New to the forum, My daughter just got her first ball python ....

[tonsofpets]

she has several corn snakes and two leopard geckos also. My husband and I have two rosy boas, two tortoises, a bearded and a crested as well.

We are wondering what kind of substrate is best for our newest family member. We are using an undertank heater. He is currently on Exo Terra Jungle Earth and i'm not quite sure that is the best substrate for him.

Any advice for a newbie to Ball Pythons is appreciated, we are all very excited about him and want to care for him properly.

Kris

[Patrick Long]

well the easiest is newspaper...but i personally like aspen, but people use alot of things like bark and astro turf

[Egyptian_Sphynx]

we use repti-carpet. i know that alot of people dont like it but it came with two sheets so when i clean out his cage once or twice a week i just take the dirty one wash it well and put the clean one in while the other is drying

[kavmon]

if the ball is a baby or juvie i'd use paper towel or newspaper. alot of people use shredded aspen.


vaughn

[daniel1983]

Welcome to the site.

I have used newspaper, repticarpet, and aspen(lizardlitter, i think) as a substrate. of the three, I prefer newspaper the most. Cheap and easy to clean. I did use plain paper towels when I first got both of my bps. It is easier to monitor for possible mites, ticks, etc. with paper towel substrate.

Any advice, let me think...

Since you just got the little one, make sure you give it a week or two with no handling so that it can settle in with as little stress a possible. After the bp feeds twice or so, you should be good to handle a bit. Make sure you do not handle for 2 days after feeding.

Also, Make sure your temperatures are correct and constant. A thermostat is very good to have to regulate the temperature of the UTH. If you do not want to spend the money on a thermostat, a dimmer would work if you have good and constant room temperatures. Check out www.mgreptiles.com , Matt (justcage) posts on this site and is very good at answering questions if you email him.


Hope that helps some. I kinda condensed some stuff. Let us know if you have any questions.

[SatanicIntention]

Hi! Welcome to the forum! Congratulations on your new addition. Our caresheet can give some good ideas and insights on keeping this little boogers.

What type of enclosure do you have him in? The jungle earth may retain too much humidity causing scale rot later on. Since he is new, I would switch to paper towels or newspaper so you can monitor the feces and make sure you don't have any mite infestations. Do you have a good digital thermometer in the enclosure? A good combo unit can be found at WalMart for $15. The brand is Acu-Rite and it is a thermometer/hygrometer. It measures temps for both sides of the enclosure and the relative humidity. It is a necessity when keeping these snakes. They are a little more particular when it comes to temperature fluctuations.

If the heat pad by itself is keeping the warm side at 94-95 degrees and the cool side around 82-84. The enclosure shouldn't drop below 80 degrees at any given time. Thermostats or rheostats(not as much) can help remedy these fluctuations. Heat pads are good for belly heat and help keep the humidity from being leached out of the air. If the temperatures can't get in those ranges with the heat pad alone, another heat pad on the cool side may be needed, or a heat lamp. If you choose to use a heat lamp, you may need to cover the screen top(if that is what you are using) with Con-Tac paper(cabinet shelf liner), Glad Press N' Seal works wonders, as well as a sheet of plexiglass with holes drilled in it.

If you want to use a "natural" looking substrate, I recommend cypress mulch. I got a huge bag from Home Depot for around $3. I got out what I needed to fill the 1.5-2" deep, placed it on cookie sheets or baking pans, and baked it in the oven at 300 degrees until it was dry. This ensures that all parasites are gone and the snake doesn't get scale rot from the substrate being too wet. It retains heat very well. I placed a few sheets of newspaper underneath it just in case she burrowed into it too deep.

Since the snake is new, it is best to leave it alone for a week to a week and a half, only changing the water and cleaning messes. No handling. Since you already own a few snakes, you know it is imperative to let them get settled in, and then attempt to feed them about 2 weeks after they first arrive.

Also, a vet check and a fecal would be a good thing to get done, just in case he is harboring any parasites. Don't want your current collection contracting anything. A fecal should only cost around $10-$15(if it does, shop around some more).

One last thing... Show pictures!!! Of anything is great, your family, your scaly and furry children. I would love to see your Beardie

Hope this has helped a bit. If you have any other questions, just ask.

[gncz73]

welcome i i too have used a few kinds and find newsprint to be the best and easies to keep clean.

[Schlyne]

I still keep my ball on cocanut coir, but I may be switching things around later on. It seems to work out the best for keeping the humidity in his cage up.

Everybody else is on newspaper or on paper towels (crested geckos).

[myopia]

i agree with satanic intention... cypress mulch is good stuff. it looks really good if you're using a terrarium setup, and is way cheep when compared to the expensive name brand stuff. plus, it's great at holding humidity, and without too much danger of molding. i use it in the tanks for all three of my kids. like SI said, make sure you bake it, just to make sure; also, you might want to sift it if it's particularly dusty. the dust can get stuck between their scales, and it's probably not too good for the snake lungs.

congrats on the new addition to the family, and welcome to the site.

[tonsofpets]

I was worried about using newspaper while using the undertank heater. We have the corns on the mulch and the tortoises as well, I am doing all the tanks this week so maybe i'll swich the ball to the mulch also.

Thank you everyone for the advice
Kris