Help please !

Hello everybody.....Can someone talk to me about course grade aspen as a substrate for Borneo's ? I made a post a day or so ago and nobody seems to have any ideas or suggestions.......my original post is " course grade aspen and digital hygrometers"

Can someone PLEASE let me know what they think about Aspen ( course grade )? ......and if I should buy a seperate digital hygrometer instead of the thermometer / hygrometer combo that I currently have. I AM CONCERNED ABOUT THE ACCURACY ( It's a Taylor , are they good ? ).

Thanks
Yosef

The course grade aspen bedding should be perfectly fine.

Here is an older post about aspen bedding that may or may not help you out a little bit.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...nake-Substrate

As for your Taylor, I've heard they aren't exactly accurate. I was reading reviews for them a while ago and a majority of them stated that they arent worth buying. This is only what I've read though, someone else on here may have personal experience with them and say otherwise.

Hope this helped.

We use coarse aspen chips for our bloods & STPs & they're all doing very well.

As far as hygrometers go, unless you are spending the $$ on a NIST-certified unit (which isn't cheap), get used to inaccuracy. Most cheaper, commercially available hygrometers range from somewhat inaccurate to woefully so.

You're probably better off learning to develop a feel for correct humidity & proper cage conditions. Is your snake experiencing stuck.sheds? If so, the cage is too dry. Is its skin taking on a wet, shiny, wrinkled appearance? Is extra condensation running down the sides of the cage? If so, it's too wet.
What is your humidity like now? What elements do you feel you need to tweak?

Start there. :)

K~

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

I just typed my reply and for some crazy reason, it never went through??

So here goes again...lol !

I used to have my Pythons and Boas in a temerature controlled room. Now, since my family and I moved to an apartment , I don't have that luxury.

I only have a 0.1 Borneo python . She was this years birthday gift ( yeah me !! ). She came from Bob Clark.

She is going through her first shed. She should be shedding in a few days.

I have her in a sterilite tub with an Ultratherm heat pad controlled by a thermostat. Temps are good. The problem is that my humidity is too high 82-86 % even when I had her on dry newspaper( if my Taylor thermo / hygro is accurate ). I keep adding more holes to the tub with no success. I switched to DRY cypress at the recommendation of another Borneo keeper ( I was told that DRY cypress would help absorb the humidity ).THERE IS NO CONDENSATION IN THE TUB). I noticed that she had some cypress dust in one of her nostrils and I do not like this. So I may try the course aspen.

I am thinking of buying a hygrometer that is manufactured for the cigar industry as I know that monitoring the humidity is necessary to preserve the integrity of quality cigars. ANY THOUGHTS ON THIS IDEA??

THANK YOU for helping with tips!

Yosef

You can test your humidity gauge by taking a 2 liter bottle top and filling it with salt, then add enough water to it to just get the salt wet without any standing water.

Seal the cap and unit in a ziploc and set it down somewhere inside out of the sun and leave it for a day or two.

Should read 75%

Ive found that the Acurite brand ones I pick up sometimes are pretty accurate.

Also try using a smaller water bowl, newspaper, and more ventilation holes if you struggle with too much humidity.