Hello all,

So I just took the leap and got my first snake - a normal BP from Petsmart. The girl said they had him for a few weeks with him feeding regularly on F/T mice with no problems.

My setup: 20 gallon long glass aquarium, a hide for each side, green "reptile carpet" for a substrate, water bowl, thermometer and hygrometer, and they talked me into getting a lamp for heat... Temperature-wise, everything was seemingly in the "normal" zone from everything I have read on here. Low 80's on the cool side and upper 80's to low 90's on the hot side. Humidity ranges from 45%-55% throughout the day.

When I moved him in (on Saturday), he did some exploring, then went straight to the hide on the cool side. All day Saturday and Sunday he never left the cool side hide. I read more on here yesterday, and found that most people suggest using UTH... which is what I thought, but got talked out of at the pet store. Anyway... I took "your" advice and purchased an UTH and rheostat yesterday. He let me handle him with no problem yesterday evening while I was fixing up his enclosure, so that's a good thing. Last night, I noticed him moving from the cool side, over to the warm side and back a couple times. That tells me he is effectively regulating his temp better with the UTH than he was with the lamp.... However, being an admitted noob, I could be reading more into this...

One other thing, he ate on Wednesday (last week). Given that I moved him in on Saturday, then rearranged his furniture yesterday, when should I first try to feed him? I was thinking I'd give it a shot tomorrow since it would have been a week.... but wouldn't be too disappointed if he didn't eat due to being moved around a few times.

So I hope you all see I'm doing my homework and plan to provide great care for my new family member. Looking forward to learning on here and getting any and all advice! (I'll attempt to post pics tonight after work)