hello new guy with adopted snake

[ringoyam]

she looks like she is doing great, love the cat pic (i just got my first ball a couple days ago and my cats reaction was priceless my cat just froze and slowly backed away lol)
good luck with her

[WingedWolfPsion]

I'd say the culprit to the shedding problem is low humidity, as I can see you're using a heat lamp on a cage with a screen top. Warm, moist air rises, and cool, dry air enters the cage as a result. The lamp dries the cage out. Are those aspen shavings? (Pine releases high levels of toxic phenols). Low humidity causes low-level chronic dehydration. Without enough fluid in the body, the snake cannot produce the lubricating fluid that separates the old skin from the new, hence the old skin sticks, and won't come off. (It's also hard on internal organs).

So, my recommendation would be to pick up a heat pad that will cover about half of the cage bottom, and a good thermostat to control it. Lose the heat lamp, and cover all but 1 inch of the top with plastic wrap, and place the water bowl over the heat. If the humidity is still too low, consider switching to Cypress mulch, and misting occasionally. Humidity should drift between 50% and 70%, with an average of 60%. When the snake goes into shed, raising it to 80% will be beneficial. Be sure the bedding is never wet.

I also see a stick-on thermometer in the tank. Those are inaccurate by as much as 30F depending on room temperatures, making them useless. You can pick up an indoor/outdoor thermometer with a remote probe for around $12 at Walmart. Place the probe over the heat source on the cage floor, where the snake will be. The danger at present is that your snake can get up quite close to the heat lamp, and you can't really be sure what the temperature is at the point on top of that log. Burns could occur.

[Kris Mclaughlin]

Yeah I figured... The stick on jobs are pretty much just there... Pieces of crap... I have dead center a digital temp/humidity gauge... The average is about 81-84 w 43-47 humidity usually... The probe is in the center of the tank. I was hoping I could nix that light(to use for the rtb). I use aspen bedding and try to keep a nice 3inch base at all times. The lid shall be remedied once my gf wakes up and won't throw me a whoopin for wakin her to play wit my other gf lol. My lid is 18x36 and yes it's a cheap plastic screen lid... It's hard to find a nice lid in that size for some reason. So how big of a window should I leave in the plastic? Maybe I'll take a bunch of pics through the process for others with this issue...

[Kris Mclaughlin]

Well like a true derp derp I didn't look around... I found the foil treatment DIY in the caging section! Idiot! But anyways will be making a dimmer switch thermostat as well. My next question though... If uth is not enough can I downsize the bulb? The one in thee is a 75w red repti heat bulb. Like a mini flood light almost lol. Also have a 10inch fluorescent with a standard bulb in it. Thank all of you for the help

[Kris Mclaughlin]

Houston we have an issue... Alrighty I did away with the red lamp on my ball and did the DIY foil top... Holy crap my humidity jumped! But, being as that my temp/humidity probe is dead center I think my ambient is way too low! Ok... New readings are... 78.3f and a 77 percent humidity!!!!

I think my temp is too low and the humidity it waaaaaaaaay too high... Help please!!!! Kind of freaked out!!!

- - - Updated - - -

The hole I left after the foil top mod is about half the size of a box of Mac n cheese lol... I know(oops almost sweared again) err crappy reference, but the dimensions of the tank is 18x18x36. So a 18x36 lid overall... With uth on the left 1/3 of the tank. Aka the stone water dish and the climb/rock hide area. Please help guys... I strive for my critters to have close to perfect as possible and think my temp humid was better with the red light... Maybe nix the foil and just move the climb to prevent burns? Top of the limb was hooooot! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp!!!!!!!!!

[Kaorte]

78 ambient is perfectly fine.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Kris Mclaughlin]

Man, I hate doing this on a phone, I'm forever like oh yeah crap I forgot ! If I put my fluorescent light(10in.) on the foil will it bring up my ambient? Or no? It's just a standard aquarium light...

ok I think I got it all... Sorry if I'm scatter brained you guys. I woke up from a catnap and about made a poopy when I saw my gauge!

- - - Updated - - -

78 ambient is perfectly fine.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Thanks! Whew big sigh! How do I get at insane humidity down?

[Kaorte]

Add more ventilation space to the screen top and the humidity should go down. I would shoot for 60%

[Fidget]

To get your humidity down, you could cut a bigger hole in the foil (cereal box size, if you like) or try a smaller water dish. Also check if she peed recently, my humidity shoots through the roof each time they pee - it's like a wet sauna in the tubs!

Your posts are hilarious, like a window cut into your brain.

Edit: Steffe beat me to it!

[Kris Mclaughlin]

Lmao! Yeah people that know me use colorful as the only thing to describe me lol.

Well thank all of you so much! Eliminated the need for the heat lamp(donated to my baby boa I err took over from an irresponsible friend.) quick btw the boa is über happy now, well still traumatized but starting to pop out like"hey man it's warm!".

Back to shiva though. The humidity is leveling out and I'm keeping what I cut out so I can put it back at shed time. Man now only do I get a few bucks off my electric, but also shed time just got easy peasy! Ugh I love yo all because I noted that all too familiar blue tint showing up again today... Grumble grumble... This is my second shed with her so fingers crossed. It's only been about a month maybe just over since her last shed... But she was highly under weight and blew up since being here.

Now I'm adressing the age. She's about 40inches maybe just shy fully extended. The original owner says she's about 2 years. But man she's gettin heavy fast. A small rat a week! Love it! I wish I could get a good video of her striking y'all... She knocked over the tote. Feed her in and the rat tail was still in the tongs!

Anyways thanks a million everyone!!!!