help! new bp owner here..need advice!

[kasmir]

just got my new buddy at a show on sunday, he's my first reptile ever. i've been doing research for months & finally felt i was educated enough to purchase one. he is 7 years old & has a condition called 'bug eyes'. this is the reason they were not able to use him for breeding. does anyone know about this? i just want to make sure he is happy & healthy. tried looking into this condition, but have not found too much info. also i'm having trouble with my temp & humidity, mainly humidity. i have a 29 gal tank, 2 hide boxes & a decent sized water bowl. i was using paper towels as substrate but humidity was too low, so just bought some 'reptibark' i believe it's called which has helped. however i believe my day time heat light is lowering the humidity. i use a 60 watt reptile bulb for day & a 25 watt blue 'party lite' for night. things seemed to be 'ok' last night, temp & humidity seemed good. but this morning when i put the day light on, i saw the humidity drop & it's still probably dropping while i'm here at work i covered most of the lid with plastic since i've heard that helps with the humidity.

[xdeus]

I've never heard of a Ball Python with "bug eyes". Could you post some pics?

Anyway, the plastic lid should help the humidity. You can also try covering the lid with aluminum foil, but it's pretty difficult to maintain a humid environment with a glass aquarium-style cage and lamps as your heat source. Also, you can construct a humid hide while your snake is in shed which should help prevent stuck sheds due to low humidity.

Good luck!

[kasmir]

thank you. i've heard that rat snakes can get 'bug eyes' but haven't read too much about it in balls. i don't have many pics since i just got him & he wouldn't sit still for me lol. also not sure how to post pics in here so if this doesn't work let me know.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...5055912265.jpg



like i said i have some plastic covering most of the lid, should i try the foil instead or in addition to the plastic? i've heard of using moss in the hides to help with humidity. is this correct? also when i put the reptibark in last nite, i noticed a white/silver little bug crawling around on it. he was very tiny & tried grabbing it to no avail. only saw one..but i'm paranoid. could it be a mite?? thanks so much for your help i just wanna be a good snake mommy!

[chetman7]

eyes look normal to me..I'm far from an expert in these kind of things.

Putting damp moss in a hide creates a humid hide. When the snake feels like it. it can crawl in the humid hide.

I've had a tortuous time with humidity as well...espec with glass vivs.

I just tinfoiled most of the top. With those bulbs..its gonna suck out humidity.
Are you just using overhead lights??? I would recommend just using a under the tank heater. It gets my temps to where I want it and doesn't kill humidity. just remember to put the UTH on a thermostat or dimmer.

During the winter months on NY humidity gets real low. so I bought a humidifer for the tank. I think it is called tropicaire

it involves this container which if filled up with water. then hoses connect to a small air pump(used for fix tanks) that pumps air into on tube in which has an air stone on the end. the other hose is directed into the cage. This constantly pumps nice fresh humid air into my enclosure. Since I've made this purchase. I don't have to mist. and if I want to bump humidity during shedding. I just increase the air pump output. Complete sheds ever since then.

[whitesnake12]

Well for the humidity you can spray his cage with a spray bottle with some water. I use filtered water since I have always hated tap water for any cause.Make sure not to soak his cage just a lite spray every 6 hours or so will help.

[kasmir]

yeah, you really can't tell from the pic, but his eyes are seriously huge lol. i'm going to keep researching it, i guess it's just genetic & hopefully won't cause him any problems down the road. i have a UTH as well, but really didn't seem to be doing the trick..it came with the tank which i got for free off freecycle, so i'm not sure how old it is. it does work, but i'm not sure if they wear out or what. i've kind of been experimenting using different things. last nite i had the 25 watt blue light on along with the UTH, which kept both the temp & humidity pretty much where it needed to be for the most part. but this morning i switched to the 60watt heat light & turned off the UTH, and the humidity was just dropping & i fear what it will be when i go home today. i will try the moss & also misting