New Ball Python Owner

[mbasile35]

Hello,

Today i bought a normal ball he or she is about 20-24". He or she seems to be doing well, the onyl thing is that he hasn't really gone into his hide yet, he's wedged in between the glass and the curve of his hide ( a half log). The tank has a cage liner, but the under tank heater made it too hot so i put cypress bedding on top of that. The substrate in his hide is about 90, the cool side at 80. Im still having some trouble keeping the humidity up, its around 40 now. Does everything sounds ok? This is my first BP so im really nervous im doing something wrong. Any questions or concerns or tips are much aprecitaed.

THanks,
Mike

[stevepoppers]

Read the caresheet. It's stickied at the top and on the front page.

Buy a thermostat. Get identical, more secure hides. Tubs are easiest to maintain and Flexwatt heating tape is cheap as hell. If you still want a glass case, cover the top with foil tape or something to keep humidity in. I found that placing the CHE over the water dish brought both temperature and humidity up, though most say it dries it out. Don't listen to pet stores.

Enjoy your snake.

[Jason Bowden]

Welcome!
The care sheet covers everything.
Sounds like you've got it! They really need the higher humidity during shedding cycles.

[Reptile King]

Overall it sounds like you are doing well! I know it will be tempting but try and avoid picking him/her up for several days. Let him get used to his new home. In a week or so try and feed him.

I used to have a glass enclosure and this is what I did to solve my humidity issues. I went to Lowe's and bought a piece of plexiglass for $10. I had them cut it to fit over the mesh portion of the lid. It covered about two thirds of the tank. I placed the water dish on the cool side of the tank below the plexiglass. That solved my humidity issues.

As far as hides go you can get real good ones that are cheap! You can get some at the Dollar Store. You can get a small bowl and cut a hole in the side. I have used the hides from Reptile Basics and really like them. They are cheap and a breeze to clean.

Congrats on your new slithery friend!

[blackcrystal22]

Pretty much what everyone else said.

Trash the half log, and get some good hides.
I get mine from here:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes/

[Vypyrz]

to BP.net and the addiction of Ball Pythons...

You have come to the right place. You will find that most everything that people suggest or recommend is because it has proven to help in achieving your goal of having a happy, healthy, secure, and eating ball python. Some of it may seem a little frustrating or overwhelming at first, but once you get everything set-up, running, and tweaked in, you will find that your snake will be fairly easy to care for.
BP's can get stressed real easy. This is usually indicated by1) your snake will be roaming around the enclosure during the daytime and/or 2) they won't eat. The most common causes of stress are lack of security, enclosure too large (open space), and improper temperatures/humidity, and these are all fairly easy to correct, and they can be as cheap or expensive as you want. You are going to find that stores like Wal-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot and the dollar stores are going to be your friend.

Without a photo or specs on your tank, I'll have to assume that you are using a 20gallon or less enclosure. Anything larger is going to probably be too big for a BP that size.

First of all, don't handle you snake for the first week, and leave them alone as much as possible. This will give him time to settle in and get used to his new home. Changing the water and spot cleaning, if needed will be ok. I also don't recommend trying to feed him during the first week.

The first things I see in your original post that should be changed as soon as you can, and it it will cost you maybe $30 or less, are:
1) The Under Tank Heater should not be used unregulated. The temp maybe good on top of the substrate, but underneat, on the glass, it is way hotter, and if your snake burrows down into it he will get burned. At the very minimum you need to get a dimmer switch unless you want to go ahead and get a thermostat. You can get a lamp dimmer at one of the above mentioned stores for about $10-$15. This will let you adjust the temps from the UTH.
2) Some BP's will use the half log hides, but they generally don't offer the security that they like. You need 2 identical snug hides One for the warm side and one for the cool side. That way your snake will move back and forth between them to thermoregulate. There are a variety of styles and types of hides available online and at pet shops, but the easiest way to fix it is to take 2 plastic bowls and cut a hole big enough for your snake to fit through and flip them upside down. These will cost you about $1-$2.
3) To help your BP feel more secure in the enclosure, it is a good idea to cover 3 sides of the tank so it doesn't feel so open. You can use anything like construction paper, poster board, foam board, aquarium scenery, or anything like that. You can even use some type of fabric if you choose.
4) I'm not sure what you are using to measure your temps/humidity, but if it is those stick-on dial gages, they are notorious for giving improper readings. Most people use digital thermometer/hygrometers because of better accuracy. Probably the most functional is the Acu-Rite. You can get this at Wal-Mart in the home Harware section or at Lowes or Home Depot in the Outdoors section for about $12. Depending on which model they have, it will either be called the Acu-Rite Weather Station or the Acu-Rite Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer with Humidity. You place the unit in the tank on the cool side and it will tell you the ambient temp and humidity and you place the probe under the substrate over the UTH. This will tell you what the warm side temp is at the glass, which is the hottest temp your snake would be exposed to. It looks like this...



Also, here is a link to another thread with some good, inexpensive hide ideas...

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=59280

I hope all of this helps, and we do like to see pics...

[mbasile35]

Thanks everyone for all the help. First of all, the guy at the retile house said that i could handle him for the day, but leave him alone after that, i hope that thats ok i played with him for about an hour all together yesterday. Anyway i'll leave pics at the end of this post, but i have a few more concerns. It seems that he only stays where i put him, for instance last night i put him right outside his hide and he crawled in and stayed there till today at 12 when i picked him up..yes i completely forgot about leaving him be for a week i was just so excited..but anyway i put him on top if his hide and he crawled in between the curve of the hide and the glass again, is this normal for them to be so inactive? And the other thing is sometimes when i look at him i can see his body moving as he breathes, is this bad?

Any way, blackcrystal22, thanks i saw this kind of hide at the reptile house i bought him from i think ill have to buy two of these. And Vypyrz, i'm using a ryobi non-contact thermometer, it was only $30 and i saw some thermometers for like $90 so i don't know if its very accurate i'll definately be looking for the weather station, thanks!


Now the pics, excuse the low quality there were take on my phone. i left links because they're somewhat big, let me know what ya think.

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/y...cttures034.jpg

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/y...cttures020.jpg
that ones not so bad

http://s777.photobucket.com/albums/y...ePicttures.jpg

the last one is a picture of his setup vypyrz and you guys can also see what i mean when i saw he crawls in between the glass and the curve.

Thanks again everybody,
Mike

[Vypyrz]

the last one is a picture of his setup vypyrz and you guys can also see what i mean when i saw he crawls in between the glass and the curve.

The log hide is too big for the little guy and he feels more secure between the log and glass than he does inside of it. His hides should be only just a little larger than he is in the last photo...

[mbasile35]

Ok thanks vypryz i'll definately be buying two new hides this weekend

[dmcminn]

Hay Mike,

I am also a newbie when it comes to these amazing creatures... I have found tons of info on this site and am addicted to it now. What has helped was going from glass to tub as far as humidity - We live in CO. and there is not much moisture in the air. With that said, I went to Wallies Word and pick up a .96 cent spray bottle out of there cleaning isle. My humidity is a tad to high 80% and he shed for me last Sun. night. ** I know - More Holes in the tub ** I have Austin on Aspen and I picked up a hide (bowl) from the GOODWILL. I am in the process of looking for the Accurite thermometer, I have a humidity gauge and a Digital Thermometer which has been moved from the inside to the underneath of tub and UTH - Thanks to these guys on this web site. I also have learned to leave him alone so that he can get use to his environment (KIDS) He did have chow for me on Wed. Super COOL !! Other then that he seems like a happy hunk of burning love Ha! I have posted some pics under *Rookie Walking*