help - new ball - glass viv setup, temps, humidity?

Okay, so the story starts here:

A few weeks ago, a 1 year old ball python with complete tank setup popped up in my boyfriend's local craigslist (a crappy college town), stating the owners had to move immediately and needed a home for their ball. Not wanting it to go to a frat house or somewhere that wouldn't take care of it, I jumped on the opportunity to get one of these beautiful snakes for very cheap. In the past, I've kept anoles and leopard geckos, and I bred betta fish for fun (I love genetics), and I babysat a ball python for a few months, so I have some basic small pet care knowledge. (I also have done feral cat rescue/fostering and own one special-needs cat of my own, but that's a different bucket of fish.)

The tank has three log hides (two large and one small), one rough and heavy rock to rub on, and several branches and smaller rocks to climb on/under. There is an under tank heater on the left side as well as a heat lamp pointing generally towards the left side. I have a probe thermometer left from my previous reptiles - the belly temp on the warm side is at a constant 89.5°, and on the cool side, around 80°. The humidity usually sits around 40-50%. When I mist, it goes up to 80% for an hour or two. I have a towel over the top of the tank to try to keep it high. The tank originally had aspen bark shavings as a substrate, but I replaced it with newspaper because I thought I saw a bug in it. (The snake shows no signs of mites or other problems besides dehydration.)

The snake (who is now named Mocha) was moved from the college town to my house in Pittsburgh recently, and now that it's settled, I've been working on perfecting the temps and humidity. The day after the drive, she (gender not confirmed, just a guess) started to have a bad shed. I think due to the 3 hour long drive, she got extremely stressed. She also has showed a lot of signs of dehydration since I got her, so I mist her tank several times a day, but never seems to drink from her water bowl, even though I clean it daily. She has had shed pieces stuck all over body for about a week now, and one cloudy stuck eye cap.

She ate two F/T mice for me last Saturday. The day before I fed her, I had her out, and she tried to eat my leg :P she was very hungry. She had a healthy-looking poop two days later. She's not quite large enough to eat the small frozen feeder rats at the local pet store. The previous owner was only feeding two F/T mice every MONTH. I plan to feed two or three every 14 days. Does that sound right for a 2.5-3' 1 year old

I've been taking her out and giving her a lukewarm water soak every other day for the past week to try and help rehydrate her. Afterwards, I spritz her with ZooMed "Repti-Shed Aid" moisturizing spray. She seems to really enjoy the baths, and drinks the water while relaxing. Aside from the physical signs of stuck shed pieces and dented eye caps, she doesn't seem to show any signs of stress, and is very friendly and curious. I keep the humidity in the tank between 50% and 80%, but it seems to fluctuate a lot. I have a towel over the top of the tank to try and keep more moisture in. I don't yet have a digital hygrometer, only a stick-on meter, so I'm wondering if it's not totally accurate?

She usually stays in her hides, mostly on the cooler side. She also sometimes basks under the lamp on the driftwood branches for a few hours at a time with her head against the wall, licking water droplets, usually after I mist the tank. She occasionally explores her surroundings and lays out in the open, stretched across the entire tank.

What can I do to make my new snake happier? Do the things I'm doing sound right? How can I help her dehydration (maybe get some moss?)?



Here's a picture of the current setup. The plastic water container is just temporary, I have another one that's a shallow rock bowl, I just took it out to clean it.
http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/8871/photo0427.jpg

Hello, and :welcome: to BP.net...

Congratulations on taking in the little guy. Here are a few suggestions to start with...

1) Since the snake is so under-fed start by feeding one mouse or rat every 7 days for about the first month. Normally it recommended that the feeder be about the same size as the snakes largest girth or the weight of the prey should be approximately 10-15% of the snakes body weight. However, in this snakes case I would start off a little smaller and get it used to eating more frequently. After 4-6 weekly meals, then you can start increasing the size to what's more appropriate.

2) To help with the shed, take a wet towel, hold the snake with it and let the snake crawl through it. This should help the stuck pieces come off.

3) One thing you need to do to the tank is get a thermostat or dimmer switch to control the under tank heater. They will routinely get hot enought to burn the snake. You can get a simple lamp dimmer from places like Lowes for around $10-$12. Most members here use one of the many brands and models of thermostats available. The prices for these are from around $30 on up.

4) For measuring temperatures, either a digital thermometer with a probe or a temp gun will be your best bet. The warm side temps should be taken under the substrate on the glass above the UTH. This is the hottest place that your snake can reach if it gets under the substrate. That is where you want to keep it at around 91-92 degrees. Alot of people use the Acu-Rite weather station. It is an outdoor/indoor thermometer/hygrometer. It is one unit, with a probe, that you can use to monitor warm side, cool side and humidity. They are about $12-$15 each depending on where you can find it and the model available. You can find them at Lowes or Home Depot in the outdoors section, anbd sometimes Wal-Mart will have them in the Home Improvement/Hardware section. They look something like this...

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...8/hpim0473.jpg

5) Some things I would also recommend changing or modifying concerning the tank are first, the hides. Ball Pythons prefer dark, snug hides. The half log hides are usually too open to provide them with security. You can make your own from cheap plastic bowls, which do work well, or you can order them in a variety of shapes and sizes from any number of websites or pet shops.

I would also suggest covering 3 sides of the enclosure with something dark like poster board, construction paper, window tint, aquarium background or anything like that. This will make the tank seem not so open an give them a little more sense of security.

In case you need it here is a link to the care sheet on this forum...

http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=59

Since you have previous reptile experience, I am going to guess that you are probably familiar with some of the reptile supplies websites, however, if you need any suggestions, just ask...