New owner need some help

I just got my BP "Nora" form a friend about 4 days ago, never owned a BP befor and all the stuff i have was given to me, i wanna do this right a keep her as healthy as possible.

im having a difficult time keeping the tempture and humidity up

I have 250v heat lamp, ReptiTherm heater, and heat rock all on a timer (Zilla Power Center)

But the temp moves between 75 and 81 degrees im not sure i have the timer going off enough hoping some has a similar setup that can help.
As for the humidity it stays between 50 and 60 % but i cant get it any higher, i have the heating pad under her water dish and the heat lamp on the same side of the tank, i mist the sides of the tank with a spray bottle a couple times a day but i cant keep it up for any long peird of time.

thank you for any help and advice

I'm far from an expert on the matter, but i believe i read somewhere that you don't need to worry about humidity with a BP. As long as they have a water dish they will be fine. I also read that they don't like warm water so you may want to move the heating pad someplace else.

do yourself a favor and remove the heat rock from the enclosure... many a snake have KILLED themselves with them.

your humidity isnt TERRIBLE so just keep misting it and cover the top of the enclosure with foil to hold the humidity in.

Ditch the hot rock -- these are guilty of causing many a serious burn to reptile bellies.

I'm sure others will be along soon to give you more detailed advise, but please search the site and check out the stickies for a lot of good info on BP husbandry.

remove the heat rock ... ASAP

thank you for the help i unplugged the heat rock the last owner had a hole in the bottom of the tank for the cord so i cant remove it atm but i will asap also added the tin foil to the lid and is already making a difference, increased about 10%

one thing i forgot to mention why im so conserned about the humidity is she had a bad shed befor i got her and about 1/3 of her skin is still on, i seen a way to do it in another thread but i dont think she is used to me yet and spends 90% of her time in her hide.

she will be in her hide 95% of the time even when she is use to you its just natural ... you can try giving her a 10 minute soak in the bathtub with warm water it will help losen the stuck shed and also you can make a humidity box from a tupperware container(that she can fit into) cover with lid cut hole in lid big enough for her to get in and out fill with some water and she might soak herself if not the bath tub always work soak her then take her out and with a wet facecloth let her climb in and out of it in your hand so she can rub the stuck shed off after the soak in the tub

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Originally Posted by Novak

I just got my BP "Nora" form a friend about 4 days ago, never owned a BP befor and all the stuff i have was given to me, i wanna do this right a keep her as healthy as possible.

im having a difficult time keeping the tempture and humidity up

I have 250v heat lamp, ReptiTherm heater, and heat rock all on a timer (Zilla Power Center)

But the temp moves between 75 and 81 degrees im not sure i have the timer going off enough hoping some has a similar setup that can help.
As for the humidity it stays between 50 and 60 % but i cant get it any higher, i have the heating pad under her water dish and the heat lamp on the same side of the tank, i mist the sides of the tank with a spray bottle a couple times a day but i cant keep it up for any long peird of time.thank you for any help and advice

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Heat rock....super bad...get rid of it as it is very dangerous. If you have a screen top on the cage try to get some plexiglass cut to cover it and that should solve the humidity issue. Easier than that I just use aluminum foil. You may need a bigger UTH on a thermostat to heat up the warm side to like 92......the cool side should be 82-83. Get rid of the light if you can...that will also help out your humidity. Also and just to make sure....have 2 hides one on the cool side and one of the warm side.

Take a look at the care sheet on this site as it is an excellent source of information. It helped me so much when I first started! Good luck to you.

would it be a good idea to remove her from her hide to give her a bath to remove the skin?

yes you can remove them anytime you want ... dont be afraid to handle her ... the more you handle the better she will be with you i have 5 as of right now usually when they are young i will handle just about everyday whether its for 10 min or 1/2 hour my older ones get handled every 2-3 days

if you choose to give her a bath... the water should be 86 degrees and should only go halfway up the side of her... no deeper.

does it make any difference that shes around 2 years old 3 1/2 foot long and she still have caps over her eyes

eye caps should be taken care of due to the risk of eyesight loss. if they dont come off you may need to take her to a vet as a last resort.

depends on how bad they are stuck on ... sometimes the next shed will take care of it sometimes not ... you can also try to use scotch tape and role it around your finger so the sticky side is exposed and very lightly roll it over her eye and if there not stuck bad they will come right off

ok thank you for all the help

gave her a bath took most of the shed off asside from the area around her head she dosent like me touching her there jurks back when i touch her.

how did you make out with the stuck shed ... and i hope that heat rock isnt on

fairly good most of it is gone aside from her head area but i did notice that she's starting to rub that on her own.

wanted to get some more advice with my bp's leftover shed, she still have caps over her eyes and a small peace in her nostril

i tried the tape but it did not work anything else? if i cant get them off soon im going to take her to the vet. If i have to do that here's another question how to transport her in cold weather.

Sticky. :gj:

Okay, you can remove the eye caps. She's not going to like it, so if it's above your comfort level, take her to a vet and have him do it.

You just do what you did before. Soak her for a 5 or 10 minutes. In tepid water, not too deep, don't leave her alone in the water, don't let her get chilled.Take a wet washcloth and gently and carefully stroke over one eyecap at a time, front to back. They should come off within a minute or two. She's going to resist so you'll have to hold her firmly.

In the future, when you see her going into shed, dab a drop of mineral oil on each eye. This will help the eyecaps come off when she sheds.