Question :)

Holy cow, I feel like a total newbie snake owner again (not that I'm overly experienced, admittedly). Anyway...

So I picked up my little guy on Sunday, and since we got him home and into his setup he's been camped out in the humid hide on the warm side of his enclosure. He was in shed and my humidity levels weren't behaving even with a decent size water dish; hence the two little buckets of damp sphagnum moss I've added.

My worry is... is he okay marinating in the damp moss? I mean, since he discovered it I don't believe he's come out. Shed-wise he's past blue phase, his eyes are clear, so he's got a few more days before he sheds out I figure, and I'm fine with leaving him alone (I'd have to anyway since he's still acclimating) but I just want to be sure he's not going to get a fungus or scale rot or something. I'm misting the moss to keep it damp but not soaked, and I've carefully lifted the layers of moss to just mist him gently as well.

Or am I driving him crazy? I'm still not tickled to death with his setup, so I'm tweaking. He's in a 10-gallon at the moment (not ideal), well-cluttered and soon to be covered on 3 sides, and I'm already saving for his eventual PVC enclosure because I think that will be our best bet for long-term maintenance of both the snake and my sanity.

Humidity is 60% (with a lot of work on my part), temp gradient isn't ideal with warm spot being 88 and cool being 82. So that's bugging as well. Perhaps I need a bigger tank already. I can accomplish that with I think minimal fuss as my local reptile shop has a buy-back program with used tanks when it's necessary to upsize...

Anyway, babbling. Input welcome. His well-being is more important than my ego.

Sounds to me like ur doin just fine. And that hes diggin the moss. Gotta brush that "new bp owner syndrome" aside :p

sent from my incubator

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Originally Posted by AmandaJ

Holy cow, I feel like a total newbie snake owner again (not that I'm overly experienced, admittedly). Anyway...

So I picked up my little guy on Sunday, and since we got him home and into his setup he's been camped out in the humid hide on the warm side of his enclosure. He was in shed and my humidity levels weren't behaving even with a decent size water dish; hence the two little buckets of damp sphagnum moss I've added.

My worry is... is he okay marinating in the damp moss? I mean, since he discovered it I don't believe he's come out. Shed-wise he's past blue phase, his eyes are clear, so he's got a few more days before he sheds out I figure, and I'm fine with leaving him alone (I'd have to anyway since he's still acclimating) but I just want to be sure he's not going to get a fungus or scale rot or something. I'm misting the moss to keep it damp but not soaked, and I've carefully lifted the layers of moss to just mist him gently as well.

Or am I driving him crazy? I'm still not tickled to death with his setup, so I'm tweaking. He's in a 10-gallon at the moment (not ideal), well-cluttered and soon to be covered on 3 sides, and I'm already saving for his eventual PVC enclosure because I think that will be our best bet for long-term maintenance of both the snake and my sanity.

Humidity is 60% (with a lot of work on my part), temp gradient isn't ideal with warm spot being 88 and cool being 82. So that's bugging as well. Perhaps I need a bigger tank already. I can accomplish that with I think minimal fuss as my local reptile shop has a buy-back program with used tanks when it's necessary to upsize...

Anyway, babbling. Input welcome. His well-being is more important than my ego.

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You are "In Tune" and sounds like you are doing great. That moss is excellent as it will dry and retake moisture. I had a humid hid filled with that when I first got my fella and he rarely came out. It had a lid on it and the whole works. I eventually took the moss out and scattered it about the cage.

DAMP VS Wet is a separate matter. If he is in damp moss he's just fine. My favorite authority on boas, Gus Rentfro will tell you soaking in water for hours is NOT good and is usually a sign of something being wrong. Also prolonged periods in water can lead to what you are worried about. That said, moss that is damp should be just fine.

There are very good articles and posts regarding care. I can't begging to link them all here, but I personally like the humidity HIGH 70-80% as long as there is no standing condensation. I find my snake rarely drinks and uses both warm and cool side of the cage equally.

There are various opinions and there is no 100% set in stone way to do things.

I have a few long posts in this forum about caging and can help you with that if need be.

Keep him enjoying the moss.

Thanks Crystal and Gio :)

Yes, the moss is damp and not soaked. I have hopes of actually seeing him someday... the urge to ease him out of the hide is strong, but I'm old enough to resist it thank goodness!

Reading more on the whole RTB husbandry thing, once this week has passed I think I'll put in aspen (are chips okay rather than shredded? I have a boatload of SaniChips for my sand boas). He's on paper towels right now because I'm watching for any sign of mites. So far so good -- the only little brown specks in his deli cup when I brought him home were wood (I checked with our microscope -- yes, I actually bought one several months back so I'd quit freaking out over every tiny speck I saw) and no brown specks have shown up in his tank. Of course, they could all be lurking in the moss hide. *facepalm*

I know my other snakes; this little guy is a mystery still, so I'll likely be asking a few more questions before I'm comfortable with him and with my ability to read how well he's doing. Dang he's cute, though :)

Thank you again!

The good news is you are in Florida so you'll be ahead of the game with humidity and temps during the summer months. I wish there was a way to edit these posts after the fact. I misspelled things terribly on previous post.

I know the urge you are talking about. Eventually you won't need to expose him. He'll pop out. Unlike some snakes, these boas like their food and it's like clockwork when it's time to eat. They appear like magic and stare you down all day until meal time LOL!

Read up a bit on the care sections of Rio Bravo Reptiles. The Red Tailed boa section will apply to BCC's and BCI's.

Deviant Constrictors website has a few blog pages dealing with climate/humidity and diet as well.

You'll do just fine.

May I suggest however that if you return your cage, consider getting a plastic cage from on of the many quality cage makers. Boas love them.!


This is a Pro-Line 48" x 23" x 14" cage. I have a almost 1 year old male Colombian, Barranquilla locality boa.

http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/y...a/DSC00170.jpg

I have the shredded type aspen and my boas will burrow around in it. Also, (at least my boas) take longer to go through the shed process than a ball. Like my balls clear from blue and shed in a day or two. My boas clear and it could be days before they shed.

Great advice so far!

Don't worry about the moss. Gio put it great - damp vs wet are two very different things. Don't worry about tweaking the enclosure as you go along - if you are doing your best to not disturb him, a little tweaking is fine. Boas don't stress as easily as balls so you shouldn't have to worry too much about bothering him.

I'll also echo Gio's recommendation that you ditch the tank and get a pvc or plastic enclosure like he pictured. You won't have to tweak nearly so much. :gj:


Enjoy your baby!! :D

Gio, I'd seen your cage in another thread. It's gorgeous! I'm going to send the link to my husband so he can see what we're looking at for eventual enclosure size. He's the crafty type, so he may consider looking up directions and constructing one on his own. My only concern with that is the eventual weight we're looking at with a melamine or similar type of homemade enclosure versus the Pro-Line plastic. I know I can't keep up the wretched glass tank forever. Even though our humidity down here makes things good, I need something that will hold humidity more than that sucker does. If I don't mist endlessly the humidity drops and before I know it I'm below 50. So... yeah. Something's gotta give, LOL

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Originally Posted by AmandaJ

Gio, I'd seen your cage in another thread. It's gorgeous! I'm going to send the link to my husband so he can see what we're looking at for eventual enclosure size. He's the crafty type, so he may consider looking up directions and constructing one on his own. My only concern with that is the eventual weight we're looking at with a melamine or similar type of homemade enclosure versus the Pro-Line plastic. I know I can't keep up the wretched glass tank forever. Even though our humidity down here makes things good, I need something that will hold humidity more than that sucker does. If I don't mist endlessly the humidity drops and before I know it I'm below 50. So... yeah. Something's gotta give, LOL

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I wish I could type and link things quickly. I have a thread on this site somewhere about glass tanks. We have one for my son's Royal and I can get the humidity down to a T even in Minnesota.

I used insulation (Reflectix) and have been happy. But lets face it,,, glass tanks are a pain. I hate top loading water and substrate and feeding from above. I hate heat lamps and always think there will be a fire when we leave town. That's a bit of an overstatement, because the Herpstat is spot on and the light has nothing to burn, but you get my point.

The most important factor is you have a BOA. Male or female, they get big, they get strong and they are semi arboreal. The screen top with a curious, face rubbing snake will be a big downer.

Our Royal is OK in the glass tank, but I'd like to get another Pro-Line.

In the meantime, try getting some foil and cover the top with a cut away for your light only. Put a damp towel under the foil so it covers half the top and you should spike your levels. It will start out very high. 80's, then slowly dissipate and dry which is OK, then re-wet in a couple days and start again.

See if you can search my post here. I'm sorry I can't remember where it is in the various forums.

But once you go with a plastic enclosure chats like this will be a thing of the past for you.

PS.

other options are coconut husk or cypress with misting.

You sound like a great owner so I think you'll be dialed in soon.

Gio, I looked for your thread and couldn't find it. I am not good at finding things. But I did find this: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tment-Tutorial to help with humidity in a glass tank. Hope it helps.

Re: humidity I've got a plexiglass cover on top of my screen, and a damp towel under that in addition to the two moss hides. It's working better, i.e. not drying out so quickly, since I moved to a lower wattage bulb in the heat lamp (whew). I also insulated the tank with black foam core on 3 sides yesterday. It was slow at work so I just went in the back -- I work for an architecture firm and we've got all kinds of crazy foam core scraps tossed around -- broke out the box cutter, and went to town with the measurements I'd taken Tuesday evening. I've got it held on with a wide strip of black elastic that I sewed into a GIANT rubber band. It looks pretty good -- I'll get pictures :)

All that said and my general glassy craftiness aside, the regular misting thing will just get really old, really quickly outside of the security issues (and nose rubbing -- I can't have his nose get messed up, poor baby). I sent my husband the link to the Pro-Line enclosures, and tonight when I'm feeding most of the slithery herd he and I will discuss a permanent location for the Young Sir and his eventual ginormous enclosure. I just need to find the right words to explain to him that sooner is better than later, and that we need to prioritize this in terms of spending.

If he mentions the expense in light of a couple pair of new shoes I might have sort-of kind-of recently acquired he may have to move to the couch for a night or two. :P

I wonder if a smaller footprint with a shelf is an option? I haven't seen it mentioned much outside of the ConstrictorsNW pages to be honest, and it's more random curiosity than anything. I'll donate whatever floor space is required to make sure he's well-housed; admittedly, if I can get away with a smaller footprint then that would be great, but if I'm not going to make a large snake live in a tiny space. That's just unkind and irresponsible.

@Kali -- thanks! He's a cute little guy, from what little I'm allowed to see of him. At least his coils are adorable?

@Yar -- thank you for looking that up! I'm off to check it out to see if there are any more tweaks I can make to keep him comfortable in his current digs :)

Update: Here's his tank as it's currently outfitted. The small snake in question is camped out in the hide (and not the humid hide for once!) on the warm side of the tank.

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5b57cdbf.jpg

Note that the giant snake hook in front of the tank is for when the boy is a bit larger :) I have a smaller one for use at his current size. Also, the Starbucks coffee stirrer is temporary -- anyone with words enough to explain to my husband "Small snakey have GIANT muscles!!" in terms that he'll hear rather than thinking I'm just over-worried, please share them with me -- I'm all ears :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AmandaJ

Update: Here's his tank as it's currently outfitted. The small snake in question is camped out in the hide (and not the humid hide for once!) on the warm side of the tank.

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5b57cdbf.jpg

Note that the giant snake hook in front of the tank is for when the boy is a bit larger :) I have a smaller one for use at his current size. Also, the Starbucks coffee stirrer is temporary -- anyone with words enough to explain to my husband "Small snakey have GIANT muscles!!" in terms that he'll hear rather than thinking I'm just over-worried, please share them with me -- I'm all ears :D

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I think your tank is so small the light is totally frying your humidity. If you use cypress for a substrate or coconut that might help. The setup itself looks good, but in Florida if you are having humidity problems its gotta be that light.

I have my son's Royal in a 40 gallon so the light is 18" above the floor with a big water bowl on the cool side. The towel covers half the tank and its under the Reflectix. You just need a cypress mulch.

But really get the plastic tank you'll love, love it!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gio

The good news is you are in Florida so you'll be ahead of the game with humidity and temps during the summer months. I wish there was a way to edit these posts after the fact. I misspelled things terribly on previous post.

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IM IN FLORIDA AND ITS GREAT!!!! lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gio

I think your tank is so small the light is totally frying your humidity. If you use cypress for a substrate or coconut that might help. The setup itself looks good, but in Florida if you are having humidity problems its gotta be that light.

I have my son's Royal in a 40 gallon so the light is 18" above the floor with a big water bowl on the cool side. The towel covers half the tank and its under the Reflectix. You just need a cypress mulch.

But really get the plastic tank you'll love, love it!!

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We'll be getting a plastic enclosure for sure. I love the ConstrictorsNW stuff from what I'm seeing, and frankly I'm just not spending the next quarter century misting this little dude which is what keeping him in an aquarium would take!

Plus, he's not a fish.

That said, I have a thought for a stopgap while we put aside the rest of the funds for the ProLine: I've got a 40 gallon breeder screen top (freebie from a friend) that's empty. I wonder if that would help with his humidity, just having more volume? My big concern with that is that he's such a baby (3 months old max -- about 3/4" diameter from what I can remember/what he's permitting me to see :P ) I don't want him to feel all stressed out with the larger container. I know I can clutter it up with things, and am just concerned that it would still be too overwhelming for him.

Also, because I overthink, do I need to get fake plants from an animal-oriented shop, or is it okay to just hit up the local craft store and pick up something cute?

Balancing the space issue with the environmental issue... ack! My brain hurts.

Add to this the horrific wound I suffered last night when my female BP tagged me (all two miniscule drops of blood worth -- I clumsily got between her and her food, genius that I am) and I swear I'm headed for a nervous breakdown ;)

I would ditch the light as it's overpowering that small tank. Rotate the hide on the humid side 90 degrees and push it toward the back of the tank (assuming your UTH goes back that far), and move the water dish to the right so it sits on the UTH as well. Leave just enough room so the boa can sneak in and out of the hide. Those ceramic water containers are awesome, once they warm up they radiate heat nicely and keep the water warm. Just keep an eye on the water level as it will evaporate very quickly, which is what you want to keep the humidity up.

You can either cover the top completely with a larger piece of plexiglass and drill a few air holes for ventilation, or a cheaper option is to cover it with Glad Press & Seal and leave a corner open on each side since you know this is a temporary enclosure anyway.

I would hold off on the 40 breeder until your little guy is bigger. I have two older BOA's in 40 breeders set up as I described above with cypress mulch as substrate, and have no problems retaining humidity even in the winter.

I have found some of the pictures of my 40 gal. in this thread.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...question/page2

It's worth a read. You should have no problem if you use it until the plastic cage comes.

I use a 75 watt infrared bulb and its hook to a Herpstat II as is the UTH.

You could get a dimmer for the light and a temp gun to dial in the temp from the light. That will help with humidity while maintaining temps.