My new cage

[bowmatt]

Well i just finished my new cage for my future surinam boa, should be arriving this week, the cage i built is 5x2x2, he is approx 6 feet long. Wondering what i should do for humidity and heat monitoring.

Also do i need to put ventilation holes in, as some say yes and some say no.

[Sphynx]

Do you have any pics? We would love to see your enclosure......

[dfreeman1313]

Originally Posted by bowmatt

Well i just finished my new cage for my future surinam boa, should be arriving this week, the cage i built is 5x2x2, he is approx 6 feet long. Wondering what i should do for humidity and heat monitoring.
Also do i need to put ventilation holes in, as some say yes and some say no.

Ventilation....I say NO for now. You can always add them later. At least have some you can easily cover up.

Depending on the door, you might have enough ventilation around the opening. I didn't put any in my 6x2x2 and I can keep the temperature up, but still have to mist twice a day to keep the humidity up in the winter.

[JMesser]

Go to petco if there is one near u and look for a tropica aire machein, they put humidity in the cage, u might need 2 of them with big pumps since u have a big cage but I bet u it would work pretty good.

[bowmatt]

[ozzyman778]

a regular humidifier works well if you have a herp room too

[ozzyman778]

also looks like you might need some ventilation in that cage as the door apears to seal well.... but I'd wait on that for now... see how well it holds humidity first

[WeissChoice]

Originally Posted by ozzyman778

also looks like you might need some ventilation in that cage as the door apears to seal well

I agree...even if you don't hit the proper humidity in the enclosure, Boas and snakes in general will always soak when needed if given a proper sized soaking dish/rubbermaid. The ones I use for my larger boids measures 24"x16"x6". Hope this helps a little

[brownsfan222]

humidity should be ok, just put in two 3 or 4 inch drain vents from lowes. their cheap and they look good. and they dont let too much humidity out. just make sure you dont put them on the top or you'll never be able to heat that cage.

[mo1416]

Very nice.

[Nexus]

Nice job, with vents I tend to put them low down on the warm side of the tank and 1/2 to 2/3 up on the cool end so that the flow through the tank gets warmed when it first enters. the postioning also produces a good gradient along the length of the tank as the warm air is pulled/pushed towards the cooler end.

To read temperature / Humidity i use a digital thermometer / hygrometer. The dial ones for humidity are pretty awful as they tended to be inaccurate and suddenly pack up for no reason after a few weeks.

cheers
Nick

[bowmatt]

humidity should be ok, just put in two 3 or 4 inch drain vents from lowes. their cheap and they look good. and they dont let too much humidity out. just make sure you dont put them on the top or you'll never be able to heat that cage

sorry for the dumb question, but what is a drain vent, and where is the optimal position for them

[brownsfan222]

its not a vent its a floor drain, they are just cheap round plastic drain covers for basements and stuff that have slits in it for water to go down. they look nice. you should put them around the middle of the sides 1 or 2 on each side depending on how much ventilation you want

[dfreeman1313]

Originally Posted by ozzyman778

also looks like you might need some ventilation in that cage as the door apears to seal well.... but I'd wait on that for now... see how well it holds humidity first

I agree...the humidity is the issue. You can always turn up the heat, but it's harder to regulate the humidity (my experience).