New and BAD snake mama did a big NO NO

[rottn]

I feel like a schmuk, and I know you all will give me crap. I mostly feel bad for Alice though. I've had her since May 13th. I have left her alone completely, except for 2 times(including tonight) for cleaning purposes. I don't want to start regular handling until she's eaten twice. So far, she has refused the 3 feedings offered (every Sunday, except for May 13 when I brought her home). That is not my immediate issue though. I'm not too worried, yet, about the feeding.

I've been having a heck of a time getting and keeping humidity up in her glass terrarium. Warm side ~90 with UTH. Cool side and ambient temps ~80. I use a CHE to maintain ambient temp. So far so good, but humidity is generally in the high 30's to low 40's. Sigh.

I have a large shallow water dish. I am using Repti Bark for substrate. I've tried putting a handful of moss in each of the 2 back corners, and a handful n her warm hide (her favorite spot). I was spraying to try to get humidity up, but it doesn't hold it up. And since I am out of the house for over 10 hours M-F, that's not ideal either. When I spray, humidity will get up to 54% or so, but starts dropping within 10 - 15 minutes. I also keep a wet paper towel on top of her hide. It dries out fairly quickly too. Top of enclosure is completely covered with insulation wrapped in aluminum - with exception of 2 holes - 1 for CHE and the other for "emergency" heat lamp (which will only come on if CHE fails).

My husband, who wants nothing to do with Alice, but is a gadget geek, automated a "mister" for me. Said it would spray for 3 minutes at a time, at 12 noon and 12 midnight, and only if humidity is less than 50%. Sounded great. I've read not to use humidifiers/misters inside enclosures, but I thought what my husband was doing made sense, since it was automated. What's the difference between me spraying, vs an automated mister spraying, right? LOTS!!!

First, Alice is very active after lights go out every night. So she climbs the back (fake) plant of her enclosure. The mister is up in that corner, so she's always adjusting the nozzle in the wrong direction. So we are constantly readjusting/redirecting it.

The mister has only been installed for less than a week. And honestly, the humidity still is not being maintained over 50%, even with the "automated" mister.

Today, I weighed her. I don't want to handle her yet, but since she's not eating, I think it's important to know what her weight is, so that I can monitor it. (BTW, she weighed in at 1189 grams - she's 2 1/2 yrs old).

I noticed when I took her out, she was wet. I thought she was peeing on me (I've heard of that). So I weighed her, and put her in her travel tub so I could do a quick clean while she was out (2nd clean since I've had her). It was only going to be a spot clean, but when I lifted her hide on warm side, where she prefers to hang out during day, it was SOAKED in there!!!

So I did a complete clean. Took out all the substrate. Made sure bottom of tank was completely dry before adding new substrate and putting everything back in place. Then I went and woke up my husband (he was asleep already) and told him what his stupid mister did! I told him to get it OUT first thing in the morning. I will manually mist to the best of my ability. I figure 40% average humidity is better than her hide being freaking soaked!!! Poor baby. I'm more mad at me than my hubby though. Cuz I knew better. I've read NO NO NO to misters/humidifiers. But I thought that I (a dumb newbie) would know better than all the combined experience out there.

What can I say other than I am a jerk, a fool, and all kinds of names that I won't write since this is a family friendly site.

I've learned a valuable lesson. Don't trust my husband! Just kidding of course! Not his fault. He made a suggestion, and I jumped at it. I'm the one that should know better - not him. He's never had any interest in snakes. He was just trying to help me.

But seriously, I did learn to trust the experience that exists out there, and if a thought crosses my mind to try something, against better judgement, to first check in here and have some sense knocked into me before doing anything else stupid. Thankfully, she seems ok. She's all over the tank right now, but everything is new (substrate), clean, and dry. Besides, like I said earlier, she is normally active at night. Hopefully I didn't cause any damage that I'm not aware of at this time. I do have an appointment for a "wellness check" next week for her. I'll feel better once the vet has looked her over.

Just thought I'd share my experience. A BIG NO TO MISTERS/HUMIDIFIERS IN THE ENCLOSURE!!!

Let the bashing begin. I deserve it.

[C.Marie]

I doubt anyone here will bash you, we all tried short cuts that ended up being more trouble than it is worth, you caught the problem and fixed , you didn't continue down the wrong path, no scale rot or RI so no harm no foul in my book best wishes always

[Sauzo]

I was told by a lot of people on the GTP boards that auto misters are notorious for failing and dribbling a giant pool in the cage. I was told save the money and just use a hand mister or a pump mister and set the cage up correctly.

Something that might help with humidity other than covering 3/4 or more of the top of the cage is to use a couple small potted plants. The humidity from the soil will keep the air humid without creating wet substrate.

Also i was told the only auto mister worth a darn are Mist King.

[hilabeans]

My goodness, you're beating yourself up enough for 20 people! Don't worry, you caught it and you're correcting it. There's a whole thread out there documenting newbie mistakes, we've ALL made them. You caught yours and are righting the ship. It'll be ok!

Some have great success with modified glass tanks, others struggle mightily and just can't get it dialed in. The difference may be attributed to your environment and area you live in. Have you considered keeping your snake in a tub? At least until she is well established and eating regularly?

[Apiratenamedjohn]

nah, misters and humidifiers are not the problem and aren't a problem. foggers are frowned upon by some because the fine mist particulate is thought to be able to cause respiratory problems. what you need to do is just turn down the mister. 3 mins is too long. basically for three minutes at a time you are filling the enclosure that I'm assuming is water tight to some degree in the bottom. no drainage = water build up.
imo the misters are your best bet.

I also live in an area that is notoriously dry.

I let mine run for 13 seconds in the morning and 11 seconds at night. but mine has a different substrate and holds humidity better.

I generally only let my misters spray enough that it won't be dripping wet in the enclosure after about 30 mins. that set for three times a day should help. and yes you should at the very least look at and give the enclosure and snake a quick peek to see if everything is ok.

the unfortunate thing is CHEs are known for drying out a tank.

you could always add a false bottom with a maintenance/drain tube so it will keep Alice out of the water until you can drain it.

another thing you can try is to replace the fake plant with an organic and properly planted potted plant. the plant will naturally add humidity through evapotranspiration.

two important questions are:

what size tank is it?

what are you using to measure humidity?

no need to beat you up. you seem to be doing a good job of it.


and if your mister is set up on a dc pump I have a spare mistking zip drip that it sounds like your husband should be able to work in to the system. that will get rid of drippage. I wouldn't mind shipping it to you if you wanted it.

[Apiratenamedjohn]

I was told by a lot of people on the GTP boards that auto misters are notorious for failing and dribbling a giant pool in the cage. I was told save the money and just use a hand mister or a pump mister and set the cage up correctly.

Something that might help with humidity other than covering 3/4 or more of the top of the cage is to use a couple small potted plants. The humidity from the soil will keep the air humid without creating wet substrate.

Also i was told the only auto mister worth a darn are Mist King.

I use mist kings now. but if I did it again I would probably use the pro mist from pro products.


for what it is worth you can make one for much cheaper sourcing the parts your self I just prefer the insurance of a guarantee and warranty for things like this.

[Sauzo]

I use mist kings now. but if I did it again I would probably use the pro mist from pro products.


for what it is worth you can make one for much cheaper sourcing the parts your self I just prefer the insurance of a guarantee and warranty for things like this.

Havent heard anything about those. Just the Mist Kings and Aqua something but i dont even know if the Aqua whatever brand is around anymore. I would only use auto misters for amphibians like a dart frog set up. For a snake, there is no snake other than a BRB that needs constantly damp situations and in most cases, constantly damp will actually create more problems in snakes. Low air flow plus constant dampness is just a recipe for bacteria, molds and fungus which are 2/3 of the causes of RIs.

And especially for a BP who only really requires around 50-60% humidity. Just need to work on limiting the air flow or worst case, just use a pump mister once a week. With all my AP cages, i mist once a week and only to simulate rain for the boas as the misting gets them all worked up and they become really active and then drop a deuce haha. Within 24 hours of misting i had Rango, Gina, Louie, Vic and Rosey all drop deuces haha. The only ones who didnt were Caesar and Luna and Dottie but i dont usually mist her cage.

Anyways, i think Mist King would be awesome for amphibians like Josh's Frogs uses but for snakes, a pump mister is fine and only like $10.

[Apiratenamedjohn]

Havent heard anything about those. Just the Mist Kings and Aqua something but i dont even know if the Aqua whatever brand is around anymore. I would only use auto misters for amphibians like a dart frog set up. For a snake, there is no snake other than a BRB that needs constantly damp situations and in most cases, constantly damp will actually create more problems in snakes. Low air flow plus constant dampness is just a recipe for bacteria, molds and fungus which are 2/3 of the causes of RIs.

And especially for a BP who only really requires around 50-60% humidity. Just need to work on limiting the air flow or worst case, just use a pump mister once a week. With all my AP cages, i mist once a week and only to simulate rain for the boas as the misting gets them all worked up and they become really active and then drop a deuce haha. Within 24 hours of misting i had Rango, Gina, Louie, Vic and Rosey all drop deuces haha. The only ones who didnt were Caesar and Luna and Dottie but i dont usually mist her cage.

Anyways, i think Mist King would be awesome for amphibians like Josh's Frogs uses but for snakes, a pump mister is fine and only like $10.

that is dependent on the situation. I imagine once I have the water feature running I probably won't even need the mistking to run but during shedding.

I also have no problems with air flow. just like setting up your heating elements, if done wrong can harm your pet, if done right can help.

the problem I run into, is much like the op, I am out of the house for the majority of the work day, and my house is extremely dry. so an automated mister is the solution that works. my tank stays at 58-60% humidty (except for directly after a misting). it is in no way moist or soaking as the misters only spray enough that it will be completely evaporated in 30 mins. once the snakes got used to the routine they didn't mind or fuss over the misting. also like the op's husband did misters can be set up to work off a hygrostat instead of or along with a timer.

also the op's husband already built her the system, so free is infinitely less than 10$.


on a slightly off beat note, the rain thing is something that has intrigued me for a while, I think I've found a way to make a roof for my next viv that actually simulates rain pretty well.

[Bogertophis]

Hey, we ALL try things, some work out & some don't, & no harm was done! There is usually more than one way to do things, don't beat yourself up.
The whole point of a forum is exchanging ideas & solutions, because no one thinks of everything by themselves.

You mentioned keeping a wet paper towel on top of her hide to add humidity...how about a sponge instead? Offering a "humid hide" full of soaked
sphagnum moss is appreciated by many snakes & also helps hold humidity in the enclosure. You'll get this all figured out...

[Alter-Echo]

Well, look on the bright side... at least you didn't catch the enclosure on fire with a bad thermostat or something. Lol

Really though, don't feel bad, stuff happens, a soggy snake isn't really an issue unless it's left like that a while. After all, it does occasionally rain in africa, and I'm sure they get wet.

Uh oh.... now I got that toto song stuck in my head.