humidity with blister disease?

[Shelby]

I'm wondering what I should do about Shelby's humidity while she has blister disease. I finally got a digital hygrometer today.. should have had one earlier, I know. But what humidity percentage should I keep her at? Don't BPs get blister disease from high humidity alone? What about when she's about to shed, should I still put it up then?

[Marla]

I would try for a humidity drop, until shed time rolls around, then bump it up to make it easier to get rid of the outer layer. It's much better if she can do that without any assistance from you when she has blisters that are likely painful.

[Shelby]

The hygrometer says her humidity is at 49%.. does that sound ok? Should I raise it to 70% when she sheds? I'm clueless when it comes to humidity.. just now learning.

[Marla]

49% is probably fine, though if you can drop it a little more by moving the water dish or other simple efforts, you might do that. Too moist an environment (as it understand it) makes it more likely that the blisters can pop and provide an opportunity for further infection. I hope Rusty, Caren, Becky, or someone else with medical experience will jump in and correct me if that is wrong. You will still need for Shelby to be hydrated enough to build a full fluid layer between the layers of skin for her to have a full, successful shed, so 70% or so for shed should be good.

[Shelby]

Most of her blisters have popped.. maybe all of them. That's why it's so nasty. She just shed 2 weeks ago.. it was 8 weeks between her last sheds, so it'll be awhile.

[Marla]

Unless she is stimulated to shed by her body trying to heal itself faster, which they do sometimes (ask Carl or Rusty). Regardless, if her blisters are mostly popped, I would drop the humidity as low as I can get it and keep the enclosure as sterile as I could. Good luck.

[Shelby]

Thanks for the help. I change her substrate 2x daily, and she is treated 2x daily as well. The humidiry has gone up to 51%.. how can I lower it? She has a screen lid and the water dish is as far from the heater as it can get.

[Marla]

Try switching to a small plastic water dish if her dish is not small or not plastic. She doesn't need to be soaking right now, anyway, so it's fine to give her a dish that's too small to soak in.

[Shelby]

Oh... duh! I just need to find one that won't tip over. That's one of her problems, she tipped her water sometimes, that's why I switched to the heavy duty water dish she has now.

[Kara]

Big blisters w/lots of fluid, or smaller ones closer to the snake's body?

K