Question :)

[Gio]

Holy cow, I feel like a total newbie snake owner again (not that I'm overly experienced, admittedly). Anyway...

So I picked up my little guy on Sunday, and since we got him home and into his setup he's been camped out in the humid hide on the warm side of his enclosure. He was in shed and my humidity levels weren't behaving even with a decent size water dish; hence the two little buckets of damp sphagnum moss I've added.

My worry is... is he okay marinating in the damp moss? I mean, since he discovered it I don't believe he's come out. Shed-wise he's past blue phase, his eyes are clear, so he's got a few more days before he sheds out I figure, and I'm fine with leaving him alone (I'd have to anyway since he's still acclimating) but I just want to be sure he's not going to get a fungus or scale rot or something. I'm misting the moss to keep it damp but not soaked, and I've carefully lifted the layers of moss to just mist him gently as well.

Or am I driving him crazy? I'm still not tickled to death with his setup, so I'm tweaking. He's in a 10-gallon at the moment (not ideal), well-cluttered and soon to be covered on 3 sides, and I'm already saving for his eventual PVC enclosure because I think that will be our best bet for long-term maintenance of both the snake and my sanity.

Humidity is 60% (with a lot of work on my part), temp gradient isn't ideal with warm spot being 88 and cool being 82. So that's bugging as well. Perhaps I need a bigger tank already. I can accomplish that with I think minimal fuss as my local reptile shop has a buy-back program with used tanks when it's necessary to upsize...

Anyway, babbling. Input welcome. His well-being is more important than my ego.

You are "In Tune" and sounds like you are doing great. That moss is excellent as it will dry and retake moisture. I had a humid hid filled with that when I first got my fella and he rarely came out. It had a lid on it and the whole works. I eventually took the moss out and scattered it about the cage.

DAMP VS Wet is a separate matter. If he is in damp moss he's just fine. My favorite authority on boas, Gus Rentfro will tell you soaking in water for hours is NOT good and is usually a sign of something being wrong. Also prolonged periods in water can lead to what you are worried about. That said, moss that is damp should be just fine.

There are very good articles and posts regarding care. I can't begging to link them all here, but I personally like the humidity HIGH 70-80% as long as there is no standing condensation. I find my snake rarely drinks and uses both warm and cool side of the cage equally.

There are various opinions and there is no 100% set in stone way to do things.

I have a few long posts in this forum about caging and can help you with that if need be.

Keep him enjoying the moss.