I notice that a lot of visitors to this site are new owners like myself. I thought I would start this thread to share my successes and failures, TILs, and stories about my baby ball, Atticus. This first post will be a little long, as I have had him for about a month now. TLDR: We're making progress!

Atticus was born 7/30/14, and I first met him at a reptile expo in Fargo, ND on October 4. My boyfriend and I had talked about getting a ball, and we even had a 40 gallon tank on standby, but Atticus was most definitely an impulse buy. The breeder put him in a little plastic tupperware container (which I thought was barbaric, not knowing that balls like to be squished), and off we went to Petco! I was officially part of the clueless new ball python owner club, and I was ready to parade him around in the relative warmth and security of my hoodie. The first lesson I learned is that a 40 gallon tank is much too large for a young python. The second lesson I learned was that even a $15 snake is a BIG investment. The third lesson I learned is that tanks are difficult environments to control. I started off with a 20 gallon tank, two hides, substrate, a water dish, generic Petco heat and humidity gauges, hoppers for feeding, and a UTH (glad we got that right at least). Once we got home, the tank was hastily assembled and we were off to the Oktoberfest party that we were by now several hours late to.

Atticus proved to be remarkably patient with us. Luckily, I found this forum sooner rather than later and was able to begin my knowledge quest. I began with the ball python caresheet:This, in my opinion is a MUST READ (see link below). I quickly discovered that I was making some big mistakes with my husbandry (fancy word for snake's overall care). My ambient temps were too low and the humidity was skyrocketing, even with a mesh top, and Atticus was beginning to shun his half-log hide. My guess is that it was too exposed and too hot; at this point I had not yet purchased a temp regulator for my UTH. The first changes I made were to add the temp regulator, buy a ceramic heat lamp, and exchange the half log hide for something more cozy. He seemed to appreciate the changes. During this time, we also had our first success. On his third day with us, Atticus ate two hoppers! What a champ

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

The next thing I learned was that ceramic (or probably any type) heat lamps DESTROY humidity. I went from 80s to 30s overnight, and I of course panicked like any good snake mom would. Thus began my second quest: finding a way to balance heat and humidity in a glass tank. I started with damp towels on the top of the enclosure. That worked somewhat, but it was tedious to constantly rewet them, and it didn't last long. Next began the twice-daily misting, which was a PITA. Occasionally I would spritz poor Atticus, and he did not appreciate it in the least. Next I tried covering the left and right thirds of the mesh top with aluminum. That seemed to help, and it eliminated the need to change out damp towels all day, but even with these changes my numbers weren't consistent. I changed the location of the water dish several times to see if that might help, but it was negligible. I finally found the Tropic Air Humidifier % Air Exchanger, and that's when things started to change (see link below). Now this system won't work for everyone, but it puts outs out humidity without fog and it's enough to offset the heat lamp. Now I don't have to mist anymore, and it exhanges fresh air, so I don't have to worry about ventilation. If humidity gets low or high, I can simply adjust how much of my mesh is covered with foil. It's helping a lot! I haven't run across anything on the forum about this product, so I welcome questions and feedback.

http://www.reptiledirect.com/tropica...gernopump.aspx

Overall, Atticus is doing well. He is now three months old, and he is a good eater unless we do something silly. For example, we found out that loud music (particularly with bass) stresses him out. I got a scale yesterday. Current stats are: 131 grams, about 21 inches long (I never realized how difficult it is to get them to hold still/straight), and a little over 3 inches around. We are going to be giving him larger food starting next week most likely. I've also ordered a digital temp/humidity gauge to see how it compares to the generic Petco ones. Updated pics of Atticus and his enclosure will be posted within the next few days. Our next big adventure will be his first shed with us. Fingers are crossed!