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.