Meet Hercules

This is the first Ball Python I've owned. I have a 3ft corn named Earl. I picked him up through a friend of a friend. He's about 4ft. long and Approx. 5 years old. He came with the tank and accesories for $100. I am currently reading up on humidity and substrate. He didn't shed full this time around and still has eye covering and around the neck. Feel free to let me know of any suggestions since I am a newb.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...rculesfull.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...culesfull2.jpg

take out the heat rock, get a good UTH, a digital thermometer/hygrometer, and a secure lid.

http://ball-pythons.net/modules.php?...warticle&id=59

there is a care sheet

for the skin, soak him for like 15-20 mins and see if you can gently roll the retained skin off. If not, you can soak him for more. If you do not feel comfortable rolling the skin, place him after a soak in a moist pillow case. Moving around should remove most of, if not all of the retained shed

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

take out the heat rock, get a good UTH, a digital thermometer/hygrometer, and a secure lid.

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nice..i second TM

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Originally Posted by cris78

nice..i second TM

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canot forget either a dimmer or a thermostat

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

canot forget either a dimmer or a thermostat

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Almost forgot that..and what is that substrate?

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Originally Posted by cris78

Almost forgot that..and what is that substrate?

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looks like that repticarpet stuff. holds smell like no other.

swap it out to newspaper, or if you are going for looks try aspen or reptibark. newspaper is real easy to clean and holds humidity pretty well and the aspen and reptibark are a little harder to clean but are visually appealing if that is the look you are going for

Thanks for all the fast replies. The person I picked him up from used the heat rock for the 4-5 years he has had him for. I have read on multiple sites that it's not good while reading up on them this morning. I will be on the way to the pet store but wanted to research a bit first. Currently he is on a sort of felt. Before the previous owner was using the "astro turf" but didn't have any left to change out. I have seen any sites recommending sand (I was thinking the digestible type) so was looking more into wood possibly cedar?

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aspen or reptibark. newspaper is real easy to clean

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Looks like newspaper it will be. I know that the humidity is fairly low around here during the winter.

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Originally Posted by harleybro

Thanks for all the fast replies. The person I picked him up from used the heat rock for the 4-5 years he has had him for. I have read on multiple sites that it's not good while reading up on them this morning. I will be on the way to the pet store but wanted to research a bit first. Currently he is on a sort of felt. Before the previous owner was using the "astro turf" but didn't have any left to change out. I have seen any sites recommending sand (I was thinking the digestible type) so was looking more into wood possibly cedar?

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cedar is not good for snakes. The previous owner may have had the heat rock for 4 or 5 years and god only knows how many burns the snake had. aspen can be picked up for very cheap at petsmart. That is about all I would buy from there. I paid $12.99 for a 50 qt bag, which is plenty to go around. it fills my 4 1960's in my rack, a 30 gallon breeder, and a custom 37x17 enclosure and it barely has any missing

:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by harleybro

Thanks for all the fast replies. The person I picked him up from used the heat rock for the 4-5 years he has had him for. I have read on multiple sites that it's not good while reading up on them this morning. I will be on the way to the pet store but wanted to research a bit first. Currently he is on a sort of felt. Before the previous owner was using the "astro turf" but didn't have any left to change out. I have seen any sites recommending sand (I was thinking the digestible type) so was looking more into wood possibly cedar?


Looks like newspaper it will be. I know that the humidity is fairly low around here during the winter.

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it is okay to keep the humidity in the higher 40 range but when shed time comes bump it to at least 65.

What size enclosure is it in? If you are serious about keeping this snake, then spring for a good thermostat, not just a $30 one, which have been shown to fail more often than the good ones.