**If my questions have been asked and answered (I browsed the caging forum but didn't see anything...), please forgive me. But I am concerned about my newest acquisition, and like the title says: I want to get everything as close to perfect as possible.

So, I have never kept balls before. Western hognoses and corns and rubber boas, yes. But no ball pythons. I have read as much as possible, and picked the brains of our amazing East Bay Vivarium staff. And I bought a 24 x 15 x 15 wood enclosure, finished it with a PolyMin sealer combo, and made/secured to the inner top of the cage a wire cage for enclosing the heat emitter. I got a dimmer, a rheostat, 100w ceramic heat emitter, and several digital thermometers/hygrometers and some analog ones for the hell of it. I got everything set up, temps stablized (I thought), and I bought a female pinstripe hatchling 3 months ago (she hatched in late April 2013).

She seems happy, is eating well and routinely, and I was happy to see her shed for the first time. BUT she shed incompletely, and it looks like the breeder's set up caused burns on her bqck which only became apparent during/after the shed. I freaked out, trying to figure how she got burned in my setup since the temps are never higher than 92 (usually hover at 90 on the hot side and 76 on the cool side).

I have to constantly fiddle with the dimmer switch that is connected to the rheostat and heat emitter to keep at this temp range. It is a pain in the butt! My home in NorCal is usually about 75, with the windows open wide for summer heat, and sweaters on the humans when the goosebumps come out in the winter. Really, I heat my snake enclosures like other people heat their homes. I make my kids and hubby suffer. (The cats have their own fun coats so I don't worry about them.) :-) Anyway, I have had to drill and place 4 more holes/cover with plastic vents to keep the air flow good, but it's still not PERFECT!

Keeping a humid place is more difficult--I initially put a Tupperware with moist sphagnum moss on the hot side for her to be in, but she never goes in. (Fast forward to bad shed.) Then, I tried to increase the whole cage humidity but that is totally messing with the temps, for some reason--or maybe messing with the thermomters?

Anyway, ANYONE GOT SOME SUGGESTIONS?? I am hoping there is a "quick fix" type thing out there--my friend has a larger wood tank for her adult male ball, and doesn't seem to have these issues! I am mimicking her setup as much as possible, but I have no idea what to do! All I want is a happy, healthy ball python! I am deeply attatched to my Galaxy, and am frustrated and pissed off that the hours and hard work I have been constantly putting in for the last 3 months isn't paying off! I don't want to accidentally injure her, or cause illness or death, but I am following the myriad guidelines, etc., and I feel like I am failing her.

Yes, reading my post, I realize it's a bit of a rant, but darn it! I am worried! And I talk/write a lot when I get anxious!! :-(

Thanks in advance...

Here's to the compassion of the ball python community and the collective hive mind! ;-)