Lickity's condensation!!

[Leighanne]

Now don't get me wrong I love my babies to death and would do anything for them but I have little patience. Try this one out for size and maybe you guys can tell me whats going on. My heads been spinning for the past three weeks and what a waste of money! Lickitys in a 28 quart rubbermaid. Right now one side has a uth sized for a ten to twenty. I was thinking of getting a bigger one? Three hides and a large water bowl.

I bought the Coconut mulch which she WAS in for over twenty four hours. It felt wet to me when I put it in. It is precisley Exo Terra Jungle Earth. It looks like mulch and has a BP on the cover. I have the probe under her log on the warm side. The Thermostats hooked up and working. The unit itself I set on top of her tank. The Thermometor reads 77.3 IN 88.5 OUT, and 55% humidity. Thats what I don't get! The sides of her tank, all around her tank has condensation. That can't be good. My commen sense is telling me that can't be good. For Respiratory, skin, anything. Is the stupid Thermometor screwing up. I went without one luckily for only a day when the last one broke, it kept saying 0. I thought bad about the newspaper because the ink rubs off on you all to easily. I wasted ten bucks, and I used half that stuff in one setting. Needless to say I have to go clean a tank now and shes getting newspaper. I don't really like the thiness either, but what else am I supposed to do!? I am supposed to feed her tommorrow and after all this cleaning she probably won't eat now. Ggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! Thanks for any feedback.

[hhmoore]

I have never used the coconut mulch, but I have used other types. The wetter they feel when you put it in, the more humid the container will be - especially in a sterilite box with a UTH. Take a deep breath or 3...don't worry about tossing the stuff it, will be fine. Some things to consider:
- do you have ventilation holes in the sterilite tub? The tops are not air tight, but you may want to add some (more) if you are using a moisture retentive substrate...be careful though, adding too many can cause problems with the temperatures you have been trying so hard to get right. In the meantime, you can just wipe down the top/sides to remove excess moisture.
- you may want to leave the coconut mulch open for awhile (a few days) before using to let it dry a bit...you can always mist it a little if it dries out too much.

[6y0ballpython]

I use coconut bark/mulch myself, and I find that in order to cut down on how much moisture the darn stuff holds, you need to mix it with something. "Jen" uses it on it's own and she finds it works for her, but I mix mine with bark chips. Just regular old wood chips that you buy in a bag at the petstore. I mix it about 75% mulch to 25% chips. This cuts down on the moisture, and it allows for better ventilation. You have to wet it down more often and it can be difficult to maintain high temps if you have a larger cage, but I find that it works a lot better. As well, it helps keep their bellies off of the "wet" mulch. The first sign of belly irritation is redness that doesn't go away within 5 minutes of picking them up off the mulch. If it goes away, then just put some wood chips under them where they lay the most and you'll still reap the benefits of the moisture and heat qualities of the mulch. That is why I like it. It holds moisture a lot longer and it helps keep your temps up without having your heaters working so hard. If you have a good seal on your lid with a vent hole under the heat lamp, that should be enough. As for the moisture on the sides of the tank....just wipe it off.....whatever is on the side of your tank is not under you snakes belly right?..... Coconut bark is safe, non toxic if swallowed and smells wonderfully sweet and rich like soil. To begin with, it almost smells too strong, but don't worry, that will settle down after it dries out a bit. To know if you have the right consistency, squeeze some in your hand and if any water drips out, it's too wet. Sqeeze really, really hard. If none comes out, then do the paper towel blot test. I put some in a paper towel, and press down on it, if the paper towel has just enough moisture on it to feel wet, not enough to squeeze any water out, then you've got it right. It should feel just like a damp face cloth that has been rung out. The mulch should stick to your hands when you touch it, but you should be able to brush it off with ease. Now if you can keep it at this consistency, that's great! It can be hard, but with a little practice and patience, you'll succeed. Our snakes are very hardy creatures, and they should tolerate our trial and errors of caring for them! I know mine have done ok and believe me, I've made allot of big mistakes in the past, until I got onto a good forum with people who have great knowledge. This is the only one I use now. I've tried about ten different ones, and so far, this is the one with the biggest knowledge base and the most people that get back to you within a day or so. Hopefully this is some info for you. Jen has a great link to using coconut mulch, I'll try and get it for you if you don't have it already. It's on this site somewhere. I'll have to go back in my archives and retrieve it. Maybe she'll see this and help you out. She's so great at giving advice.

Cher

[6y0ballpython]

Here 's that link from Jen......hope you don't mind Jen.....

http://ballpython.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3023

[BoaMan Jon]

I agree totally with Cher.

You are reading the humidity from inside the cage, correct (the probe doesn't read humidity, the display unit does)? If you have a good amount of condensation and your digital therm/hydro is in the enclosure, then I imagine that you need to replace it. Condensation = 90-100% humidity