Some advice Please

I have a Ball python female that I have had a little over a year. I use Aspen shavings for her substrate, I use a lamp for heat the warm side stays between 80-85 during the day, this is just a regular 75watt bulb. I am very paranoid of using a UTH so I would like to stick to a heat lamp. Any advice on staying with the 75 watt or another heat bulb? I don't have a night bulb should I get one? Also I currently have her in a 20gallon going to upgrade her to a 30 gallon should this be a good size for an adult? I feed her a large rat once a month is this good enough or am I not feeding her enough? Also when she sheds she usually doesnt have a thorough shed any advice on bringing up the humidity or what I should do to help with this? Thanks

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Originally Posted by ToriLuv

I have a Ball python female that I have had a little over a year. I use Aspen shavings for her substrate, I use a lamp for heat the warm side stays between 80-85 during the day, this is just a regular 75watt bulb. I am very paranoid of using a UTH so I would like to stick to a heat lamp. Any advice on staying with the 75 watt or another heat bulb? I don't have a night bulb should I get one? Also I currently have her in a 20gallon going to upgrade her to a 30 gallon should this be a good size for an adult? I feed her a large rat once a month is this good enough or am I not feeding her enough? Also when she sheds she usually doesnt have a thorough shed any advice on bringing up the humidity or what I should do to help with this? Thanks

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first, heres a care sheet on ball pythons, it explains everything about temps and humidity http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

a heat pad is fine as long as you have something to regulate it. you can either buy a plug in dimmer switch, or a thermostat.

as for feeding, an appropriate feeding schedule would be one prey item that is between 10-15% of the the snakes body weight, once a week.

for humidity, it should be kep between 50-60% and raised to about 70 during shed. if she has pieces of stuck shed on her, you can have her crawl through a warm moist towel until the pieces come off

as for cage size, a 30gallon should be fine, just remember to put a hide on both the hot side and the cool side

I would rather not use a UTH I prefer to use heating bulb is this ok and if so what type should I use? What can I do to raise the humidity?

if you really want to use lamps, use either a CHE (ceramic heat emitter) but your still going to need a higher wattage, with a regulator of some sorts. and for humidity, you can spray the cage down to keep it up. do you have a hygrometer?

With the UTH I am against that because I am worried about the safety of it and it causing a fire?

I do not have a hygrometer, I am trying to do right for my snake, it was another family members pet that I kinda took on so I am trying to make things right for her and redo her cage and get what I need to get so any advice would be greatly appreciate!

If a UTH is plugged into a thermostat it is actually less of a fire hazard than a heat bulb but...

You need the heat lamp on 24/7 I suggest that you use this particular bulb as it won't disturb your snake or you at night

http://m.petsmart.com/mt/www.petsmar...3&lmdn=Reptile

As for a hydrometer/thermometer you should get this, it costs $12 at Walmart and measures 2 temperatures and humidity

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...nt/photo-3.jpg

You put the probe on the hot side and the unit on the cool side.

With the bulb and thermometer I recommended your snake will be much better off.

Your tank should look something like this

*there is no thermometer in this cage. That is because I don't use tanks anymore and don't have a spare thermometer to use in the picture.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...t/bd98c3f5.jpg

Note that the 2 hides are exactly the same. This is important as it allows your snake to decide if he wants to be on the hot side or cool side without having to give up his safe hiding spot.

Make sure that the hot side of your tank is between 88 and 92 degrees and the cool side is between 78 and 82 degrees. The humidity should be between 40% and 60% normally and between 60% and 80% during shed.

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Originally Posted by ToriLuv

With the UTH I am against that because I am worried about the safety of it and it causing a fire?

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with a good regulator, a fire is extremely unlikely.

with ball pythons, they do much better with belly than back heat, so under tank heating will make your snake alot more comfortable. make sure the floor temps are 89-92 on the hot side, and 79-82 on the cool side, with an ambient (air) temp of 80. have a hide over both the cool and hot spots. the hide should be about the same size as the snake when its balled up, i.e. the snake wants to cram itself in something as small as possilbe. buy an indoor/outdoor thermometer with a built in hygrometer, i use an accurite, you can get them at walmart for about ten bucks. keep the humidity between 50-60%, raise it during shed. to help, you can cover about two thirds of the lid with foil. feed it a rodent that is as wide at the hips as the widest part of the snakes body every 7 days

serpent merchant, you beat me to it

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Originally Posted by cmack91

serpent merchant, you beat me to it

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I can type really fast on my iPhone lol