a RTB BCI? I have mine in a 20 L with cypress mulch.he is having a hard time shedding,his skin is so loose but it wont come off (I start a new thread about shedding)

[progerian]

You guys were right. After about 4 days the humidity dropped to about 55%. I now have a constant 91-95 on one side and 80-85 on the other. Great success!