mister advice

[lilyskip]

hey kids! Marla had another bad shed this cycle, so I think it's time to invest in a mister/humidifier for her 55gal. Can anybody recommend a good misting system, preferably one that is under $30? I looked online, but they all require extra equipment, it seems, and I don't know what I need to buy, or what will work for general humidity purposes.

Just to cut these options off at the pass, I don't want to get a whole-room humidifier, and I don't want to change her setup to a rubbermaid (I will eventually, but not for another few years...)

Any referrals you could give (especially to a product available for purchase online) would be loooovely. Thanks!

[Rob McRobbie]

Hello,

Ball pythoms do not require high amounts of humidity generally except during their shed cycles.. I feel that spending $$ on a misting system for a ball python will not get you any further ahead.. Rather, just ensure that the animal has a moist retreat to hide in when you see it getting opaque.. I have a half section of cork bark that mine hides under normally and I just spray inside that area very well during this time.. You should see instant results..

On a side note, if you have only on of the hand pump misters and have multiple snakes, I would suggest spending 20-30 bucks and getting one of those weed sprayer types as they last forever and give your hands a break from continually pumping..


Rob

[Jeff_Favelle]

I agree with Rob. Ball Pythons are not from tropical rainforests, so creating a mini one for them doesn't really do them any good.

Keeping any animal, not just a Ball Python, requires you to mimic what they USE in nature. Ball Pythons do not use falling droplets of water. In fact, they hate. Spray your BP and see how much it enjoys it.

Spraying or installing a misting system is a band-aid solution to your problem. You need to re-think your enclosure set up. Its no coincidence that EVERY single person that comes here or to any other forum and complains about their BP having a bad shed is housing their snake in a fish aquarium.

And living in Florida? Humidity should NOT be a problem.

[Vengeance]

If you useing a glass tank, I assume you have a screen lid that snaps down over the tank? I also use a glass tank and I'm able to keep the hummidity up. I made a plexi glass lid with holes drilled around the edges at a 45o Angle to slow the release of hummidity. I keep a digital hydrometer in the cage at all times and I can keep the hummidity between 50 - 60% only misting the cage every few days. The lid would work better but it was my first attempt at cage building so I learned the hard way that heat lights held directly ontop of a screen lid with a plexi glass lid under will melt the plexi glass. So the lid is a little warped so there are areas that arn't flush against the inner ledge of the cage meaning that more hummidity is realeased faster. Anyway here is a pic of what the lid looks like and my Ball python has been sheding with no problems and no soaking.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/3606Lid-med.JPG

[mykee]

Back to basic husbandry. I'm assuming that after the last bad shed, you did something to his environment to prevent this from happening again? If so, the enclosure you have him in now is not working. Period. Instead of looks, or whatever other reason you have for housing your ball in a less than adequate enclosure, it's time to rubbermaid him, OR find an alternative that allows for proper sheds. I just mist down the newspaper a few times a day, and all my balls shed beautifully, mind you, I have a rack/rubbermaid setup. It's not about the looks, it's about proper husbandry.

[MouseKilla]

That's one way to do it.

What I've done is laid the aquarium on one side so that the opening is in front instead of on top. I think you were already doing that at one time, Lilyskip, because I think I remember you cracking your tank with the heat lamp (sorry if that was someone else and I'm mistaken). For a while I was pointing a heat lamp in through the front of the cage and blocked off the rest of the front with cardboard or a towel. This was better than anything I could do with the tank vertical but it was still drying out pretty quickly.

Since then I have abandoned the heat lamp in favour of a human heatpad placed under the cage and blocked off the entire front with a towel (I used a towel because it breathes a little bit and the snake won't suffocate).

This set up traps the humidity in and the switch from the lamp to the heat pad seems to burn off the moisture a lot more slowly while still offering an ideal hot spot temperature. The other great thing about it is you don't need to have a different way of heating the cage when you don't want to have the light on, the heat pad just stays on all the time. Just put something under each end of the cage so it's not sitting directly on top of the pad, a couple of pieces of 2" x 4" will work, I have an old set of encyclopedias that I've been using all over the house for this kind of thing. I've had only perfect sheds since making these changes.

This may be an equally unattractive solution as a rubbermaid in your eyes though because obviously if the front of the cage is completely obscured with a towel it isn't much of a display and usually that's what people don't like about the rubbermaids. If that's the case you could consider building a melamine enclosure (see HetForHuman's thread in the Enclosure forum, it's easy and he included lots of pics!). These are the perfect compromise between the functional but ugly rubbermaids and an aquarium that looks nice in your living room but makes it very difficult to provide and sustain ideal conditions. You can also heat these cages with the heat pad method I described.

In the end it doesn't matter what gear you use to make it happen as long as you get the temps where they should be and the humidity up to 60% or so. Do you have an electronic thermometer/hygrometer? If not, get one! It's the best 20 bucks you'll ever spend, it's so much easier to fix things that you can measure.

Good luck, hope you work things out.

[sapphire_moon]

There is something out there called humi-mats (or humidity mats, something like that). Try looking them up. I had a website for them, but can't remember it right now.

[Tigergenesis]

Humidity mat:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9737&R=16175&N=2006+113187+113567&in_merch=1

I bought one just to try it out, but haven't yet. Someone on another forum said it worked great for them.

I too use a glass tank with screen lid. What worked for me was covering the top with duct tape (some people use pegboard or saran wrap) leaving holes for any lights. I then bought a Tropic-Aire Humidifier & Air Exchanger with an air pump (just buy an air pump rated for a larger tank than you have). Problem fixed - misting not required.

Of course, if your BP will use a humid hide that's the easiest way to go

http://www.petdiscounters.com/small_animal/reptile/maintenance/im_tropic_aire.html (http://)

[lilyskip]

thanks for the advice, guys. this was helpful.

And living in Florida? Humidity should NOT be a problem.
Jeff, I'm living in Connecticut, and it's winter, so it is pretty dry up here, just fyi. :\

[lilyskip]

PS Mousekilla--

I'm amazed that you remembered my setup from so long ago! I've reconfigured the setup of my entire room to give the tank the space it needs to stand upright. this has just led to the humidity problems, of course, but that's what we're working on! ;)

[MouseKilla]

Yeah, I don't really have an explanation for remembering that. My memory is extremely selective, some random things stick for no good reason and I forget nearly everything I'm supposed to remember (just ask the wife).

Even with a vertically oriented tank you could switch from a lamp to a heat pad. Doing that would allow you to cover the as much as the entire lid opening with a towel because you wouldn't need to accomodate the lamp. Also, I think that lamps dry the air out much more quickly because they have to get extremely hot for enough heat to be left over to heat the cage floor. At temps as high as a lightbulb burns moisture is just burned off.

I used lamps for a long time but I've since abandoned them completely. They are a pretty inefficient way of providing heat compared to some of the alternatives and when you're also trying to retain humidity they really work against you. And just think, if you get rid of the lamp you don't have to worry about the bulb dying if you go away for a couple of days. I would still strongly suggest building yourself a melamine cage (it's really not as difficult or expensive as it sounds, especially with great plans available) but you can make what you've got work with $20 worth of changes.

Good luck.