Novice needs advice!!

Hey guys I just recently purchased my first normal ball. Ive had it for about a month in a half now. Ive read books and studied alot of forums, but nothing compares to the real thing lol. The snake is estimated to be about 2 years old. It is a little over 3.5 ft long. When I got he/she (havent had sexed yet) she was a little thin for her length I think. I got her on a regular feeding schedule taking an adult f/t mouse once a week. She eats good and fast, should I up it to two adult mice for her size or stay with what im doing???

Another thing is she always stays on the cool side..i dont think she likes her hot side at all. She curl up on top of it occasionally but I have not seen her go in. wat should I do??? She is in a 50 gal long. All your advice is greatly appreciated!!

Read through this
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

You should probably invest in a kitchen food scale from walmart / target that does grams. Get a weight on your new snake and we can more accurately tell you if it's small for its age. A single adult mouse once a week is not a sufficient diet for adult BP's. My 3yo bp eats a medium rat every Friday, much much larger than a single adult mouse ;)

Your snake staying on the cool side may mean your hot side is too hot. What are you using to measure temperatures? Digital or stick on thermometer? (Digital is preferred) What is your heat source? If you are using an under tank heater, it needs to be regulated by a thermostat. (Not the same as a thermometer) As unregulated UTH (Under tank heaters) can reach upwards of 100* quickly and burn your snakes belly.

Read over the stickies at the top of each section in the BP Part of the forum, you'll get a lot of information from that. If you have any other questions, shoot! And welcome to BP.net! :D

Thanks for the tip, and im using a hydrotherm from zoo med. I am using uth and an infrared light to.pick up some of the slack. Because I think my uth is too small, and the temperature on the hot side keeps dropping if I dont have the infrared on too. I have the hydrotherm probe right above the hot side hide. I have a stick on thermometer and humidity as well. But I will def get the scale and let you guys kno what I find out.

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Originally Posted by Fiq5545

Thanks for the tip, and im using a hydrotherm from zoo med. I am using uth and an infrared light to.pick up some of the slack. Because I think my uth is too small, and the temperature on the hot side keeps dropping if I dont have the infrared on too. I have the hydrotherm probe right above the hot side hide. I have a stick on thermometer and humidity as well. But I will def get the scale and let you guys kno what I find out.

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The thermostat probe needs to be directly against the UTH, OUTSIDE the tank (preferably wedged between the UTH and the glass). Otherwise, your probe is measuring ambient temps, not the temp of the actual hot spot. You need a thermometer with a probe, also, to attach to the glass inside the tank over the UTH (this gives you your true surface temp). Walmart carries an Acurite indoor/outdoor digital thermometer that works well for this.

I appreciate it. But wouldnt putting the hydrotherm probe on the outside of the tank defeat the purpose of having.it period??. Can I put the hydrotherm probe directly on the uth inside of the tank and measure it that way??

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Originally Posted by Fiq5545

I appreciate it. But wouldnt putting the hydrotherm probe on the outside of the tank defeat the purpose of having.it period??. Can I put the hydrotherm probe directly on the uth inside of the tank and measure it that way??

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Not at all. The purpose of a thermostat is to regulate the temperature of the heat source. You want to have the probe on the outside of the cage attached directly to the heat pad. Otherwise the snake could easily move/mess with the probe and potentially cause harm to the snake since the probe is no longer registering the heat that the heat source is generating. The probe can be placed on the inside of the cage, and it will even yield slightly more accurate results (though with the low quality thermostat you are using accuracy isn't possible no matter where the probe is placed) but it is significantly more dangerous. Tape cannot ever be used inside a cage due to the danger of the snake getting stuck to it.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

Not at all. The purpose of a thermostat is to regulate the temperature of the heat source. You want to have the probe on the outside of the cage attached directly to the heat pad. Otherwise the snake could easily move/mess with the probe and potentially cause harm to the snake since the probe is no longer registering the heat that the heat source is generating. The probe can be placed on the inside of the cage, and it will even yield slightly more accurate results (though with the low quality thermostat you are using accuracy isn't possible no matter where the probe is placed) but it is significantly more dangerous. Tape cannot ever be used inside a cage due to the danger of the snake getting stuck to it.

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Ok so your basically saying I can send this hydrotherm back! I can go purchase a regular thermostat and place it outside the tank directly on the uth?? Then get a second thermostat and place that probe inside the cage on the heat.pad?? Or get a digital thermometer and place that probe inside on heat pad???
Thanks again in.advance!

What you want is a high quality thermostat with its probe directly on the UTH, as well as a digital thermometer with a probe to measure the temperature of the cage floor directly above the UTH.

Here are some good thermostats:

budget (only use these if you can't get either of the better ones I'm about to list)

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S

Mid-Range:

http://www.reptilebasics.com/ranco-etc-111000-pre-wired

Best:

http://spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html

For more info check out this thread: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

Thanks again guys! When I got home I moved the thermostat probe on to the heating pad itself and it read.up to 120 degrees!! Im going to get a thermometer 2moro to measure the temp on hot spot inside. How should I keep my ambient temp to a good.level? And is 90 degrees good for uth?

And I will get the scale soon, so I can let yall determine if she is undersized at all.

The UTH itself should stay under 105 degrees at all times, but it needs to be set to whatever temperature yields an 88-92 degree hot spot inside the cage.

UTH's don't change the temperature of the air in the cage at all if the air temperature drops below 75 degrees you will need to use a heat lamp or ceramic heat emitter to boost the air temp.