A Soon To-Be BP Owner Has Some Questions

[Seviper]

Hello, so I signed up for this forum today because I need some help. Basically, I have never owned a pet before and I have always been especially fond of BPs. I have looked after people's pets before as a sort of pet-sitter, though I was never allowed to have one of my own as long as I lived with my parents and in several months that is about to change.

Now, I have done plenty of research over the past few weeks on BP care though I feel the safest option I can possibly take is to completely confirm what I already know, and clear up the air on a few things I am unsure of - please be very specific because I tend to process things very literally due to my condition.

1. Should I switch off the red heat lamp at night and turn it back on when I wake up?

2. When I purchase pre-killed frozen rodents, how do I store them, and how would one go about defrosting it so it is suitable for my BP to eat? & When defrosting, how long should it take before I feed it to the snake?

3. Is Orchid Bark substrate ideal for BP's inside a vivarium?

4. What is the maximum amount of time one should handle a BP before returning him to his vivarium?

5. Should I put the snake in a safe container and move him to another room when I use a vacuum cleaner in my room? This probably an obvious one, but I HAVE to be 100% sure!!!

6. When people say to spray the hide with water using a sprayer, do I lift up the hide, spray the roof of it one time and put it back?

7. What is the most amount of times per week an owner should handle their BP? Once? Twice? ( Also, I am aware that you should absolutely never handle a BP until 48 hours have passed after feeding, since they can regurgitate their food if handled before its food is digested. )

8. On top of the red heat lamp, would there be any other lamps inside the vivarium to provide light? ( Again, another obvious one but I need to be completely sure. )

9. When feeding the BP, should I wait for him to come out of his hide, or lift up the hide and attempt to feed?

I believe that is absolutely everything I need to ask, I appreciate all answers. : )

[pariahdog]

1. BPs don't need lights, go with a CHE instead

2. Online supplier or shop around if you have reptile expos nearby or private breeders, store them in the freezer, leave it out in the room until it's completely thawed

3. I've never heard of orchid bark as a substrate and I don't know what kind of wood it is so I can't comment on this one

4. You're overthinking this one handle him as long as you want...

5. I just vacuum my entire reptile room when it needs to be vacuumed, don't worry about it

6. You can spray inside the hide, or put moss or other humidity-holding substrate inside the hide and spray that.

7. Again don't worry about it, your snake is not going to be timing you lol. I handle my snakes whenever I want and they all eat fine and are healthy. As long as it's not out 24/7 or something ridiculous like that

8. You do not need light at all. It actually will stress your bp out. Get a CHE or UTH instead

9. It depends on the snake. Some of mine I just drop the rat in, some of them I dangle the rat in front of their hide. Try things out and see which one works for the both of you

[Seviper]

1. BPs don't need lights, go with a CHE instead

8. You do not need light at all. It actually will stress your bp out. Get a CHE or UTH instead

I was under the impression you need to create a day/night cycle hence the need for a lights, and as for the heating I was under the assumption that the heat lamp is this red lamp that snakes can't see. I am wondering if one of those is good ( I am going to buy an adult BP so he'll happily settle into a 3 foot by 1.5 foot vivarium ) for keeping the enclosure hot and I was also wondering if that heat lamp should be switched off at night and switched back on in the morning.

[bcr229]

I was under the impression you need to create a day/night cycle hence the need for a lights, and as for the heating I was under the assumption that the heat lamp is this red lamp that snakes can't see. I am wondering if one of those is good ( I am going to buy an adult BP so he'll happily settle into a 3 foot by 1.5 foot vivarium ) for keeping the enclosure hot and I was also wondering if that heat lamp should be switched off at night and switched back on in the morning.

The ambient light entering the enclosure from your room is plenty. Ball pythons are nocturnal animals, in the wild during the day they hide underground and they come out at night to hunt.

I hope you have a true reptile vivarium and not a fish tank with a screen top. Otherwise maintaining heat and humidity is a major pain in the patookus as the warm, moist air floats right out the top of the enclosure.

I've never used orchid bark. A lot of folks who want to use a natural substrate have started using PLANT!T Coco Planting Chips and swear it can't be beat for the price:
http://www.horticulturesource.com/pr...ducts_id=19891

For heat ball pythons seem to do best with an under-tank heater regulated by a thermostat.

[Seviper]

The ambient light entering the enclosure from your room is plenty. Ball pythons are nocturnal animals, in the wild during the day they hide underground and they come out at night to hunt.

I hope you have a true reptile vivarium and not a fish tank with a screen top. Otherwise maintaining heat and humidity is a major pain in the patookus as the warm, moist air floats right out the top of the enclosure.

I've never used orchid bark. A lot of folks who want to use a natural substrate have started using PLANT!T Coco Planting Chips and swear it can't be beat for the price:
http://www.horticulturesource.com/pr...ducts_id=19891

For heat ball pythons seem to do best with an under-tank heater regulated by a thermostat.

I haven't got it yet, I'm hoping to get the vivarium set up in August ( Once it's set up, up and running, temperatures all good etc THEN I will get the BP ) assuming I have moved into my new house. That's why I'm gathering information now. I'll be getting a true reptile vivarium, naturally. I'm in England so if that place doesn't ship to the UK then I'm plum out of luck.

[bcr229]

I haven't got it yet, I'm hoping to get the vivarium set up in August ( Once it's set up, up and running, temperatures all good etc THEN I will get the BP ) assuming I have moved into my new house. That's why I'm gathering information now. I'll be getting a true reptile vivarium, naturally. I'm in England so if that place doesn't ship to the UK then I'm plum out of luck.

There are equivalent products on amazon.uk

[Seviper]

I'll go look it up, thank you. If I can't locate any, if anyone who has ever used orchid bark as a substrate happens to be reading this thread, could you please let me know how good it is?

[Jvmun]

I have a day night cycle on mine, but the night cycle is my night cycle too lol But the lights provide no heat.

The heat comes from the under tank heaters and radiant heat panels.

Good on you for researching and asking about ball pythons before actually committing to one. You chose an awesome forum.

OH! If I could go back and start all over again, I would definitely use a PVC enclosure instead of tanks. Heat and humidity are stabilized almost effortlessly with pvc enclosures.
I takes more time and money (if you want it pretty) to do the same in glass tanks like the exo terra ones.

[embrit345]

If you are in the UK hun, check out Swell reptiles. They have a great range and often have wonderful sales on. I just got 36x15x22 vivs for £49 each

I use aubiose as a substrate at the moment, although only changed to it very recently. Lots of uk keepers use orchid bark and it is said to help wtg humidity.

Xx

[MandMac]

If you use a ceramic heat emitter inside the viv, then make sure you get a guard for it. A different heating option would be a radiant heat panel and this would not require a guard if placed inside a viv because these are designed to not be overly hot to the touch.
A number of people recommend under tank heaters, but you'll want to determine which heating sources you can use based on your enclosure. A UTH would need to be placed on the inside of a wooden viv for instance, and I'm personally not too keen on that.
I also second getting a viv or pvc cage because of heating and humidity.
I've seen people put lights in cages for ease of viewing, and there are a couple different lighting options. If you do put lights in, then you may need a guard for them to prevent your snake from getting into it. A fluorescent tube light is an example of one which would need a guard. You don't want your snake to pull it down and shatter the thing.
And just because it hasn't been mentioned yet. It'll be a good idea to let your snake settle in for a week before offering food.
Oh, and another option for thawing prey is to place them in a bowl of luke warm water. Be sure to check that there's no hardness in the rodents belly before you offer it. Hardness would indicate that it's still partially frozen. Time to thaw will depend, in part, on the size of the rodent so that can be hard to say.