Shed cycle and a couple of other questions.

I have reptiles but have never owned a ball python. I have 2 corn snakes, 1 bearded Dragon, and four crested Geckos. My Ball is a male pastel he weighs in at only 70g. Right now he is in a 10 gallon tank but will be moved up to a twenty gallon tank or bigger when he is bigger. He has two hides one on the cool side and one on the warm side. I have him set on a 12 hour daylight cycle. He also has a basking spot that is at 88-89 degrees all the time. He hasn't eaten for me yet but I am not shocked at that because he is in blue. I haven't even had him a week yet.

Question 1: Does anyone know how long a shed cycle lasts from when they start turning blue to when they finish? With my corns they usually go and hide but will still come out to eat even in blue. That's usually when I notice that they are in blue and then I will just find a fresh shed in there tanks.

Question 2: How can I keep the humidity up in his tank? It is a glass terrarium with a mesh top. I have been misting the tank 3 times a day with a mister and have also put in a moist hide since he is in blue.

Also if anyone has suggestions on what to do to get him to eat F/T it would be appreciated he has only ever been fed live and while I don't mind feeding live while he is young I prefer not to do it when he is bigger. I also don't want to enforce the habit of him only wanting live food. Also since my corns are already on F/T it is easier to just buy the food in bulk. I have read a few different things that I will try once he has shed like using a hair dryer on the mouse. braining and so forth.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...edding-Process

You can put damp towels on top of the mesh to keep humidity in, I once did this and it worked well for me.

Make sure the F/T rodent is very warm, you can just blast it with a hair-dryer once it has hit room temperature then try offering it immediately, when my BP goes off feed I stick a cocktail stick into the skull of the rat to expose blood etc, and he usually will take it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SRMD94

Make sure the F/T rodent is very warm, you can just blast it with a hair-dryer once it has hit room temperature then try offering it immediately.

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Sorry I mean once the rodent has reached room temp. Then blast it, it usually brings the temp to around 130f but it will lower quickly.

This is just methods I use and that work for me, so you can always try it, maybe more people with more factual information will weigh in. :)


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I was wondering about that my brain did a wait wouldn't it already be at room temp. Thanks for the advice I will put damp paper towels over the mesh to see if this helps with the humidity.