[Substrate] Moss

[The Gun]

Bowmans Humidity is low, i keep it up by spraying down his cage, then i started soaking and ringing out paper towels and then using the same methood with face towels which worked great but i still had to do it 3-4 times a day.

Last night i changed his substrate form Aspen to Orcid bark which the shop uses, this has risen the humidity abit without me adding anything, its around 35-40% where as with aspen it was always 30%.

No i got some sphagnum moss as i read in a few places it really helps.

Now i have just read that it can carry a diese that gets into open wounds via the skin (they was talking about humans i believe), Bowman has no wounds at all and shouldn't ever as he will always be on pre killed.

My frist throught was to just dump some on top of his cave but im now wondering is that is a good idea??

[bterrill]

Re: Moss

Don't feel too bad I need to mist 2 of my snakes 3-4x everyday also. One thing I like to do to up it a little is fill the waterbowl pretty high and set it on the hot spot so it produces humidity. I also have some fake plant type things in there I'll give a good soak down in the morning also.

For the diaseses, you can probably try to disinfect it somehow. I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of moss but there's several ways to kill parasites and bacteria. The easiest is boiling water and sitting it in there but that might make your moss unusable. There's a bunch of disinfection solutions out there that should help do the trick if you're worried about that.

I've seen a few people here talk about getting moss but I'm unsure what kind they referanced. Most anything that gets in an open wound is bad news for animals or people, so I think if you can avoid that you'll be OK. The only thing I'd worry about is the snake swallowing chunks of it which can result in slews of problems from not being able to go to the bathroom to blocked airways and what not, but as long as you dont feed on such a substrate it'll be okay in that area too.

Some people who have hard times keeping humidity up will focus humidity on areas the snake is most in [ie, the cave, hide, log, whatever). It can act like a mini sauna.

[The Gun]

Re: Moss

Hello All again, hope you had a good xmas / thanks giving and happy new year!

Well the moss came and i had a brain wave on how to use it.

My first idea failed with putting the moss in a food container (betterware type tub) and drilling loads of small holes in the top, filling with water and putting at the hot end. Crap didn't do anything other then make the tank look ****.

However i came up with a new idea that works perfectly.

Right i got a food container about the right size to take 1kg of moss, i filled it with all the moss, put water in, placed a face towel over the top and held that in place with an elastic band.

It works by the moss continues to soak up water, the face towel also soaks up the water from the moss and the heat creates a little condensation in the tub.




Been doing it a while now so here are some pointers if anyone fancied trying it out.

- Make sure you fill it no more then just over half way, if so the cloth soaks to much water up and drips everywhere.

- Turn the corners up into the elastic band, other wise the water finds the ends and starts dripping

- Shallow tubs arn't really suitable, you end up filling it every few hours

- Place it under the CHE if you can

- Use thicker cloths, thinner cloths don't seem to hold water well and ends up soaking the substrate

- Make sure the moss heaps above the top of the tub so the towel is in direct contact with the moss when you place it over the tub.

Since i have using this i have only had to fill the tub up once every day and half and maybe only spray his cage down once a day, more if i have to open the tank up.

Bowman loves it, when he isn't moving the tub around he lays on top, once he knocked it off the top of the hide, it fell in a way where he could lay under it, so he did .

On a hole it keeps the tanks humidity at around 53%, he went into shedding so i put one at the cool end to which did a great job of keeping it at 70%.

[snakefreak89]

Re: Moss

good job! im glad he likes it.

[monkeywrench133]

Re: Moss

Let me address your concern about the possibility of infection first. It's extremely unlikely that sphagnum moss would cause infection because it is known to have antibacterial properties. That's one of the reasons a lot of keepers like it, because it will not promote bacterial growth despite the presence of moisture.

Your idea with the tub isn't a bad one, but that towel WILL become a huge breeding ground for bacteria. Damp cloth + humidity + 80 degree ambient temps = lots of bacteria.

What I would do, and you aren't far off, is make a humid hide using the sphagnum. Take a container similar to what you have, but big enough for Bowman to fit into with some room, and fill it with sphagnum (loosely packed in). Then, fill it with water, and let it sit over night absorbing the water. Cut a hole in the lid of the container just big enough for Bowman to fit through. In the morning, drain the excess, standing water out of the container, but the lid on, and put it in the cage on the hot side.

Congratulations! You've created a humid hide! Bowman can go in and out as he pleases, and regulate the humidity he's exposed to himself.

You'll have to re-wet the moss about once every week or two, and change the moss out about once a month, maybe less often.

[The Gun]

Re: Moss

Let me address your concern about the possibility of infection first. It's extremely unlikely that sphagnum moss would cause infection because it is known to have antibacterial properties. That's one of the reasons a lot of keepers like it, because it will not promote bacterial growth despite the presence of moisture.

Your idea with the tub isn't a bad one, but that towel WILL become a huge breeding ground for bacteria. Damp cloth + humidity + 80 degree ambient temps = lots of bacteria.

What I would do, and you aren't far off, is make a humid hide using the sphagnum. Take a container similar to what you have, but big enough for Bowman to fit into with some room, and fill it with sphagnum (loosely packed in). Then, fill it with water, and let it sit over night absorbing the water. Cut a hole in the lid of the container just big enough for Bowman to fit through. In the morning, drain the excess, standing water out of the container, but the lid on, and put it in the cage on the hot side.

Congratulations! You've created a humid hide! Bowman can go in and out as he pleases, and regulate the humidity he's exposed to himself.

You'll have to re-wet the moss about once every week or two, and change the moss out about once a month, maybe less often.

Thank you!

I hadn't thought of the bacteria on the cloth but as it happens i have 3 face cloths and change it every 3 days for a wash.

I concided the moisture box but decided againest for many reasons.

1. He is a big snake and such a box would take up to much room in the viv, i plan to make him a bigger viv but still its a lot of space taken away for him. Such a box would need to be 1.5ft sq and nearly a foot in height plus that with his hide, drinking bowl and large soaking bowl there will be none left.

2. He can still eat the moss.

3. I much profer the whole viv to have the correct humidity so he can go anywhere and it be correct keeping him active more so in times where he would have to lay in the box.

Thank you for the input, i plan to by him a humidity device but there rather expensive so will have to wait