How often do BP's shed?

[cierahailee]

We cant seem to keep our humidity up, it stays around 60 and we spray and spray water and it just wont stay up? Got any ideas?

[starmom]

I keep the humidity at a pretty constant 55% and the snakes all shed just fine

[truthsdeceit]

You can cover a majority of the tank lid with foil to keep the humidity from escaping.

Also to bump up the humidity for a few days you can soak a towel in water, get it really wet, ring it out just so it's not dripping, and lay it over the tank lid. The towel will be slow to dry and keep the humidity high.

You need to be careful with this though cause wet towels can grow bad stuff, this is why I only suggest using it for a few days during shed. I know a guy who uses them all the time, but he's very vigilant, changing them out all the time to keep them clean.

You're shooting for 50-60%, I only bump my tanks up higher if I see a bad shed. My bp does fine in the low 50% range.

[starmom]

Remember that with the towel technique, as the towel is drying it is actually pulling moisture back out of the tank

[cierahailee]

i already have a piece of foil on top, its covering just enough of the top so that the heat lamp is open. then at night, i slide the foil over to the other side and turn on the blacklight. i just cannot keep the moisture up at all?? definately cant keep it steady. i can try to cover the top a little more, but if i go much further, the light will be covered? i have to mist the tank about every hour to keep it at 50%.

[starmom]

Tanks are challenging
Do you have some sphagnum moss in there? It helps a lot!

[cierahailee]

no, not yet. i went to buy some the other day, thinking it wasnt going to be very much. but they had a little bitty bag, and it was 15 bucks. didnt have the money to spend at the time. guess i can try to get some this weekend. is there anything else that i can put in there to keep moisture. and, question of the main subject but, do they always hide?? he never comes out, never!!! when i hold him hes fine, but after i put him up, i dont see him again til i pick up his cave and hold him.

[truthsdeceit]

Remember that with the towel technique, as the towel is drying it is actually pulling moisture back out of the tank

which is why it has to be kept really wet and checked often.

i already have a piece of foil on top, its covering just enough of the top so that the heat lamp is open. then at night, i slide the foil over to the other side and turn on the blacklight. i just cannot keep the moisture up at all?? definately cant keep it steady. i can try to cover the top a little more, but if i go much further, the light will be covered? i have to mist the tank about every hour to keep it at 50%.

Maybe try a CHE instead of a light emitting bulb? I switched from a night bulb to a CHE and it doesn't zap my humidity near as much.

With the night bulb I was misting every hour too, now I mist twice daily.

Do you keep two water bowls? keeping one in the cool side to drink and one partly on the heat pad to evaporate can help a lot too.

[cierahailee]

i will probably try the towel tomorrow. i put a little longer piece of foil on the top, gonna see how it does for a day. what is a CHE? is that like an under tank heater? and as far as my night bulb, my black light, the humidity stays fine, but its when i use the day lamp is when i cant keep my humidity. i only have one water bowl in there right now, and its about 3/4 of the way directly under my light, but it really isnt doing any good.

[Smith285]

if I were you I'd run the black light all the time then, the other light really isn't necessary. Also you said earlier that the humidity is at 60%? If it is, I wouldn't go much higher than that.

As for the signs of going into shed, there is a very useful sticky at the top that has just about everything you would need to know about the shed process. If your bp looks "dry" I might actually be concerned. Their skin should look dull and their eyecaps blue, but not necessarily dry.