Hi everyone! Just joined this forum today. On Friday, I went to my local pet store (not a chain) & purchased a BP for my 12 year old son for Christmas. I was told that it (sex unknown :/) is about 6-9 months old. I am questioning this because pics that I have seen, judging by size, would suggest that it is more like 2 months old. I will get pics posted later on today. Or maybe he (I call it he) was underfed & just small?

Also, I have him in an approximately 20 gallon long glass tank. I'm not sure of the measurements because it's an old tank that my bf had (I will post measurements later today). I am using a small UTH. I think that I need a larger one. And a 75 watt heat lamp. Right now, he has reptile carpet for substrate, but I am changing that to aspen or coconut. I do not a thermostat or thermometer yet. I am getting that today. I didn't know that any of this was needed. My concern is that my house is old & drafty. I think that I will be able to keep the temp up on the hot side using both the UTH & the heat lamp, but I wondering what I can do to keep the cool side warm enough. I doubt that it will stay above 70 because the temp in the house is rarely that high. Would I need to use a low wattage heat lamp on the cool side as well?

For feeding, the pet store was feeding live, but I want to feed F/T. Is this going to be a challenge? Also, the frozen mice that they gave me were small, furry, white mice. They were about 3-4" long, without tail & about 1 1/2 fingers width wide. Is this big enough?

Any help, comments, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.