General Care Question

I was feeding my BP today, and I was wondering, what's the ideal setup as far as increasing humidity. My tank is at 50% but I understand it should be higher, so naturally I want to learn some tricks. I already attempted to plastic wrap one side of the vent, but that didn't do anything, and currently what I'm doing is keeping a damp cloth over half of the cages lid.

I was also considering switching my BP to live mice once I use up my frozen stash. I am told the only real thing that makes frozen preferable is safety for the snake, but as I watch him whenever he's feeding (or just in general when I'm in my room witch is 90% of the time I'm home) I figure it wont be an issue.

I feed all mine live right now and I've never had much of an issue. My BP received a little bite once, but it healed up nicely. I stay nearby and keep a pencil or something handy just in case the prey tries to dig teeth in, it gives me the chance to push it away. Obviously, the larger the prey item, the more risk there is because their teeth are bigger, sharper.

There is debate over frozen/thawed or live, and with some searching you can find a lot of info and different opinions right here on BP.net.

Originally I thought the whole point of frozen/thawed was to kill any harmful bacteria, but then a friend told me that once they are thawed, bacteria immediatly starts at the mice again. So I figure if Uro can hunt his food it'd make his life a little brighter, and who doesn't that for their pets :D

You can add damp moss to the cage, especially around the hiding spots, to help increase humidity. With the addition of moss, you don't have to keep the entire cage humid - you can create humid hides and let the snake choose how humid it would like to be.

Personally, I feed all of my snakes live just because it is easy for me to bring them home, and everything I have eats readily when it's live. As long as you monitor the snake, and don't leave the prey item in there for too long of a period, you should be set. Yes, there is a minor risk to the snake in terms of scratches or bites from the prey item - but that's why you watch them. You can step in to prevent issues if they arise.

I also would not worry too much about humidity quite yet; monitor it, but wait until after the first shed cycle to really determine how much you need to tweak it. If it sheds in one piece the way you have the cage set up now, you don't really need to adjust the humidity much at all - it's already set. If it sheds in multiple pieces, well then, adjust the humidity. :)

Good luck!

-Jen

I have currently a 10 gallon tank for my BP and it may be a while before I can upgrade him to a nice enclosed large tank he'll be in when he's larger, but I have a thermostat ready for when I have the UTH (currently using heat lamp). Is it a bad idea to use the UTH on a glass tank if I have a thermostat? I also have an electronic heater that measures both sides of his tank seperately.

This is easy to do and will spike humidity. I did it and it worked great!

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tment-Tutorial

Well, most ball pythons aren't eating mice for very long, anyhow. They're generally on rats by age 1. It's much more convenient to buy frozen rats in bulk online (and a big savings in cash, too). There's always a chance that the rodent will bite your snake, and sometimes these wounds can become infected, or are in a horrible location (like in the eye!) You don't want that to happen to your pet.
I don't recommend switching a ball python that is perfectly happy eating frozen, over to eating live.

Freezing has nothing to do with bacteria, it's about reducing parasite risks (freezing for several months kills most parasites), and about safety for the snake.

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Originally Posted by Miles

I have currently a 10 gallon tank for my BP and it may be a while before I can upgrade him to a nice enclosed large tank he'll be in when he's larger, but I have a thermostat ready for when I have the UTH (currently using heat lamp). Is it a bad idea to use the UTH on a glass tank if I have a thermostat? I also have an electronic heater that measures both sides of his tank seperately.

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You can use the thermostat for the light bulb, too.

UTH's can be used with a glass tank quite safely. Just use the little tabs that come with it to keep the tank slightly elevated, which allows for airflow underneath. The airflow keeps the pad from overheating, especially when used in combination with a thermostat.

-Jen

Freezing does reduce the chance of parasites some. Even for 40 hours it is reduced quite a lot. The people I know whom feed live just do a annual fecal test. It isn't a big deal either way just supervise feedings. personally frozen is so much more convenient that I'd never switch it becomes a pain when you have to keep refusals.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Miles

I was feeding my BP today, and I was wondering, what's the ideal setup as far as increasing humidity. My tank is at 50% but I understand it should be higher, so naturally I want to learn some tricks. I already attempted to plastic wrap one side of the vent, but that didn't do anything, and currently what I'm doing is keeping a damp cloth over half of the cages lid.

I was also considering switching my BP to live mice once I use up my frozen stash. I am told the only real thing that makes frozen preferable is safety for the snake, but as I watch him whenever he's feeding (or just in general when I'm in my room witch is 90% of the time I'm home) I figure it wont be an issue.

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If you're using a glass tank (which is what I'm assuming) it's going to be SO MUCH HARDER to keep the humidity where it needs to be. Misting and keeping a water bowl on the hot side might help. I recently switched my BP to a 34qt plastic tub and it is much easier to keep the humidity regular with no misting or extra precautions. I just have a big ceramic water bowl and its good to go :) 50% is not a bad humidity, really.. but when the snake is in shed you need to up the humidity to around 65%!

Personally, I feed F/T because it seems more humane to me and it's much easier as far as storage goes. I don't think there is really any benefit to switching to live mice, but I could be wrong!