A couple of questions for a newbie

[justinsane82]

In reviewing tank setups, many people suggest ways to heat the tanks. Now, is it that you should use BOTH lamps and UTH's? The reason I ask is because after spending a few days playing with rheostats on both tanks, and getting the temps where they are while maintaining proper humidity levels using a UTH only, I'm unsure as to where the heat lamp would come in or if it's even needed at this point? If someone could shed some light on this that would be great.

My second question is something that I'm frustrated about. My younger snake (8months old) is always trying to get out of his tank. He actually got out once and went missing for a week. I thought it was because the temps were too hot, and they were, but even with the temps back down to where they should be, he's still climbing the sides of the tank trying to get out. I picked up a tip of putting some wrap around the tank so he feels more secluded, but no go. In his tank he has a large hide on one side, a large water dish on the other, two pieces of wood to help with shedding and aspen bedding. What am I missing here? Do I need to add some fake bushes and leaves to give him a sense of safety?

[seeya205]

First question: You may only need a uth if that gets your temps up including your ambient temp. In the winter, I use an infered bulb to get the ambient temp up but that will also suck out your humidity so don't use if you don't need to. You should be using a thermostat and digital thermostat/hygometer with a probe to measure temps and humidity for proper readings. Temps should be 90-94 in the warm side, 80-84 in the cool side and an ambient temp over 75! Humidity should be 55-65%, about 60% is perfect!

Second question: It sounds like your snake is stressed! You should cover the front of the tank until he gets settled and don't handle him. You should have two identical hides, one in the warm end and one in the cool side. He should be able to fit tightly in the hide and it should only have one small opening so he feels secure. You may need to add plants to fill up space if the tank is big. Once all your husbandry is correct, he should settle down in a couple of weeks! Just give him time! Good luck and enjoy your new pet! Once you have everything perfect then it is pretty easy to maintain!

[justinsane82]

I'm not understanding how you find the room for two hides and a water dish. I have a 20 and 30 gallon tank and there's no way I could fit all that on the bedding without really having no room for the snake to move unless he goes over things. Is that how things should be? Mind you, my water dishes are rather big. Here is a pic of my two tanks.

This is the tank that has the snake that is very active.


This guy is rather content with how things are. He uses the bush over the water dish as a hide sometimes.


As you can see, adding another hide would make things rather tight.

[seeya205]

Ball pythons love tight areas! Put your water dish in the middle and a hide on each side! The snake will love the tank being crowded, trust me! It will climb all over the top of everything but will spend most of its time hiding! You should have tree sides of the tank(sides and back) to add security for the bp. Those dial hygrometers aren't very good! Go to the hardware store and get an indoor/outdoor thermometer and put the probe on your uth and the unit in the cool side then you will know exactly what you are dealing with! Great hides though! I only use those myself!

[justinsane82]

I have two digital thermometer that also checks humidity. They are working great. The cheap dial came with the tank and I figured I would leave it in there just incase something happened to the digitals. I'll head out tomorrow and pick up two more hides and some bushes. This may sound like a weird question, however, does the type of material that the fake plants are made of matter? What I mean by this is pet shops normally carry some type of plastic plant, however, I was wondering if I could go pick up something from a craft store that will probably be more of a fabric. The reason I'd go that route is because the plastic plants out my way are rather expensive and I'm having a hard time spending $40 on fake plants for two tanks....yes it would cost that much up here. lol. As for the hides, are there any other items that someone could suggest using rather than hider rocks? I've read people using butter containers and stuff like that.

[starrlamia]

im not an expert but IMO plastic plants are a lot easier to clean, plus you can get them at the dollar store if you have one close by, I got 2 nice sized ones for a buck each. Compared to the 15-30 bucks the craft store wanted.

[Kaorte]

I am a college student so I have found a few thrifty ways to save on cage furnitue.

Fake plants from a craft store will work just fine, just make sure to clean them well once a month or so. A craft store might also carry some plastic plants similair to the petstore ones which might be easier to clean.

I use opaque plastic bowls from the dollar store for hides. Just make sure the snake fits snugly inside. You could trace your snake when balled up on a piece of paper so you can have a reference when at the store. Then just cut a small enterance on the side of the bowl and tada! Insta-snake hide.

As for having room in the tank, don't worry about having open floor space. If they are happy they will rarely use it.

[seeya205]

Fake plants from a pet store are pretty pricey but the dollar store sounds like a great idea for hides and plants. I would put the two rock hides in the same tank and buy two containers for the dollar store and put them in the other so you have two identical hides in each tank!

[zantedeschia]

I've got 2 hides and as you can see, there is plenty of room. Paradox knocks over that dish of spaghnum moss when he's crawling about, haven't found a spot in his cage where he won't knock it over.

As you can see, he prefers squeezing in the smaller hide. I ponder getting the large exo terra instead of the XL one I have in there but he does use it. He goes in it to shed and to poo. Initially I thought him pooping in the other hide was a quirk of his, until my new little BP started doing it!

Anyhow, here's his setup. The 80F on the gauge is ambient, temps are a couple degrees higher by the heating pad and under the lamp, as checked with an accurite (which is in Charade's cage).

[justinsane82]

I might have to look at picking up smaller water bowls. What size of bowl is required in regard to body size? Can I just put something smaller in there or does it need to be something in which the snake can lay in for a period of time?