husband brought home a BP. Now what?!

[iobyrhiannon@outlook]

My husband has friends that have BPs and our son thought they were just "so awesome" so of course my husband goes and gets one for him. Yay! So off to Petco he went and came home with what he was told is a 3 year old female. So I know nothing about snakes and have been reading reading trying to figure this thing out since I am the one caring for it, yay again, and I am learning that they seem to be very detailed and maintenance needy. I have 4 children 3 of which under 3 as well as we already have 2 dogs and run our own business so please please simplify this for me. We named her Lucy and I want her to be able to thrive and be happy because as much as I have going on no animal should suffer because of my lack of time so what is the best way to care and maintain her and her surroundings. Petco didnt even tell him to get a water bowl!! As of now she is in a 40 gal glass tank with a uth that is sized for a 20 so I think its to small. Substrate they gave him is zoomed coconut sheds. The hides are one plastic make shift from the breeder and a store bought half log. Water bowl currently is my pyrex casserole dish. The heat bulb exploded so using an outdoor light. I am going this afternoon to get the things ive read she needs, ie: red lamp, real water bowl, a smaller hide than the plastic tub cause its way to big! But what do you all recommend to make this girl a happy one? Also they dont know the last time she ate so when should I feed her?

[Vanouri]

I would like to point out that you don't need to get a store bought water dish. They can be kinda expensive and a Tupperware bowl works just as well.

[-RagingReptiles-]

she won't need a lamp of any type if she already has an UTH
Also, like mentioned, a small container is good enough for a water dish.
I would reccomend waiting 1 week so she can get used to her surroundings, then offer her a small to medium rat.

[iobyrhiannon@outlook]

I just dont have any kind of small dish that she wont tip over. Was going to see about a small cat size bowl. What im using is an 8x8 casserole dish haha! Should they feel cold to the touch? Ive got to get the thermometer and all that but she says over the uth and in the hide over it but feels cold to me.

[M.P.C]

The only reason you would need the lamp with the uth is if you cant keep your ambient temps reasonable, also you didnt mention using a thermostat with the uth, if you arent using one unplug it immediatly till you get one, they are dangerous when unregulated... also you may want to didtch the half log hide as they dont really offer much in the form of security

[C2tcardin]

First off, welcome. Now for the set up. Do you have a thermostat on the UTH? It's the most important thing you will need to regulate the UTH. Does the UTH cover about 1/3 of the bottom of the tank? Covering 1/4 would likely be fine as well. As the others said any dish or tupperware will make a suitable water bowl, it's doesn't have to be very big. The best hides in my opinion are the black plastic ones from Reptile Basics but they don't look very good in a tank setup. Just stay away from the half logs they really don't like them. Try to find one small and confined with only one opening in it.

[iobyrhiannon@outlook]

Will she be ok with unplugging thr uth? There isnt a thermostat with it. The people at petco basically gave her to him and said have fun. I am not happy about that at all. I would have liked to know all the needs before getting one but hes an impulse guy and I wasnt there!! If I unplug it there will be no heat source til I get to the store later today.

[iobyrhiannon@outlook]

I have noticed that she will not even go into the log thing so getting that gone.

[Eric Alan]

If you haven't done so already, there is a TON of useful information readily available on this forum that will help give you some direction. Check out a few of the links in my signature as places to start (care guide, setting up a glass aquarium, etc). Those guides will arm you with the information that you'll need when you go out to get the supplies to take care of your new addition. There's no worse feeling than blindly spending money on all sorts of stuff, only to learn after the fact that you still don't have what you need.

Another point of clarification, I'd be pretty surprised if an animal you got from a retail store like Petco is actually 3 years old. They're usually closer to 3 months when they arrive. I have a hard time believing any animal stays in their store display for that long. Do you have a picture of your new addition with something in the picture we can use as a size reference? It'll help guide our feeding recommendations. For now, I wouldn't worry about getting any food until you get the setup dialed in. Don't worry about it being hungry - they can go quite some time without a meal without any issues at all.

Last, but certainly not least, !

Best regards,

[iobyrhiannon@outlook]

Or what if I put her outside on my porch for now? Nothing could get to her and its in the shade but its about 82 degrees outside. My house doesnt get above 73.