Just another Noob with an intro and a bunch of Q's.....and long winded, sorry!

Finally, I can transition from a lurker to a chatter. I picked up a baby normal about 2 weeks ago and have been reading up as much as I can mostly here on BPnet. I was hoping to not become an addict, hence why I lurked for so long. I have what you may call an addictive personality....Ok, so got my first ball, and now I am hooked. Best part is my 3 year old daughter basically stole him from me. She wants to hold him 24/7 but only gets to for about 15 min a day. My wife, well, she wants absolutely nothing to do with a snake. Cool thing is, neither did I and that's why I got one. I have always been not afraid, but uncomfortable around them, but my job has somewhat forced me to deal with them (fire dept), so I figured why not just befriend them. Ok Ok, moving on...so I have been doing a ton of research/homework. I have a side room that was added onto the side of my garage before I bought the home. It's roughly 6'x15' or so and houses a fridge. I am secretly thinking of turning it into a reptile room.
I have sold off some stuff from some other hobbies, and now want to build a small collection/plan to possibly breed in the future. My daughter's ball, Diego, is currently in a 40G tank and doing great. I plan to order a set of racks from Animal Plastics, and I have a few Q's:

Here is what I think I need, what am I missing!

The AP racks (Economy 6/12)
Herpstat 2
Sterilite tubs
Hides
Water bowls
Mister bottles (already have)

There is lighting in the room. Do the racks and Herpstat come with everything I need to provide heat?

Next Chapter;

I just purchased a Male Pastave, Female Lesser, Female Pastel, all arriving next week. There is a Show coming to town here in San Diego in 3 weeks, where I am thinking of adding 2 females, and or an albino of some sort as I love the coloring.

Ok, here are some Q's:

How many females can you breed one male to in one season, and how far apart do the breedings have to be? I am thinking this has to do with how often they produce sperm plugs, which I have yet to learn.

Is live better than frozen? I am thinking I can provide either just as easily.

Ok, that's enough for now. I was also thinking that if someone experienced wants to simply trade pm's with me instead of a long thread, that will work too.

Thanks for your time......Jake

Congrats on your first Ball! Welcome to the addiction!!

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Originally Posted by jakeg1999

Here is what I think I need, what am I missing!

The AP racks (Economy 6/12)
Herpstat 2
Sterilite tubs
Hides
Water bowls
Mister bottles (already have)

There is lighting in the room. Do the racks and Herpstat come with everything I need to provide heat?

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I highly recommend getting a rack with IRIS tubs. IRIS never changes their tub styles so it will be easy to find replacement tubs in the future. Sterilite tends to change their tub styles often. So unless you buy a bunch of replacement tubs now, it might be impossible to get any in the future.

The AP racks come with an option to include flexwatt heat strips. So the flexwatt will be your heat source. You just need to hook them up to a thermostat. The thermostat is the Herpstat.

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Next Chapter;

I just purchased a Male Pastave, Female Lesser, Female Pastel, all arriving next week. There is a Show coming to town here in San Diego in 3 weeks, where I am thinking of adding 2 females, and or an albino of some sort as I love the coloring.

Ok, here are some Q's:

How many females can you breed one male to in one season, and how far apart do the breedings have to be? I am thinking this has to do with how often they produce sperm plugs, which I have yet to learn.

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You can breed one male to multiple females. Some people do one male to one female. Others do up to 5 females or more. It just really depends on the individual male. Males do need some rest and breaks between breedings. I think a week is a good rest period between breedings.

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Is live better than frozen? I am thinking I can provide either just as easily.

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Neither is better than the other. It's a personal preference and whatever works better for you. Both f/t and live have pros and cons.
Personally, I feed live and haven't had any problems.


EDIT: AARON BEAT ME AGAIN!!!

Also, frozen does not eliminate parasites. Parasite eggs can lay dormant until conditions improve. (room temp)

The Ap racks come with flexwatt heat tape... this will provide the hot side temperature of 88-92 degrees, but the cool side of the tubs will be determined by the temperature of the room. This means that you will need to keep the room that the rack(s) are in at least 75 degrees year round. (78-82 would be best)

I would strongly suggest that you get a rack from Ap that uses IRIS tubs. Sterilite likes to change the dmentions of their tubs every few years... this will make getting replacement tubs nearly impossible. IRIS on the other hand never changes their tub dimensions.

You can breed a male to 3-4 females in a season, but you have to be careful that you don't push him too hard. give him some downtime and a chance to eat in-between pairings.

Live vs Frozen is greatly debated... there is no nutritional difference between the two, so the snake gets the same thing either way.

Most BP's will eat live easier, but there is the chance that the rodent will bite/injure the snake in the process... Never leave a live rodent with a BP unattended, this is asking for disaster.

frozen ensures that the rodents are parasite free, and pose no risk to the BP, but thawing them out can be time consuming... the best thing about feeding frozen is you can toss the rodent into the tub and leave it for the snake to eat later.

I prefer frozen, but I will feed live if necessary. Pre-killed is another option (fresh killed)

I like how you two basically said the exact same thing. :rofl:

Seems like you have been lurking for a while :D Welcome to the addiction! Lucky you getting to go all out with a reptile room right off the bat!

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

I like how you two basically said the exact same thing. :rofl:

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and if you look at the time stamp we posted it at the exact same time lol

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

and if you look at the time stamp we posted it at the exact same time lol

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That is crazy! :bow:

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Originally Posted by satomi325

EDIT: AARON BEAT ME AGAIN!!!

Also, frozen does not eliminate parasites. Parasite eggs can lay dormant until conditions improve. (room temp)

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I'd call this one a tie lol

Frozen many not be 100% on parasites, but it does reduced the risk (which doesn't seem to be terribly high with rodents eased as feeders anyway)

Thanks for the warm welcome and answers. I plan to order the rack today. I did have a hard time finding Iris tubs online. How often should I plan to replace the tubs? There is a Target walking distance from my house and they have the sterilite tubs for $5 and $8. Also any other necessities I am missing?

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Which one should I go with?

http://www.reptilebasics.com/iris-mc...k-wide-version

or

The Animal Plastics, Economy Plastics 6/12 Sterilite?

I like that the RB Iris comes complete.

Thanks again, can't wait to get ordering.

I know thecontainerstore.com sells the iris tubs. They are the ones I use. There really isn't a need to replace them unless they break. In which case it is good to have a reliable source for tubs with the same dimension.

I think if you had to choose between the Animal Plastics Economy and the RBI racks, I would go RBI simply because I like the racks that are covered on all 3 sides.

That being said, I like the regular AP racks even more :)