BRB Questions

[kronic2005]

Hey, well since last night when i posted a thread inquiring about BRBs i have read a couple full caresheets for them. I just have a few questions to any owners of BRBs or anyone that think they can help. So these boids require an humidity of 80%. I was having trouble keeping humidity in my bp's rubbermaid, now ive got it to average at 45%. How would i maintain such a high humidity level in a tank, im told use a rubbermaid to keep humidty, cause tanks dont hold humidity well. I plan to house the BRB in rubbermaids till its nice enough size for a 90 gal or so. Any substrates that work perticularly well? I geuss that's all i really need to know. Maybe some people post their setup and what their using for their BRBs. Thanks for looking and maybe posting. - Shaun

[kronic2005]

geuss the BRBs got all their owners working at it hard?bLu0mLp

[galad]

There are quite a few ways you can help keep the humidity up. Co-conut fibre works really well and is easy to spot clean and does not grow mold like most soils do. If you have about 2 to 3 inches in the bottom it will help mantain humidity levels.
Anouther way is to get a room humidifier. If your room has a higher average humidity for around 50 to 60 % the enclosure will not dry out so fast because the air is not so dry.

I dont know if you would want to but adding live plants to the environment will also help in keeping up the humidity levels. Pothos is a really good plant very hardy and doesnt need much light to grow.

Other then that you will prob need to mist on a regular basis. ONce in the morning afternoon evening and just before you go to bed if your having lots of trouble with keeping it up. Usually three times works pretty well.

When misting make sure the substrate has a chance to dry out abit. Constantly wet substrate can lead to mold even if using coco fibre, as a mix of coco fibre and fecal matter will lead to mold. Mold then leads to problemes like respitory infections.

good luck hope everything goes well for you.

peace

[kronic2005]

Thanks, so coconut fibre, as substrate, or just something under my substrate that will help create humidity?

[galad]

Just the coconut fibre by itself as a substrate would prob be best. You could also mix it with wood chips for a more natural look. But the wood chips might cause some molding so be very carefull not to have it wet all the time, or just leave the chips out completely.

peace

ws

[kronic2005]

Cool cool. thanks for the help. Anyone else wanna help me out? post some info about brbs or your brbs setup, and tips or tricks. Thanks alot for your time.
-shaun
:cool:

[kronic2005]

Cmon peeps, be more lively! This place is dieing!!! postttt:2yellow:

[HeadHunters]

We keep our adult Brazilians on cypress mulch, and our humidity is no where near 80% with them unless they are going into shed probably closer to 60% the rest of the time. Our babies are kept in rubbermaids in a heated rack, it is very easy to maintain humidity in these setups due to limited ventilation. The key to maintaining high humidity is to limit ventilation. If the snake is kept in a rubbermaid it should be easy to limit ventilation by the amount of holes you are putting in the top or sides. If you heat one side of the rubbermaid so that it temps in the mid 80s and the other side is in the upper 70s you can just adjust your ventilation to get the humidity that you are looking for. Big water bowl for the snake to soak if it wants will also increase humidity as well as occasional misting.
Hope this helps
Chris

[kronic2005]

Thanks you so much chris, i couldnt have asked for it better. You got any pics of your setup or snake? It'd be great to see. Thanks again for the info man. Mint.

[jkitchens1980]

I keep my BRB on cypress mulch but I think I'm going to try the cocunut fiber (AKA bed a beast). I keep mine @ 60 to 75% ish on the humidity (usually stays a constant 70) as where I hear of people keeping their's @ 80 to 90%(not saying there is anything wrong with it being that high, better high than too low:) ).......BRB's are more resistant to scale rot that most snakes. I've had mine for 3 or 4 months and have had no problems. Also don't get the temps too high. I keep an ambient air temp of 75-80F
and warm spot of no higher than 85F. Here are some pics of Bob and his setup!
Goodluck!!!!!!! and here's good caresheet http://www.newenglandreptile.com/CareBRB.html

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c154/texasherper1980/100_4463.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c154/texasherper1980/100_4461.jpg

[kronic2005]

Hey awesome brb, hes so nice.Cant wait to pick mine up:rsmile: . All right another round of questions. Okay Ambient air temps? How can u measure the ambient air temp? Im currently using a digital Accu-temp temperature/humidity reader, with a 10 foot probe. I dont know how reliable these things are, but i would assume its fairly reliable. How would i read my ambient air temp in the rubbermaid? To measure the hot and cool sides, im letting it sit halfway under my cypress mulch(having to switch it everytime i want the other side temp:medbottom ). Im geussing to get the air temp, just let it hang in the air? Also Im told i can pickup any regular rheostat, and hook it up with my sunbeam heating pad, and it will regulate the temps that i set it to. Just wondering what everyone else is using for heating, controlling, and reading their temps. Thanks again.
-Shaun:rsmile: :thumbsup:

[HeadHunters]

We use simple indoor outdoor digital thermometers from wall mart or some place similar they are about 15 bucks if memory serves. They have two temp displays, one that is whatever the temp is at the thermometer and the other from a probe. So we put it at one side of enclosure and put the probe at the other side. They also have a humidity reading but I wouldnt swear by its accuracy.
I would definitely get a rheostat to control the heat pad, in my experience brbs dont tolerate the high temps of many other boas and pythons, mid 80s is good enough for a hot spot in my opinion. I would also pick up one of those temp guns from pro exoctics, they are inexpensive and you just point them at whatever you want to know the temp of and it tells you, very valuable tool for any reptile owner.

Where are you getting the brb from? Just curious
Chris

[kronic2005]

Im getting him from reptile rainforest www.thereptilerainforest.com. Their located in ottawa, but come down to every expo, so im gonna head over there and pick one up along with my new female bp. Thanks for the info :)

[emilsmee]

Ok here's what I do (and I'm by no means an expert). I put about an inch of aquarium gravel on the bottom of the tank, then I put about 2 inches of bed-a-beast. I cover the open top of my tank completely with saran wrap, except for about an inch on both sides of the length of the tank. I tape the saran wrap to the black rim on the outside and put a screen lid over top. I put a heat pad 1/3 the length of the tank, and put a half buried hide spot over it, and another half buried one on the other side. I put a large enough dish that she can soak in, it's also to help raise humidity. And to finish it off, I spray down the whole tank and pour in a bunch more water so that it'll sit in the gravel and it'll soak into dirt as needed. This way the heat pad is heating the water, which gets soaked into the dirt and creates humidity. I add water about once a week to the bottom and do a pretty good spray every 3-4 days. I get about 80% humidity with this method and you can see it on the tank walls and saran wrap. I get perfect sheds and a perfect appetite from my girl this way, she does spend all of her time under the dirt or in her warm hide spot though. I get temps about 70 degrees at night and about 75-80 during the day.
Thats my two cents on this subject, take it or leave it... :medbigsmi

Emily

[Jeff_Favelle]

I plan to house the BRB in rubbermaids till its nice enough size for a 90 gal or so.

You are WAY better off building a custom-sized cage of 4x2xx1 out of sealed plywood and sliding glass FRONT doors with the ventilation in the PROPER place (the side.....one side). This aleviates a TON of worries about keeping the humidity up.

Any substrates that work perticularly well?

In my 13 years of working with Brazilian Rainbows, hands down the BEST subtrate I have found to work is layers and layers of damp (not wet) newspaper. No question. But if this is to be a display animal, then I would go with cypress mulch or orchid bark.

Okay Ambient air temps? How can u measure the ambient air temp?

That's the EASIEST temperature to monitor. Just stick a thermometer in the air you want to measure! Its SURFACE temps that are harder and require a temperature gun. Ambient temps for Rainbows should be 78-80F unless cycling for breeding. And conveniently, the ambient temp is also the temp that the COLD side of your enclosure needs to be in your temperature gradient. Warm side is 88-90F.

I don't change the day and night temps in the non-breeding season.

I've produced about 60-120 babies per year since 1999. I've seen a LOT of Rainbows!

Best of luck!!!

http://members.shaw.ca/internet_pics/2005_Rainbows1.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/internet_pics/2005_Rainbows2.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/internet_pics/2005_Rainbows3.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/internet_pics/brb_sale_a.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/internet_pics/brb_sale_b.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/internet_pics/brb_sale_c.jpg

[emilsmee]

Jeff, you have by far the most beautiful BRB's! Too bad shipping is so much to Ontario... :)

[jkitchens1980]

I just switched to coconut fiber for my substrate and it works great! It's a bit messy but I haven't had the humidity drop below 80% yet.....and I haven't even
misted it yet!(changed it out monday 1-16-06):med2teeth Just wring it out well...
Very nice Jeff!!!!!!!

[Jeff_Favelle]

Thanx guys!!! Much appreciated! :)


Oh shipping's not that bad. $125 at the MOST. I ship there 5-6 times per month and people that want to save just go in on an order with a friend and split the shipping. Its not too bad.

Cheers guys! :D

[kronic2005]

Anyone interested in what jeff just said? By the way jeff, thanks for the great info, couldnt ask for it any better. Back to what i wanted to ask, anyone out there looking to buy BRB's sometime this spring/summer? not real soon, but fairly soon. I'd definatly split on shipping costs. Anyone whos interested leave a msg here or pm me or something. This also is only if Jeff does have some beauties for sale....

Thanks again to everyone.