Glass tank or Tub

[BartW]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to snakes and just bought my first snake this wednesday, a ball python male.
So because I did not yet had a tank for my snake and the breeder recommended a small enclosure to start with. Due to feeding problems with young snakes when placed in a large tank.

The only thing he had to offer at that point was a breeding box by exo-terra. The size of this breeding box is 11.8" by 7.7" and 5.7" high.
The breeder stated that this would be sufficient for the next 2-3 months.

I do have a heating pad underneath 1/3 of the box with a hide on top and a water bowl on the cool side of the box. I do not currently use any special substrate, just newspapers.

So my biggest questions are, what kind of plastic tubs would be allright or is a glass tank better? (not the richest but I do want the snake to have a good life). I read about boxes from curver (The ones I would normally put my junk in and throw store in the garage, so to speak), would a similair box but from a different brand be fine? And what should it be like (size, clear/not clear)?
Do I still miss anything I should have in the tank/box?
I planned on feeding him this wednesday, the breeder fed him when I came to pick him up. Would that be fine or should I feed him earlier/later? (Currently weighing 99 grams and he's 4 weeks old)

Sorry for all of these questions that might be obvious, I want to be sure that my snakes stays healthy.
Also I am from the Netherlands so if I made any mistakes while writing English, forgive me.

[KMG]

Do you have the uth on a tstat?


uth= under tank heater
tstat= thermostat

[BartW]

I do not right now, I did check the temperature inside his hide. Which has been 89F for the last couple days (without tstat). This should be fine right?

Thank you for mentioning, the reptile shop is open only from wednesday till saturday. Will wednesday be to late for buying a tstat. If so I will buy a second hand tomorrow.

[KMG]

Usually pet stores do not have very good options for tstats. I do not know what to tell you being where you are. I personally use Herpstat by SpyderRobotics. http://spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html

Here are some other options:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats
http://helixcontrols.com/?page_id=42

Is the temp in the hide the surface or air temp? If its the surface, whats the air temp?

[BartW]

Thank you, i'll contact them to see if they deliver where I live right now (hopefully).

It actually is the air temperature inside his hide right now. He does seem happy with the temperature and only comes out 1 or 2 times a day for a few minutes.

[KMG]

If your air temps are steady at 78-85 I would unplug the uth until you get the stat.

Now as for the tub vs. tank issue. It really depends on you, your budget, and keeping style. I like naturalistic tanks so I still use two glass tanks. I also have pvc cages and a rack but I really do like the look of a glass tank. They are however more work to keep the numbers right.

Starting out I think a tub is a good choice and you can secure the lid with alligator clips, luggage straps, or bolts. They are cheap and easy to clean and replace so you can put more money into the tstat for now and worry about a nice display style cage later if that is your end goal.

[Spoons]

I prefer the look of glass tanks. I like to have the tank where I can see it and see what's up, the plastic tubs - while I totally appreciate how useful they are and why they are so preferred - are just not my thing. Glass is a bit harder to keep the numbers right but it's not so bad, once they're set you don't have to fiddle with it much. I think that while glass looks nicer, tubs are a touch easier to manage and personalize.

[BartW]

For now my main priority is a good and stable environment for my snake.
So allright a tub, does it matter what kind of tub I use, for example;

http://www.blokker.nl/nl/blknl/wonen...rco-28-7-liter

These are sold in different sizes for only a few dollars (Euros over here)

And about feeding, should I just start feeding this wednesday as he ate last wednesday?

[KMG]

That should be fine. You just need to make sure to secure the lid so the snake stays put. Check out post #6 here to see how some use luggage straps to secure the lid. I used a under bed storage tub for a brief while for my blood and I used strong alligator clamps with good success.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hlight=luggage

[BartW]

Thanks, then it will be a tub for now.
Buying tstat wednesday too and a hygrometer/thermometer.

About feeding is wednesday fine?