# Humidifiers for Green Tree Pythons



## jhatcliffe (May 24, 2010)

Hi all, I'm thinking of getting a green tree python, i just have one question, i live in south east queensland, and as the GTP is a jungle snake, i assume it will need some failry high humidity. I have a Dalbarb, purpose built, timber, reptile enclosure thats 120x120x60cm. Whats going to be the best way to get some humidity into the tank???? That is if you think its needed in SE Queensland. Thanks Guys


----------



## Mr.James (May 24, 2010)

What type of timber is the enclosure made from? 

Humidity/moisture will cause the timber to get water lodged & rot, not easy to dry it out. So make sure the enclosure is really well waterproofed.

Ways to create humidity = By misting the enclosure with a spray bottle daily, use substrates such as palm/coco peat & moss, large waterbowl, installing a humidifier system setup up with a hygrostat, & making sure the enclosure is setup correctly so it is adequately ventilate but does not allow all your humidity to escape.

Purchase a book called 'The complete chondro' or 'The more complete chondro'. They are like a bible to any Green Python keeper.

There are keepers on this site who I'm sure can add to this & help you more. But it's also worth chatting to the breeder who you plan to purchase the GTP from. There is also some great information in some of the reptile magazines written by the top breeders in Oz, you'll be able to order back issues.


----------



## Slats (May 24, 2010)

Best way is large shallow water bowls. 
I have no problem in the dry season


----------



## hypochondroac (May 24, 2010)

Mr Boyd has given good advice.

I spray using a water bottle, spray the entire enclosure and snake down thoroughly.. once in the morning and once in the late evening so that they get a chance to dry out, my enclosures are melamine and they must be sealed properly, i use sphagnum moss as substrate - Newspaper works well also.

You will need to know your stuff when you contact a good breeder, they'll pick your brain before they allow you to go ahead and buy the animal.


----------



## nirofett (Jun 2, 2010)

hey guys, 
i was just wondering where u guys bought that book "the complete chondro" cheers


----------



## ramzee86 (Oct 11, 2010)

I had to buy the complete chondro of amazon


----------



## solar 17 (Oct 11, 2010)

*$1.50 spray bottle, filled with very warm water and NO substrate, once you see how a thriving GTP has a poo l think you may change your mind on substrate as approx. 50% of it is brown water, people like "waterrat" have a different set-up but he is in the Cairns area not Brizvegas..........solar 17 [Baden]*


----------



## Waterrat (Oct 11, 2010)

What a coincidence! I was just thinking last night to start a thread "how to keep GTPs in temperate climate".
I am hopeless in giving advice on that subject because I don't have that kind of experience. For example; it's relatively easy to keep high temp and high humidity in an enclosure but how do you ensure good air flow / fresh air supply? Or isn't it important? I don't spray my snakes / enclosures at all, so again, I am not the best person to advise, however I noticed that some keepers are spraying way too much. In my opinion, there shouldn't be droplets of water running down the sides of the enclosure at any time. That's my opinion.
Can somebody start such thread and if it develops well, ask the admin to make it a sticky?


----------



## solar 17 (Oct 11, 2010)

*l judge my spraying by the sheds/sloughs....in summer once a day and in winter twice a day with the pm one being a very light spray/mist. with this regime l get perfectly formed moist sheds/sloughs which is what l judge by personally.......solar 17 [Baden]......ps this is always done with very warm water as by the time it hits your gtp its room temp. and no temp. shocks*


----------



## ramzee86 (Oct 11, 2010)

So in a 3ftx2ftx2ft melamime, with spaghnum moss as substrate, with a yearling GTP, how should i keep humidity at good levels? is daily misting my only option? or should i put a running waterfall-like feature? large water bowl? or are there good humidifying systems, and if so where are they available?


----------



## GreatSnakes (Oct 11, 2010)

It depends on your enclosure. Some hold humidity longer than others (even though they look the same!!). I spray every morning and thoroughly wet the enclosures, pythons and substrate which is newspaper. The enclosure then dries out during the day and by 3pm is dry again. I only spray twice (again in the pm as Baden does) when I suspect a shed. In my opinion, you want to avoid a continually wet enclosure as this can only lead to health problems. The manual spraying also means that you physically check the animal and enclosure at least once a day. If you are like me and spend a lot of time checking on your snakes, then maybe an automatic misting system will work, just make sure you get the drying out period.


----------



## Owzi (Oct 11, 2010)

I personally only spray my greens roughly every second day (sometimes more if I notice a shed coming, sometimes less). I also have a large shallow waterbowl in each of their enclosures. The only GTPs I have are native Aussies & I feel they don't require as much humidity as some non native GTPs. Everyone is different with thier keeping styles & experiance will give you a 'feel' for it. The best indicator of correct humidity is the snakes shed, if the shed comes off easily, in one piece & without retaining any skin your doing well. I am yet to have a green with any retained skin after a shed. That said, if I were keeping more Northern locality GTPs, I would have warmer enclosures & I would most likely be spraying them every day.

Andrew


----------



## trickedoutz31 (Oct 11, 2010)

i just installed a lucky reptile rain maker "misting system" running it on the lucky reptile humidity controller and i use bottled water to top up the water tank and have a drain that takes the waste "dirty" water away


----------



## ramzee86 (Oct 11, 2010)

hmmm so will once a day do? and does spaghnum moss or newspaper keep humidity in better?


----------



## Waterrat (Oct 11, 2010)

Newspaper doesn't hold humidity well, sphagnum moss does great job but cleaning is more labor intensive.
Whether to spray once or twice a day is not really the way to look at it - there is no prescribed exact recipe. You just have to have a feel for what's best. My advice is - don't over do it with moisture because high temps + high humidity + inadequate ventilation = ideal environment for bacteria and fungi growth.


----------



## ramzee86 (Oct 12, 2010)

alright sounds good  ill go for Spaghnum, even though its more work


----------



## Just_Plain_Nuts (Oct 15, 2010)

We recommend waterfalls in all GTP enclosures, its a simple way of producing humidity without needing to spray at all. We also heat the waterbowl in some instances if we need more humidity, but this takes practice on getting it right.


----------



## JAS101 (Oct 15, 2010)

Just_Plain_Nuts said:


> We recommend waterfalls in all GTP enclosures, its a simple way of producing humidity without needing to spray at all. We also heat the waterbowl in some instances if we need more humidity, but this takes practice on getting it right.


 sounds good , have u got any pics of one of your enclosures with a waterfall in it?


----------



## Waterrat (Oct 15, 2010)

Just_Plain_Nuts said:


> We recommend waterfalls in all GTP enclosures, its a simple way of producing humidity without needing to spray at all. We also heat the waterbowl in some instances if we need more humidity, but this takes practice on getting it right.



Have you ever had a disaster when a snake decided to lay across the waterfall diverting the water flow into the cage, causing major flooding and pump malfunction?


----------



## Bez84 (Oct 15, 2010)

Has anyone ever used a fogger in there GTP enclosure that would keep the humidity up.


----------



## D3pro (Oct 15, 2010)

Waterrat said:


> Have you ever had a disaster when a snake decided to lay across the waterfall diverting the water flow into the cage, causing major flooding and pump malfunction?


 
Sounds like you have M, was it fun cleaning? lol


----------



## Waterrat (Oct 15, 2010)

I resigned!
It happened on much larger scale in an Animal Park; in a huge, walk in scrubby enclosure with a waterfall and pond. 1500 litres of water ended up where is shouldn't have.


----------



## Pythoninfinite (Oct 15, 2010)

For subadult and adult GTPs in temperate climates, humidity is not hugely critical except at shedding time. Mine have been doing fine for years with only an occasional - (once or twice a week) drenching to keep them comfortable. Too much wetness will be as bad as being too dry, especially if ventilation is compromised.

I certainly wouldn't recommend a waterfall in all GTP cages, that's totally unnecessary unless you want some sort of exhibit. Absolutely not needed for general husbandry, and why add more work (i.e. maintaining the damned thing).

A good misting every 2 or three days is all that's needed, with more at shedding time. I can tell when my animals are due to shed, and keep them wet at that time.

Never had a bad shed (neither have my snakes).

Jamie.


----------



## Amazing Amazon (Oct 15, 2010)

Exo terra are coming out with an automated mister called the monsoon! due to land in a few weeks and will be ideal for high humidity requirements.! it even has a remote control.


----------



## Just_Plain_Nuts (Oct 15, 2010)

ZOOJAS said:


> sounds good , have u got any pics of one of your enclosures with a waterfall in it?


 





Here's my fav .Pretty much most of our large enclosures have the waterfall.


----------



## Just_Plain_Nuts (Oct 15, 2010)

Waterrat said:


> Have you ever had a disaster when a snake decided to lay across the waterfall diverting the water flow into the cage, causing major flooding and pump malfunction?


 Aha that gets asked a lot we have had that problem, but with all our enclosures we improve on the one before and that was fixed a long time ago, it's really simple to fix and make foolproof so that it will not flood no matter what...


----------



## zuesowns (Oct 15, 2010)

Just_Plain_Nuts said:


> Here's my fav .Pretty much most of our large enclosures have the waterfall.



Hey Mr Stein, i've always been curious, how does that door open? it looks like a L shape? I've been looking at it for a while trying to figure it out and also trying to remember from the GC expo. not that I opened it.....


----------



## Mr.James (Oct 15, 2010)

Waterrat said:


> Have you ever had a disaster when a snake decided to lay across the waterfall diverting the water flow into the cage, causing major flooding and pump malfunction?



LOL! Yes.. Happened to me when once or twice but with my lizards. That's the reason why I don't currently use a waterfall. Misting systems are great provided you have good ventilation and drainage.

Nice enclosure Stein!


----------



## Just_Plain_Nuts (Oct 15, 2010)

zuesowns said:


> Hey Mr Stein, i've always been curious, how does that door open? it looks like a L shape? I've been looking at it for a while trying to figure it out and also trying to remember from the GC expo. not that I opened it.....


 There are four pieces of glass, one fixed at the aquarium and the other three are frameless glass and yes the big one is L shaped and yes it was expensive and yes they had lots of trouble making it...


----------



## beatlloydy (Oct 28, 2010)

nirofett said:


> hey guys,
> i was just wondering where u guys bought that book "the complete chondro" cheers



You can get a signed copy from the author direct from the US for $65 USD...with the conversion rate (paypal is around 2 cents less/dollar) this works out at around $70 incl postage...not bad for a hardcover with the bonus it is signed.

http://www.finegtps.com/


Bloody nice website too...makes you drool at some of the pairings he has


----------



## sarah_m (Oct 28, 2010)

Bez84 said:


> Has anyone ever used a fogger in there GTP enclosure that would keep the humidity up.


There are some videos on YouTube showing GTP's in the US being kept with these. I cant remember the guys name (he has an annoying voice and has made close to 100 video's of all his snakes).
The one showing his GTP set up with fogger is pretty impressive (but possibly a bit over kill) if anyone remembers the one I am refering to.


----------

