here goes nothing. I just went and got some cypress mulch at wal mart then I was told that thats not a good thing to use in my bps cage for himididy. the guy we got our snakes from told us everything we needed and all that but he just forgot to mention the humidity part. now we went and spent 30 dollars on a dig thermometer from pro exotics and now i found out i need a hydrometer. can someone please please please help me before i lose my mind and end up not doing something right and my snakes end up dyeing. i really like them and want them to stay alive but i dont know what i need to do can someone with alot of info and expirence help me out ? please please adn thank you thank you Brandon & Kourtney
You are doing the right thing by coming here to the site and asking questions. The cypress mulch is an excellent substrate for your snake as long as you plan on feeding in a separate tub. I use it in all but one of our cages. You can get a pretty inexpensive digital hygrometer/thermometer at Walmart for around $15 in the hardware section. It will give you two different temp displays and the humidity level all on one unit. For temps in the cage you want to have an ambient temp around 89-90° on the hot side the cool side should be no lower than 80°. Humidity levels should be kept around 50% but bump that up to 60% when the snake is in shed. Good luck and feel free to ask more questions, thats why we are here.
check out my humidity strategy here: this will help A TON http://www.reptilerooms.com/forumtopic-1618.html
The didital themomater is great. I love it as for cypress mulch it is great holdmoister and even smells good help hide the smell of you herps dropings. now I dono what the guy told you but bp NEED humidtiy just feed them in a plactic tub and youl do fine oh what is your cage set up? how many hides do you have?
I don't know why someone would tell you not to use the bedding for humidity. It's one of the best things TO use. Stormy's right about the thermometer. The digital kind you can get at Walmart, Kmart, or most hardware stores work great and are cheap. Plus you won't have to buy the hygrometer. Don't panic. What you do not want to use in your snake's cage is aspen, pine, or cedar. All of them have oils that can 1) damage some animal's skins or 2) are too aromatic and can cause respiratory infections. Cypress is perfect for them so go ahead and use it.
Just to add in agreement with boaman, there is no real problem with Aspen, it just doesn't hold humidity well is all
Aspen can be extremely aromatic, that's why I don't use it. It smells more strongly than many pine beddings out there. Plus a lot of dust can lead to respiratory infections as well. Personally, I don't use any wood product substrate, but I'd stick with cypress because it safer and helps maintain humidity better.
I used cypress, it was good, kinda hard to cleanup, but then when my snake had mites i switched back to newspaper, never turned back, works like a charm, and i have no problem with my humidity because i developed a strategy: http://www.reptilerooms.com/forumtopic-1618.html
Newspaper is great. So easy to clean. It may not be as attractive as other "natural" substrates, but it works!
go to your local pet store. I got my humidity guage at Petco for $5.00 and it works wonderful. And I use Corn Cob Shavings in my tank (sold at wal-mart) Piglet (ball-Python) Buddha (ball-Python) Starr (ball-Python_ Daffy(hermit crab) SuperMan(hermit-crab)
I've tried corn cob with rabbits before. It's not very absorbant. The urine just settled at the bottom and puddled underneath the cob. Are you using the kind that's ground, like little pieces or kernels of sand, or is it really shaved? That would probably work better than the grains or kernels.
hmmmm the corn sounds dusty also again I will state the wall mart thermomater has a built in humidity guage i use it and it works well cypress is the best natrual subtrate there is
No I actually use corn cob shavings. we don't have to do anything with the humidity, all we have to do is keep the water dish full. the humidity is at 70% during the day and 80% at nite and we don't have to do a single thing.
I agree with Tim's recommendation for Cypress, it looks great and holds humidity very well! Once a week scoop all the mulch into a pile in the middle of the cage, clean the residue that sticks to the floor of the cage, then I pour about a cup of water into the pile of mulch, stir it around and the spread it back out in the cage. (I spot clean as needed and change the mulch and disinfect the cages once a month.) The mulch slowly allows the water to evaporate out and keep the humidity levels up where they need to be. Since using this method in my glass 40 gallon tanks I have only had to spray once every other day. The digital thermometer/hygrometer from Walmart or Kmart are the only way to go! I did a little test one time when I was having shed problems with my ball python..... I put two digital therm/hygrometers in the cage and two of the crappy analog things from the pet store. One digital read 43% humidity, the other read 45%.... the wonderful analogs read 55% and 70%. Needless to say I went with the digital readings, tossed the analogs and the shed problems went away!
I use the eco earth compressed coconut fiber bedding from the pet store it works really well for all my snakes and holds humidity well And it wont compact your snake if they swallow some. I also keep a one gallon rose sprayer with plain water to wet down the tanks it works much better than a spray bottle 1 Albino Burmeese (Chicita) ! Domeral's Boa (Maddy) 2 Baby ball's (Indy and Dega) 1 Beardie (Buddy)
Jamie the thermometers are normally in the hardware section on one of the end caps. There are usually the ones that do the inside/outside temps and cost around $9 and the ones that do the humidity too that are around $14
you could also try its called eco earth its made by zoo med it is compressed coconut shavings works great just follow the directions
