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ATB advice and feedback!

J

jbet521

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Good morning out there to everyone reading this, my name is Jonathan and I recently purchased a beautiful baby Amazon Tree Boa. Before purchasing her I did an extensive amount of research reading books, using google for care tips and reading all the care sheets I could. The thing is, none of them seemed to agree (not surprised) on where to keep the humidity levels and what the ambient temperature should be.
Now, here's a little on the cage: the cage is about 15Lx24Hx15D, LOTS of plant cover is being provided so as to ease Xena (I just assumed she was a female because I became very tired of calling it an it) and decrease as much stress as possible seeing as how she is a hatchling. The cage has 2 glass sides both of which have heating pads running along the bottom, and a back and front screen. The back screen is covered with a piece of curtain I cut and taped to keep in humidity. There is a 100w basking lamp sitting on the screen on top of the cage and the basking spot stays in the very low 90s while the rest of the cage stays in the high to mid 80's. (lots of cool spots that are in the low 80s) There are 2 decent sized water bowls to keep some moisture and for some soaking if she wants to, also on the ground I have 2 hides 1 is made out of one of my old shirts (I thought it might help with the taming so that she'll be used to my scent, advice) I also wash it and put another one in regularly so as to keep mold on other bacteria from building up, and a cork log. The substrate I'm using was a rain forest mix mulch (I forgot what was in it unfortunately, and I have a top layer of spangham moss. There are plenty of perch spots with lots of vines and a tall, thick and gnarled branch. The humidity right now I agree is very high (90%) and it has been that way since yesterday so I'm letting it air out, slowly lol. Anddd, thats about it. Ill try to post pictures soon!
Oh, also I want to be able to view her at night time when she is active but I'm afraid of using my red night time bulb for her as I read that they can still see it and make them nervous. Any advice for what I can do with that? And the nighttime ambient temperature throughout the cage stays in the low 70s. Thanks for reading this and thankyou in advance for any advice and feedback you guys give, I'm looking forward to reading it! :yesnod:
 

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I moved this from the classifieds to the discussion forums

Personally I would fully enclose the screen portions if you could, get some plexi sheets maybe? I've never had much luck keeping amazons in any type of screen enclosure as they never hold humidity well and I was getting patchy sheds. My amazons are kept in either plastic caging (I'm a fan of barrs/herpcages) and various plastic tubs.

Temps sound fine if maybe a tad high, they do good with highs in the mid-to-high 80s (in my experience). I heat my snake room and don't provide any supplemental heat to my ATBs, their day temps are around 85ish and nights drop to 75-70. So I know that doesn't help much in your situation but it's all I can offer as far as temps.

There's no problem using a red (or blue light) at night, I prefer the blue. I stopped using lights all together a few years ago, they dry the air out. If I want to look at mine at night, well heck, I just turn on the lights in the room, or I use a led flashlight. :)

good luck with your little one!
 
I would shoot for a day time high in the low to mid 80's, and the humidity anywere between 60 and 80%.

also as mentioned, you should cover the front back and top with plexi glass, and put the heat source inside the cage.

This way you will be able to heat and maintain cage temps with much less wattage, and your humidity will stay inside the cage much longer, less spraying.

Most of the heat and humidity you are creating now, is going right out the screen top and front.
 
I have the top covered right now with damp towels and the bottom 3rd of the cage has a curtain over it as well, maintaining the humidity hasn't been so bad as of yet
 
well..... if you covered the top, keep a close eye on the temperature in your cage, because it will go up.

Thats an awfully high wattage bulb your using, for that size cage.


Damp towels around electrical fixtures is not a good combination.
Do the plexi or even thin plywood.
 
Screen enclosures (even if just one side) are no good. Covering screen sides, with plastic type material (saran wrap, curtains, etc.), may not allow for appropriate environmental needs either (although certainly better than not covering them at all).
Fully enclosed plastic/resin enclosures are best.

Temps, of 90 or above, is detrimental.
The highest, that it should be, is 85 degrees. However, it is best to keep it just below 85 (82-83 or up to 84).
Mid 70's (+/-), at night, is fine.

Humidity should be between 65-80% .... with babies, and those in blue, being kept at the higher end of humidity.
Spray/Mist the enclosure once, or twice, a day and allow it to dry out between each misting. Misting can drive the humidity up to over 90% and, then, it gradually lowers during the drying out phase (between each misting).
Keep in mind that wetness does not equal humidity and too much wetness can be detrimental. Humidity is what is in the air (achieved by misting, evaporation from water bowls, etc.).
 
Also once you cover some sides and you want to keep the humidity steady(screen cages allow the humidity to be very erratic) I suggest addin some live plants. You said you have plant cover but just from the picture I am assuming you only have fake plants. Because she is still young you wouldn't have to worry much about her desrtoying them. I have had good luck with bromiliads and pothos(couldnt kill it if i wanted to). Good luck with Xena.
 
Thanks everyone for the help, I followed your advice and enclosed alot of the screens with plexiglass and I added a fogger. So far everything has been pretty stable! The heat has some fluctuations but nothing drastic. Again thankyou guys, and I appreciate the help
 
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