Cage being proper humidity Vs.Entire room at proper humidity

Dbutton · #1 (**permalink**) 04-29-2005, 06:25 PM

Now that I have some emeralds on the way I wanted to address something that I have been pondering for a while now.
Is it better to have just the cage at the proper humidity levels or to have the entire room at the proper levels?
I know that for most people keeping a room in their house at 85% humidity is hard if not impossible because the air conditioning system dehumidifies the air, but I have moved my snakes out to their own building and can more easily control the climate so I have come to a crossroads. I have been useing a Vics cool air humidier to keep the proper levels in the room and it works great at keeping the humidity levels right where I have it set which is 70%, but because it has a built in hygrometer I can easily adjust it up to almost 100% if I wanted to. I know that emeralds need 80-85% during the day with a slow decrease to around 70% at night. I have been testing this in my building and have had great success at both keeping the high levels during the day and turning the hygrometer control down in the late afternoon to allow it to drop to 70% over about a 6 hour period.
So would it be better to keep the whole room setup like that or should I focus primarily on the cage itself. I do plan on installing a hygometer in the cage itself so that I can monitor levels inside of it as well and my boas, burms and carpets do not seem to mind the extra humidity at all.
And if I do decide to go with the whole room at the proper levels should I still mist the emeralds in the morning to simulate the moisture that accumulates in the rainforest canopy from the low cloud cover? I know that they like to drink off of themselves at this time and want to simulate a proper enviroment as best I can.

David

blkcrochunter · #2 (**permalink**) 04-29-2005, 07:19 PM

You might want to focus on the cage itself, so you dont hurt the others with the high humidity. As the others dont require high levels of humidity.

toker · #3 (**permalink**) 04-29-2005, 07:41 PM

Mostly I would be worried that all that humidity will cause mold on your walls and such. Unless you have really good venting that is.

Another note, unless you have good air exchange in your cages it the humidity wont be that affective in the cage since it will be most outside the cage.

Dbutton · #4 (**permalink**) 04-29-2005, 08:03 PM

Well at first they are going to be in rubbermaid tubs with perches while they go through their quarintine period. But after that they will be in my big vision display cage which is 80"longX28"deepX44"high. It has the venting on the top plus I had drilled large holes on the ends a few years ago for better air circulation for my burm. Those holes are too big and I have been trying to decide whether to cover them completly with plexiglass or cover them and then drill smaller holes in the plexiglass where the large ones are already. That would allow plenty of air exchange in the cage.
Mold onthe walls shouldn't be a problem though since I do have good air exchange for the building. As for the the other snakes, I don't think that any of them will mind a little extra humidity. All my snakes are tropical anyways.

David

CraigC · #5 (**permalink**) 04-30-2005, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Well at first they are going to be in rubbermaid tubs with perches while they go through their quarintine period. But after that they will be in my big vision display cage which is 80"longX28"deepX44"high.

Are you planning on housing them together?

CraigC

Dbutton · #6 (**permalink**) 04-30-2005, 04:20 PM

The 2 adults are housed together now, so I was going to do the same when they got here after they had gone through their quarantine period. Is there a problem with that? I have talked to a couple breeders who do the same and have no problems.

The neonate is going to have it's own rubbermaid tub for a few months and then I will decide what type of cage it will be getting, but it will probably be an acrylic like this>

http://www.d-g-s.com/daemons/TNSSingle.htm

I really like those cages and plan on getting some for the adults later on and useing the big vision for a breeder cage. But that is down the road a piece. For now they will just have to suffer (sarcasm!) in the huge vision cage.

David

lethargiic · #7 (**permalink**) 04-30-2005, 04:31 PM

i really like that acrylic enclosure...I'm really wanting an emerald or a green tree python, both favorites of mine, but right now i'm really wanting a emerald.....oh woe is me the choices.. lol

Dbutton · #8 (**permalink**) 04-30-2005, 04:53 PM

I fully understand your dilema. The guy I made the trade with for the neotate sent me pictures of 5 different snakes to choose from. An adult male Kafiau island green tree python, a 9 month old red GTP, a 2 year old CBB male northern emerald, a LTC northern emerald that he has had for 3 years that is the mother of the neonate, and the baby that I picked.
It took me quite a while to make a choice and it was really hard. But seeing as I have another pair or emeralds on the way I thought the best thing was to stick to just one new aboreal species for right now.

David

CraigC · #9 (**permalink**) 04-30-2005, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Is there a problem with that? I have talked to a couple breeders who do the same and have no problems.

Personally, I believe individuals should be kept separately except for breeding. It's easier to keep records on idividuals if you know whose poop or urate is whose, LOL. Feeding two individuals in the same enclosure could get quite exciting. Emeralds are excellent at masking problems. Having separate enclosures IMO allows you too keep better track of the individual and may isolate a problem. Better to only have to treat one animal for a problem than two. You will find that the majority of corallus keepers follow the one snake per enclosure rule.

CraigC

Dbutton · #10 (**permalink**) 04-30-2005, 07:27 PM

Thanks for all your good advice. I will have the money for some of the TNS single acrylic cages by the end of may and that will be fine since they will be quarantined in rubbermaid tubs until at least then anyhow so maybe I will just put one of the adults in the big vision. Probably the female and then I can just introduce the male if I decide to breed them later on. SHe will think she is back in the jungle with all the room she will have.

David

Dbutton · #11 (**permalink**) 05-02-2005, 08:39 PM

Ok, after speaking to the man from emeraldtreeboa.org (I can't remember his name now because I am getting old) extensivly about heating and humidity I have decided to go with keeping the room at the proper temps and humidity instead of just the individual cages. I called him after looking at his and Tony Nicoli's sites and noticing that neither of them had thermostats in their cages and that there was no heat tape anywhere to be seen. Tony Nicoli's pics do show heat lamps on top of the cages, but the ones at emeraldtreeboa.org have none. I asked him about this and how he heats his cages and he said that the most efficient method was to keep the whole room going at the right temps and humidity and his reason was that with so many heat sources and thermostats that there were too many things that could go wrong. And if I had the capabilities to keep the whole room at the right temps and humidity that it would be better for me and the snakes.
I am in no way discounting the advise that I have gotten here though. I just thought that I would see what the people who have been doing it for 10 to 20 years had to say about this subject. I do want to thank everyone for their input and especially Craig and Karen who have given me great info through several PM's and posts.

David

SoberGuy · #12 (**permalink**) 05-02-2005, 09:17 PM

I'm glad you've found an answer, and I certainly hope that solution works well for you! Keep us posted, and pics never hurt!

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