New owner and site member, BP Dehydrated from store.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

While you are chilling out...and if you have $165 burning a hole in you pocket, may I suggest you buy/rent/steal:

Health and Welfare of Captive Reptiles
Clifford Warwick, F.L. Frye, J.B. Murphy

Covers a lot of ground with regards to many subjects, but really touches on how to reduce stress in captive reptiles.

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It seems to be a pretty thorough resource with a bunch of relative knowledge so I think it would be worth trying to get the money together. Thank you for the suggestion. I'd like to have as many resources as possible.

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Originally Posted by Reed12321

Something you may want to consider is that perhaps he feels vulnerable. Snakes hide all the time so if you have an all glass tank, it may make him feel very exposed. Something I did to make my snake feel more hidden is put window tints on the outside of the tank. Here's a picture:
https://38.media.tumblr.com/9645f57e...0dbo1_1280.jpg

That picture shows the sides and back of the tank. I didn't tint the front of the tank so that way I could see the dials and such. I've done this to 2 tanks so far and I think it looks bad ass. It also doesn't let a lot of excess light out so it can keep the temps higher.

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Ive added white paper to all sides of the tank save the front temporarily until I find some poster background I like the look of, But it does block his view so he doesn't seem so exposed.

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Originally Posted by jtomb1510

I just read this whole thread and I agree that you need to take a deep breath. It's good that you are this concerned with your snakes well being, but you're going to have a heart attack lol....

...Just breathe and have fun man. Cheers!

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Thank you for that. I know I got way to intense. I'm just carrying over the stress the death of my last snake caused to this one. It's made me paranoid and overly cautious. I am attempting another feed tomorrow evening. I'm pretty sure the fuzzies i'm buying are rats and not mice but i'll double check again. I'm not sure he is big enough for furries just yet. I too think he is most likely underweight and petsmart is notorious for underfeeding (as well as apparently being completely unknowledgeable about their animals.) But I will be adding the hair dryer final step as it seems to increase their hunger and tendency to strike.

side note: in hindsight, I think you're right about the defensive strike thing as I had just changed his bedding and added a new hide earlier that morning.

Thanks again for the encouragement.

Found that book online at one place for $133, so it's now the only thing on my Christmas list.

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Ive added white paper to all sides of the tank save the front temporarily until I find some poster background I like the look of, But it does block his view so he doesn't seem so exposed.

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I liked the window tint because it actually adheres to the glass. Unfortunately, 3 days after completing that window tint job, the glass cracked on the front of the tank so I had to toss the tank. Also, my albino had mites so since that tank was cracked, it was just way easier to toss. One of my friends who is a breeder sold me the same size tank with a heat pad and a hide for $20.

Grats on the new deal.

And I just weighed Kaa for the first time since I got him and, although i'm sure it's still just me freaking out, he's only weighing in at 77g...I have no idea how old he actually is but that sounds extremely low to me.I'm attempting another feeding tonight and I'm praying to everything I know that he takes it; if he does i'll start feeding him every 5 days and record his weight change. Still working on this shed too but please someone tell me I don't have to be scared of this weight reading.

I apologize for the necessity of all these reassurances.

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Grats on the new deal.

And I just weighed Kaa for the first time since I got him and, although i'm sure it's still just me freaking out, he's only weighing in at 77g...I have no idea how old he actually is but that sounds extremely low to me.I'm attempting another feeding tonight and I'm praying to everything I know that he takes it; if he does i'll start feeding him every 5 days and record his weight change. Still working on this shed too but please someone tell me I don't have to be scared of this weight reading.

I apologize for the necessity of all these reassurances.

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If he's 77 grams and you have no idea when he last ate, I would think you are going to have to start considering live food in the near future.

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Originally Posted by 200xth

If he's 77 grams and you have no idea when he last ate, I would think you are going to have to start considering live food in the near future.

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Trust me i'd prefer to feed live, but the nearest place that sells live is an hour away. And he isn't big enough to eat the furries that the pet store sells as pets...

I have to travel 1hr 15 min a week for my rats. It's worth it though until I can convince my princess to eat f/t. And my new boy is fed live too. My boa will eat anything.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by calmolly1

I have to travel 1hr 15 min a week for my rats. It's worth it though until I can convince my princess to eat f/t. And my new boy is fed live too. My boa will eat anything.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Well seeing as how it's already frustrating and stressful to keep wasting rats every week and him still not eating even though he's apparently underweight and undoubtedly hungry, I would hate to also add a 2 hour drive every week to that frustration. Maybe if gas was cheap and I already knew it would ensure he would eat. If this is already a life or death situation and he doesn't eat tonight then I guess that's my only option left. I just wish I knew what I did wrong to make it to where he just wants to die.

upset at the situation, not your suggestion. I will do that if it's absolutely necessary. I'm just really trying to come up with a reasonably comfortable situation. And adding that drive to the weekly routine just isn't.

HE ATE! *angelic trumpets blare*

So I didn't do the paper towel thing because I thought he might be getting some weird smells from it that put him off. However after the fridge thaw, I hooked up a hair dryer and dried/warmed it up on the top of his cage. He got all interested and squirmy and within a couple minutes of dangling, he struck it right out of the tongs! He actually was moving up like he smelled me so I had to raise the f/t which resulted in an almost aerial strike.

But long story short he now has a fully belly and is chilling. He probably wants more but i'm not going to push it so in 4 days I am going to feed again and will start trying to feed every 4-5 to get his weight up.

But I just want to say a huge thank you to all of the positive vibes you all have sent us. I know we aren't completely out of the woods yet but at least I know he isn't starving and now have a point of reference for his weight journal and his feeding journal.

YES! I was WAITING for you to post! I was so confident he would eat, but there's that little shadow of doubt...

He's probably so satisfied and happy with his meal. I think from here on out he'll continue to improve. Wonderful news, I'm so happy to hear it! :D

I am beaming!
So the plan is now to wait two days for him to digest. Then I'll weigh him again, then two or three days after that I'll try another feed. Basically just try to stick to that until I get his weight up. In the meantime I'm hoping he can go into another shed and get rid of all this left over.

But it thanks for keeping up with us. It's such a weight off my shoulders. So that's entry number 1 in two of his three journals.

:D

Your video helped me a lot. Once he gets more comfy eating I'll do a feed with the lights on and try to get a response video.

I'm just going to throw out there what to maybe expect when you weigh next week. My ball is underweight himself (telltale very triangular body shape!) I weighed before the first feeding - 146 grams, about 6-7 months old estimated. I weighed the mouse at 21 grams, a hair over the 15% weight recommendation. When I weighed him the next week I was ecstatic to see that he weighed 154 grams!

....aaand then he pooped on feeding day, 5 days later, and I weighed him again. 145 grams. DOWN one from the week before!

I'm not too worried about it unless there's a trend, but don't panic if there's not an immediate weight gain. :) He's eating, and that's the big thing. My guy is currently on a 5 day schedule, except this week it's 7 because I'm leaving for Thanksgiving break. If he doesn't start gaining I'll eek it up to a 4 day schedule. Because you don't know what was going on before you got him it will take a few weeks of feedings to see a trend. If he hasn't pooped in a few weeks, for instance, when he DOES poop it might seem that he's dropped dramatically, even though he is up from what his "normal" poop free weight would be.

Just to give you an idea. :) Give it a couple of feedings to really see the trend.

Awesome job!!!


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Oh right thank you, I would have totally forgotten about the poop issue. Yes right now I'm just more pleased he is eating. But thanks for the heads up that it might take awhile to see solid gain. 77 just seems way low. But I have no idea how old he is...

im im going to ask petsmart how old his clutch mates are.

They may not know. Sometimes it's their own ignorance, and sometimes the breeders don't send a hatch date. But it can't hurt to ask! I was told mine was hatched in "late spring" so I decided to assume May is a good guess.

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Oh right thank you, I would have totally forgotten about the poop issue. Yes right now I'm just more pleased he is eating. But thanks for the heads up that it might take awhile to see solid gain. 77 just seems way low. But I have no idea how old he is...

im im going to ask petsmart how old his clutch mates are.

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You have him. You got his environment sorted and apparently he is eating. Forget Petsmart and forget how old he is. His age doesn't make any difference whatsoever at this point.

Just keep feeding him regularly and worry about what you're doing going forward. If he eats regularly he'll grow consistently.

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Grats on the new deal.

And I just weighed Kaa for the first time since I got him and, although i'm sure it's still just me freaking out, he's only weighing in at 77g...I have no idea how old he actually is but that sounds extremely low to me.I'm attempting another feeding tonight and I'm praying to everything I know that he takes it; if he does i'll start feeding him every 5 days and record his weight change. Still working on this shed too but please someone tell me I don't have to be scared of this weight reading.

I apologize for the necessity of all these reassurances.

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He does seem a little under if he's anything more than 1.5-2 months old. My albino was hatched on october 5th and she's around 90 grams. But girls are supposed to be bigger than boys, so maybe he's at a healthy weight. Akeda was hatched on August 24th and he's around 140 grams

So manager at petsmart told me they get all their BP's in about a month after their first shed. So that puts Kaa at about 2 months give or take if he is correct because I got him two days after they got them in. So his weight is slightly low I think, without knowing if he was a small egg or not.

Also he said they do feed all snakes f/t but that ever since they started "radiating" the f/t he has noticed snakes in their stores being more hesitant to eat (apparently he's managed multiple stores for a good while.)

so at least I have a ballpark age range to go on for weight. And as a side note: they had a pied! It was gorgeous and I'm lucky I'm dead broke or it would have come home with me. Unfortunately it also had visible mites. I got into the manager about that and he stated they have a problem controlling the mites but that he would handle the situation...

Oh good - he's small, yeah, but him being so young makes it not quite as scary little!

and they had a PIED?! How much?! I LOVE pied balls, I didn't know pet stores carried them at all! I would have been in trouble had I seen that (or rather, my bank account would have!)

What is "radiating" the food?

The baby petsmart Pied. Poor thing :/

http://i62.tinypic.com/33ze9mx.jpg

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Originally Posted by Spoons

Oh good - he's small, yeah, but him being so young makes it not quite as scary little!

and they had a PIED?! How much?! I LOVE pied balls, I didn't know pet stores carried them at all! I would have been in trouble had I seen that (or rather, my bank account would have!)

What is "radiating" the food?

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Yes! Were I not broke! It's my overall favorite morph...want. It was $300

and apparently the supplier petsmart uses radiates their f/t to kill salmonella? Idk it sounds weird but I'd be worried about feeding radiated animals to other animals so I don't know how true that is. Maybe he's confused.

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Yes! Were I not broke! It's my overall favorite morph...want. It was $300

and apparently the supplier petsmart uses radiates their f/t to kill salmonella? Idk it sounds weird but I'd be worried about feeding radiated animals to other animals so I don't know how true that is. Maybe he's confused.

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Was it male or female? If it is a female, take out a small loan and buy that snake. You can give it a way better home than Petsmart, and treating it for Mites won't be that bad. I could give you a step-by-step mite killing walkthrough that's proven to kill them. Seriously though, they're crazy for selling that pied for only $300. I'm sure you know the prices of Pieds usually, but $300 is a killer deal and if I lived in Louisiana, I'd buy that snake in a heartbeat; mites or no mites.

Also, if anyone who is selling Pied's is looking at this thread, PM me because I'm interested in females. Age doesnt matter; in fact, I have only ever purchased snakes under 2 months old.

You know, for anybody reading this thread, it was my birthday in October, and I DO love me some Pied snakes... :rolleyes:

What an insane deal. When you have the $$ you should go check to see if its still there.

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Originally Posted by Spoons

You know, for anybody reading this thread, it was my birthday in October, and I DO love me some Pied snakes... :rolleyes:

What an insane deal. When you have the $$ you should go check to see if its still there.

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Oh I absolutely will be. Fortunately we don't have a very large herp community here so I don't see it being sold soon. Honestly I'm more worried about them shipping it off for the mites because they don't want to work on it. As for the money, I have a $900 truck mechanic bill and a $2,000 best buy card that I'd need to pay off before it would be logical to spend money on anything else :/ stupid responsibilities. But oh yes. As soon as I get out from under this financial rock that pied is the top of my list. Hopefully I can figure out how to confidently offer it a home by then. But with all your help I think I should be able to by the time I could afford it. I can't go back into petsmart while it's there. I am so heartbroken at not being able to get it. My dream morph and for a steal....so so sad.

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Grats on the new deal.

And I just weighed Kaa for the first time since I got him and, although i'm sure it's still just me freaking out, he's only weighing in at 77g...I have no idea how old he actually is but that sounds extremely low to me.I'm attempting another feeding tonight and I'm praying to everything I know that he takes it; if he does i'll start feeding him every 5 days and record his weight change. Still working on this shed too but please someone tell me I don't have to be scared of this weight reading.

I apologize for the necessity of all these reassurances.

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I have a make Mojave that we had to asst feed for a while. He was born in August sometime. He is a little guy super small. I think he says 68grams. I feed him once a week. He now feeds great on his own. And he drinks plenty of water. At least I assume so. The water cup is empty about every 4 days. He's an awesome little guy


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Originally Posted by Solarsoldier001

I have a make Mojave that we had to asst feed for a while. He was born in August sometime. He is a little guy super small. I think he says 68grams. I feed him once a week. He now feeds great on his own. And he drinks plenty of water. At least I assume so. The water cup is empty about every 4 days. He's an awesome little guy


Sent from iPhone 5 using tapatalk :)

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Good to know. Well since he fed today i'm not as worried about his actual weight as long as I can start seeing some gain, even if it's slight at first. So time will tell.

I hope i'm not breaking any rules by continuing this thread far past what it was originally created for. I can always start a new one after his shed or something. I just really appreciate all the input and advice following his condition changes.

I have a pair of 1.1 Albino Pieds right now that were born on 9/20 and I STILL have to assist feed them to this day. I have decided they just hate me and that is why they do this to me..... As far as that Pied at PetSmart goes, I'm very surprised that such a large chain has a Pied. $300 is about the going rate for a Pied male with that percentage of white though. Medium white Pied males are $300-$350 and females are roughly $100 more. They really dropped in price this year. I'd offer the manager $200 for him as is and see if he goes for it. You can clear mites up in a day if you know what you're doing.

Anyways, I'm glad you finally got your little guy/gal to eat. Glad the hair dryer trick worked for you. It's my go to method for stubborn eaters :)
Cheers!

As pathetic as it is, I couldn't even give him $200 right now. If it's still there when I get paid I will most likely not be able to resist. especially as I still have a spare 20 gallon tank and bedding and spare lamp...

I know i'm not going to forgive myself if I miss this deal but I also know I can't really afford it. Legitimately battling this haha. Pretty sad about it all...So i'm going to focus back on Kaa and just see if luck favors me soon.

maybe i'll talk to the petsmart guy about fostering...long shot I know but he seemed cool.

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Originally Posted by Karokash

HE ATE! *angelic trumpets blare*

So I didn't do the paper towel thing because I thought he might be getting some weird smells from it that put him off. However after the fridge thaw, I hooked up a hair dryer and dried/warmed it up on the top of his cage. He got all interested and squirmy and within a couple minutes of dangling, he struck it right out of the tongs! He actually was moving up like he smelled me so I had to raise the f/t which resulted in an almost aerial strike.

But long story short he now has a fully belly and is chilling. He probably wants more but i'm not going to push it so in 4 days I am going to feed again and will start trying to feed every 4-5 to get his weight up.

But I just want to say a huge thank you to all of the positive vibes you all have sent us. I know we aren't completely out of the woods yet but at least I know he isn't starving and now have a point of reference for his weight journal and his feeding journal.

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Congrats on a successful feeding!! I have been waiting for this information!!! Now that he has taken a f/t, try a few more to ensure that he continues to accept them. If he does, you might consider ordering frozen rats in bulk online. I fussed over that decision for a while, and finally did it when I saw the site, bigcheeserodents.com, offering flat rate shipping. I ordered almost a years supply of rats (1 pack of weaned, and 2 packs of smalls). They arrived quickly, and the packs were vacuum sealed. I split and sealed the weaned into packs of 5, to ensure they last. The smalls I left in their original vacuum sealed bags, and stuck them in the basement deep freezer. Anyways...congrats again, I hope he continues to eat and grow for you!!

Aaron

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Originally Posted by yellowbelly76

Congrats on a successful feeding!! I have been waiting for this information!!! Now that he has taken a f/t, try a few more to ensure that he continues to accept them. If he does, you might consider ordering frozen rats in bulk online. I fussed over that decision for a while, and finally did it when I saw the site, bigcheeserodents.com, offering flat rate shipping. I ordered almost a years supply of rats (1 pack of weaned, and 2 packs of smalls). They arrived quickly, and the packs were vacuum sealed. I split and sealed the weaned into packs of 5, to ensure they last. The smalls I left in their original vacuum sealed bags, and stuck them in the basement deep freezer. Anyways...congrats again, I hope he continues to eat and grow for you!!

Aaron

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the only problem I am seeing with this is that my guy is still growing, he's very young. I have no way of guessing how many of each animal I'll need - I would love to order some pups, but how many? How long will it be before I upgrade? How soon will he need something else? It's hard to order bulk like that when I don't know. :/ Nobody around me sells rats any smaller than 'small' so I'm stuck shelling out for mice!

Karokash, I'm feeling the same dilemma with a Brazilian Rainbow boa at my local rep store. I'm DYING to buy one, and I'm looking for a female. They've only got a young male, but I was seriously fighting myself over it. I ended up not going for it because I really needed the money for bills, but I'm really hoping to be able to put a deposit down with a breeder online. It was such a fight! I have a tank for it, I have all the stuff I would need save for another thermostat, but I had to pass. It's so hard!

I have the same problem with my bp viv. No matter what i tried the humidity never went higher than 40 percent, so i purchased a reptifog fogger by zoomed and that has solved the problem i set it for med fog every 3 hrs and it sends the humidity up to 75, it does drop down a bit in the 3 hrs between foggings but not lower than 50. I live on long island and 8 months of the year humidity is not an issue, but in winter between the oil burner and the supplimental wood burning stove the house gets pretty dry.

Can u make payments on the pied?

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Originally Posted by yellowbelly76

Congrats on a successful feeding!! I have been waiting for this information!!! Now that he has taken a f/t, try a few more to ensure that he continues to accept them. If he does, you might consider ordering frozen rats in bulk online. I fussed over that decision for a while, and finally did it when I saw the site, bigcheeserodents.com, offering flat rate shipping. I ordered almost a years supply of rats (1 pack of weaned, and 2 packs of smalls). They arrived quickly, and the packs were vacuum sealed. I split and sealed the weaned into packs of 5, to ensure they last. The smalls I left in their original vacuum sealed bags, and stuck them in the basement deep freezer. Anyways...congrats again, I hope he continues to eat and grow for you!!

Aaron

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Thank you for the link and the interest. Back to battling humidity but so glad he ate. I will be feeding again tomorrow. If he takes again then i'm going to start buying in packs. I appreciate the resource.

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Originally Posted by blue roses

I have the same problem with my bp viv. No matter what i tried the humidity never went higher than 40 percent, so i purchased a reptifog fogger by zoomed and that has solved the problem i set it for med fog every 3 hrs and it sends the humidity up to 75, it does drop down a bit in the 3 hrs between foggings but not lower than 50. I live on long island and 8 months of the year humidity is not an issue, but in winter between the oil burner and the supplimental wood burning stove the house gets pretty dry.

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I have pretty much decided that I'm going to have to break down and just get a mister as well. He has coco bedding that I spray down every day, a water bowl that three of himself could soak in completely, a log hide filled with moss that I soak and re-moisten twice a week, a 2/3 covered lid, and no airflow at all in the room and its still trying to go back down to the 30's. So instead of pulling my hair out with confusion i'm going to get a mister. Last thing I know to do. A mister needed in Louisiana, still makes me laugh.

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Originally Posted by pbyeerts

Can u make payments on the pied?

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petsmart doesn't do that. It's a pretty straightforward retail situation, they sell the animals the same way they sell the fake plants.

Meanwhile my beardie just laughs at the humidity problems and keeps that condescending look on his face. He's all peachy keen in his desert enclosure.

Well he weighed in today at 82 grams. I'm thinking he's going to get two fuzzies tomorrow instead of one, and i'm going to weigh them to make sure he's getting at least 15-20% of his weight. I haven't seen any defecation so i know the weight could just drop right back off once he does. Just throwing out an update. I'll post the results of the feed attempt tomorrow.

And the mister is now my entire Christmas list so here's to hoping.

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Well he weighed in today at 82 grams. I'm thinking he's going to get two fuzzies tomorrow instead of one, and i'm going to weigh them to make sure he's getting at least 15-20% of his weight. I haven't seen any defecation so i know the weight could just drop right back off once he does. Just throwing out an update. I'll post the results of the feed attempt tomorrow.

And the mister is now my entire Christmas list so here's to hoping.

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Just looking for an update. Did he take the 2 fuzzies, or just one? Is he starting to look better? Really hoping to hear that you and your BP are doing well.

Aaron

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Originally Posted by Karokash

And the mister is now my entire Christmas list so here's to hoping.

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Regarding the mister, you could go my route and just get an ultrasonic humidifier, and run some tubing to the top of the enclosure, which will pump the "fog" into it. Put it on a timer, and let it run.

Aaron

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Originally Posted by Spoons

Your snake is very lucky he ended up with you as an owner :)

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That's exactly what I was thinking!;)

Lost internet at the house, sorry guys.
Update: He is feeding more regularly, took 2 f/t fuzzies last night. I'll weigh him tomorrow. his humidity is still a problem but I am saving for a fogger. i've heard it will work better than a mister so I don't soak his enclosure down. Also really hoping for an Animal Plastics enclosure for christmas....

Oh and I found a camera so I'm going to try to post real pictures soon

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Originally Posted by platinumbp

That's exactly what I was thinking!;)

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Thank you for that, I worry i'm not doing a very good job. I just really care about my animals alot and want to give him a good life

Oh and just throwing this out there because I still have no idea why humidity is such a problem for me. But would the fact that i am keeping Kaa in basically a library make any difference? There are 5 large bookshelves filled floor to ceiling, basically half of the walls in the room, plus the short bookshelf that his enclosure is on. Could the books be sucking the humidity out of the room?

It's a weird suggestion I know but I have no idea anymore. My setup is basically exactly like the suggested builds, sans thermostat at the moment, and i'm still struggling to stay in the 40's.

I won't restart the whole humidity conversation again but does anyone think that the large amount of books could be a contributing factor?

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Oh and just throwing this out there because I still have no idea why humidity is such a problem for me. But would the fact that i am keeping Kaa in basically a library make any difference? There are 5 large bookshelves filled floor to ceiling, basically half of the walls in the room, plus the short bookshelf that his enclosure is on. Could the books be sucking the humidity out of the room?

It's a weird suggestion I know but I have no idea anymore. My setup is basically exactly like the suggested builds, sans thermostat at the moment, and i'm still struggling to stay in the 40's.

I won't restart the whole humidity conversation again but does anyone think that the large amount of books could be a contributing factor?

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Did you cover the screen with aluminum foil? I have a huge percentage of my screen covered with aluminum foil and my humidity stays in the 60's no problem. Here's a pic of my setup:
[IMG]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...x.jpg~original[/IMG]

I have my water bowl under the lamp, and I have a cup with moist paper towels in it. Both of those provide moisture. I got the cup idea from not being able to use moss in my tanks due to mites. So I improvised and it has worked wonders for me. I struggled with having to mist my tanks multiple times per day, now I rarely have to adjust my himidity levels. This type of setup allows the humidity to come from within the tank rather than the outside, so your library situation may not affect this at all.

I have both a large water bowl under the lamp and a wet moss log hide. Haven't had a mite problem. And 2/3 of the lid is covered in foil. i'll try to get a pic tonight.

On the up side; he did weigh in at 99g last night, up from 82g a couple of weeks ago. so he is putting on a little bit of weight, which is good

I'll try the cup thing in addition, but he is pretty curious so he will probably knock it over. He won't allow the thermometer to stand up for more than a couple of hours without toppling it, then staring at me and daring me to stand it up again.

you may want to try covering even more of the top with aluminum foil. It may not seem like it'll make a huge difference, but the heat from the lamp is going straight down to the water and moist hide. This means that the water is evaporating straight back up, so it'll tough to retain those water molecules. try leaving only a few small holes of uncovered aluminum around the lamp and check your humidity after that sits for a while.