Planning on trying to get a ball python, I need to know if this will work.

hello, I am new to BP keeping, and I would like to know if I can make this work.
I am a 14 year old who has divorced parents, which puts me in a situation where I go to my mother's house for a week and my father's house for a week; I switch homes every week. I chose a BP because of this, I will be able to stop by and provide water every other day, and I can wait a single day to feed. My father is worried about the smell the cage would cause. Because of this, can you guys give me a good suggestion for substrate, and how often I would need to clean it.
I plan on getting a male and using this terrarium: http://m.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/reptile/reptile-habitats-and-enclosures/exo-terra-large-low-terrarium-36x18x12

They don't have a smell. The smell would come from uncleaned urine/urates or poop, which should be cleaned thoroughly anyway (assuming you use paper towel for substrate) each time they let something go. If you want to spot clean and then clean thoroughly a bit less, every other time or longer, using aspen would be better.

How often you clean totally depends on how often your snake pees/defecates. It varies anywhere between once a week to once every two months.

Where you live and the humidity of your home is important when choosing substrate... For example, my home's humidity is 60%, so using aspen (a drying substrate) is totally fine, while using coco fiber is WAY too humid for me and also has a dirt smell. Aspen is also cleaner than coco fiber and doesn't stick to everything.

BP's will only need to eat one appropriately sized meal every week~2 weeks as they get older.

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Originally Posted by Fishy7798

hello, I am new to BP keeping, and I would like to know if I can make this work.
I am a 14 year old who has divorced parents, which puts me in a situation where I go to my mother's house for a week and my father's house for a week; I switch homes every week. I chose a BP because of this, I will be able to stop by and provide water every other day, and I can wait a single day to feed. My father is worried about the smell the cage would cause. Because of this, can you guys give me a good suggestion for substrate, and how often I would need to clean it.
I plan on getting a male and using this terrarium: http://m.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/reptile/reptile-habitats-and-enclosures/exo-terra-large-low-terrarium-36x18x12

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Do you plan to get an adult? If not you will need to start with a much smaller enclosure especially for an hatchling.

As far as bedding, coconut chip type bedding will be absorbent and take care of odor issues.

As for cleaning you should clean as necessary.

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Would my tank be able to fit a female?! I do plan on getting an adult, how would I know when my snake urinates or poops?

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Originally Posted by Fishy7798

Would my tank be able to fit a female?! I do plan on getting an adult, how would I know when my snake urinates or poops?

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Oh you (or your parent) will know. :redface:

When you change water every day or two give the tank a check for poop, urates, temperature, humidity. It becomes routines pretty quickly.

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Originally Posted by Fishy7798

Would my tank be able to fit a female?! I do plan on getting an adult, how would I know when my snake urinates or poops?

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The tank size is good, I have a female in 36x18x20 and there's enough space for it. When you start off with young snake just clutter up the tank, it will be fine.

Do you have a room for the tank? Your bedroom? It should be in a quiet, low-traffic area.

I plan on putting it in my bedroom, I have a fish tank in there, it's filters will make some noise

I have found that as long as the hides fit the snake, the overall cage size does not matter as long as they cannot escape. Depending on what you are looking for you can sometimes get better deals on babies/yearlings. Not sure where you were planning to buy from but if you buy a baby/yearling from a breeder you have a better chance of getting a healthy animal than you do from buying an adult off craigslist. An unhealthy animal can be difficult to spot to an inexperienced person and can cost a great deal in money and frustration.

Your fish tank filters will be no problem; most likely, a BP can't even hear them at all. The "quiet area" recommendation is because the snake can get stressed out by a lot of commotion, people running around, lights going on and off all the time, heavy footfalls nearby, etc. Your bedroom should be fine unless you plan on having a lot of pillow fights or something. :)

You probably should not use paper towels or newspaper as a substrate if you're only able to check on the snake every couple of days, because they'll tend to make the pee spread out all over the place so the snake ends up sitting in it. Aspen or the various other loose substrates people recommended will let it at least drain away from the surface.

You should also get all your equipment and set it all up in advance to make sure the temperatures are good, make any small adjustments you need to, etc. That's always a good idea, but all the more so if you're not around every day to check on things; you need to be sure that it'll all be OK while you're gone.

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Originally Posted by Fishy7798

Would my tank be able to fit a female?! I do plan on getting an adult, how would I know when my snake urinates or poops?

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Yes a 36x18x12 is fine for a female.

By the the smell and what is left behind, poop looks like it and urine is a mix of liquid urine and urates (white chalky pieces)

Thanks, I was looking at some morphs, and I would like to know if I can get one with the normal pattern but the brown is yellow. If so, what is it called and how much would it cost?