Congrats!! I use a radiant heat panel for Ira, he's a bit over a year old and in a 4' x 2' boaphile, that works really well. Peggy Sue (5 month old) is still in a 10 gallon with a UTH, which is how I had Ira set up initially (they are both Irian Jaya Carpets). I keep the substrate at 90 but when it is cool I use a low watt red light to supplement the ambient temps...mostly at night when I know she is out and up in the vines. What type of viv are you going to use for him, how big? Lights will really suck the humidity out, that's why I don't like them, the radiant heat panel doesn't seem to do that.
I am going to either place the new snake in a 29g if it is small or a 55g if it is more than 2.5 feet. I have screen lids with clips for locks and whether or not I use a heat light, UTH or combination (which is how the 55 is set up now, the 29 has UTH only) I will have to mist twice daily to keep humidity up due to the screen. The 55 has the right set up temp, hides, dish and climbs and currently has a 2.5 foot BP in it. the 29g has a corn snake that I will be moving to a 20 so it will either be the ball or the jungle in each the 55 or 29. I have fish currently in a 40L and plan to convert that in about one year for the BP with the Jungle eventually going into the 55. Tanks I have to work with are 3- 20L, 1 -20g, 1- 29g (same length and width as a 20L just taller), a 55g, a 40L and a 30H. , I have two corns, a sinaloan milk, a BP, The Jungle, fish and 2 leo geckos. to be arranged in the above tanks.
I had some plexi-glass cut to fit about 3/4 of the screen top for the 10 gallon, that does a really excellent job of holding the humidity and ambient temps steady, you may want to give that a try. Any of those tanks will work for a while for the little guy, who may not be so little. Ira is 4' and is 1.5 years old, Jungles are a bit bigger than IJ's too, he may already be a decent size. Hard to know though, they all grow at different rates.
I am going to put the jungle straight into the 55g and move the BP to the 29. I will put one of my corns in the 30h for now (I have one that is just a yearling). Tonight and tomorrow I will have to start moving animals and cleaning tanks. The sucky part is I have decided to put my fish on the bottom of the stand so I can have the jubgle on the top of the stand. I hate draining and refilling fish tanks but at least it forces me to do a complete clean.
Nice pick up on the carpet. personally I prefer lights over any uth for arboreal. but like clem. said use a radiant heat panel. it will be the best 60 bucks you ever spent. if you had a screen top ideally you would want to use a piece of plexi glass but at the bare minimum put some saran wrap around 3/4 of the screen top. please before you wind up with a 200 dollar vet bill. those screen tops are not for herps and I wish they would stop selling them.
Which do you think would be better, get a piece of plexi-glass cut or use a towel over 2/3 of the top. Currently I do not use anything over any of my tank tops but mist my tree frog tank and my emp. scorpion tank heavily twice daily with bottled water. Having said that my BP had a bad shed for the first time this last time so I need to check the humidity and decide what to do for him. My corns and my mild I do not mist nor do I have their lids covered with anything and they shed perfectly. My ambient humidity tends to run around 45 in my house except during the winter when forced air heat dries everything out.
Just an update. He has eaten three times now, two adult mice each week. I have not put plexi glass on because the moreli site actually worried about respiratory infections with too much humidity, I was planning on waiting to see how the first shed would go. For the past two days he has went in and out of his water dish (big enough to soak in), so I am hopping he will shed soon. If he sheds in one piece I will leave things as is. If there is a problem I will cover most of the top. He is pretty active. He stayed in the branches most of the first two weeks, he has never gone in his hide but will lay on top of it. Today is feeding day so I will see if the appetite remains strong, if not I will monitor for side of shed and stop feeding for a week. This is the coolest of my five snakes by far.
If he appears to be going to into a shed I would just make sure you mist down the enclosure to bump up the humidity. They will need a higher humidity then a ball python or anything else you have. I would suggest doing the plexi thing especially if you are using some type of lamp. Overheard lights tend to dry the air out quicker.
Do you have a hygrometer (digital preferably) in the tank? What is the actual humidity? 50-55% is fine, mine gets lower than that in the winter and I haven't had a problem with sheds. Some sites will recommend higher humidity for Carpets but others say lower is OK too. I like the care sheet on www.acreptiles.com and that is one that indicates lower is not a problem, which is what I have found to be the case with Ira and Peggy Sue so far.
Currently the humidity is 45. The snake has soaked for much of the last two days but ate 2 mice an hour ago and is back in the branches now. This is the only snake that I have that has ever soaked and only my ball has ever had a problem shed. I have a tri-level and my herps are in the lowest level which has the highest humidity. My hydrometer is not digital so it very well could be off considerably. Again I am not having any problems yet I just do not know this snake and have not been through a shed yet.
