My son has loved all snakes and reptiles since he was able to walk. After months of research we decided to purchase him a Bumble Bee Baby Ball Python for his 10th Birthday. We definitely didnt go into this blind, however after reading several threads, I'm second guessing on the heat pad we attached to the bottom of the tank. I'm concerned that if we are not monitoring it every hour, it may get to hot and potentially burn the snake. Is their anything I can purchase that will monitor this hearing pad for us and keep the temp at a suitable level? We have a large tank for him (38X18x16) which I know is not preferred. However we have 2 hides (one on the cooler end and one on the hotter end) just to ensure he doesn't feel overwhelmed in his new tank. When we brought him home we tried hard to leave him alone and allow him time to get settled in. He needed to be feed the next day so we handled him for a bit, popped him into his feeding tank with a hopper, and an hour later went to check on him. Success!! He had eaten the mouse!! We put him back into his "home tank" and again are trying to give him some time to get settled in. This is a bit hard with my 10 year old son who is DYING to play with his new snake. Is their a rule to when not handle your new snake? How long should we give him to settle in? I want him to be handled a lot so he's comfortable with it and is use to it but I don't want to make him nervous. Thoughts/suggestions? He seems pretty active for the most part. Going in and out of his hides and cruising around the tank (both horizontally and vertically) but I have read threads that this can be a sign that he may not be comfortable. It's just leaving us wishing we spoke "snake" as we only want the best for him. I'm sorry for rambling but I have a ton of questions that I'm hoping can be answered from all the amazing snake experts on this site. Thank you for reading