Hello all, I am fairly new to snake keeping (got about 3 months experience now) and I have been starting to question my husbandry. I currently have 2 Balls (one normal female and one male spider) both are under 6 months old. My current set up is two 10 gallon glass tanks with Eco Earth and infra-red heat lamps. I have a large water dish in each and 2 hides (one on the hot side and one on the cold) the hides aren"t identical but close in size.

My male spider seems to drink regularly but I don't see him actually drinking all that often but I can see the water level drasticly drop every few days. My normal female on the other hand does't seem to drink ever. She looks dehydrated from time to time but I may just be paranoid. is there any way to tell if she is?

I would also like to know on average how much a 6 month old ball should weigh.


I live in florida so you would think that keeping humidity levels high enough wouldn't be an issue, but it defiantly is. I think that this is because of the heat lamps and he screen top. I've measured the ambient humidity level of my apartment to be consistently 60% but my tanks read 30%-40% without misting. I have an Animal Plastics T12 (48"x24"x24" LxWxH) on order and should arrive in about 2 weeks. I got the divider and am using flexwatt for heat. I will be housing both snakes in it, separately of course. I'm hoping this will eliminate the humidity issue but I would like to get some conformation on that.

Lastly on a what might sound a bit of a crazy note I have noticed that all the Balls that I have seem on the big time breeders websites and here as well that I consider to be higher quality snakes have this sheen. they just seem to be somewhat glossy. My spider has a little bit of this but my normal is fairly dull even after shed. so my question is this:

A) is this due to good health and husbandry
B) is this because these are "higher quality snakes"
C) is this because of the lighting (most but I can't say all seem to be under florescent lights)
D) does this just vary from morph to morph/snake to snake?
E) or am I just crazy?

Thanks in advance for your time and insight.