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Lighting, Heating and Humidity for the Green Tree Python
Lighting
The animals are provided with full-spectrum fluorescent lighting ten hours per day year round. It is recommended if lighting is inside the enclosure in enclose the fixture in wire mesh to protect the snake from accidental burns. Lighting should be on a schedule of 12 hours on and 12 hours off. Changing the schedule to 6 hours on and 18 hours off, during the brumation period.
Heating
Although the species comes from an area that reaches a daytime tem- perature of 95 F routinely, experience has shown that the animals do not appear to enjoy this temperature. As the cage temperature is raised above 85 F, both juvenile and adult GTPs move as far away from the heat source as possible, frequently taking refuge on the floor of the cage. However, debilitated animals, appear to seek out higher temperatures. Thus, the animals should be continually monitored, provided with additional heat if necessary, or given a large enough cage to provide an extended thermal gradient. There is day-night temperature cycling as well, with the mean cage temperature varying between 85-78 F in the summer and 85-65 F in the winter.
Humidity
Green Tree pythons do require some additional specialized care. Being a tropical animal, they require favorable humidity conditions as well as optimal temperature. The animals do very well with a daily misting. This can be accomplished as easily as utilization of a spray bottle once or twice a day, but more elaborate methods can also be used. Here, the animals are subjected to a gentle rain once daily through the use of an automatic watering system and mist nozzles, the type generally used in greenhouses. This daily rain provides a number of necessities for the GTP. Being arboreal, they generally do not come out of the trees to drink. They satisfy their thirst by drinking water droplets that accumulate on their coils. This is a particularly important point, as the animal may not find the water dish in a large cage.
The second factor in misting the animals is their need for high humidity. With a daily rain in the cage, the wet substrate provides humidity throughout the day. This high humidity is required for shedding, and its presence avoids the tedious task of manually soaking and shedding out a specimen. As with all other reptiles, constant exposure to damp conditions may lead to scale rot or other skin problems. Care should be taken to allow the cage to dry out on a regular basis.