Discusting...

hey all, just got my first ball python a few days ago after searching craiglist numerous ttimes for ball pythons. Well we had found a ball python named "Haze" for 40$ w/cage and heat lamp. We went to go check him out, all went well except for the fact that the house was a dump and the owners didnt seem to know squat, he is 2 feet long and they claim hes 1.5 years, id say 8 months but who knows. So anyway, we bring the snake home and are cleaning the heat lamp, when out comes a :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: roach, ye gross! i shook the the lamp and 4 more come running out, kill them all, we looked inside and there had to be about 20 of them, we through the lamp out, bought a new one, called the exterminator to make sure they were out of the house.

so in the end, the snake seems to be healthy, nice skin, ect. but one of his eyes looks a little off colored which i will get checked out,

we got him a whole new setup, so the 40$ turned into 150$.

im new to this ball python thing and have many question, lets start. First, the lady at the pet store said 1 furry a week, is this right? second, should i leave the basking lamp on 12 hours then the red one?? or do i need new lamps, im very cofused about the lamp part, third...when do i need to get a larger tank, the 15 gallon for now seems good.

Well at least it is good to see that this BP has a second chance.

For the feeding you want to feed a prey slightly smaller than the girth size once a week. If he used to eat mice feed him mice if it was rat feed him rat.

Your priority right now is to leave him alone for a week with no handling before offering food.

As far as the light and heat go, the most important is for you to provide 90-94 on the warm side using a UTH (under tank heater) and 80-84 on the cool side.

The use of a heat lamp will depend on whether or not the ambient temp of your home and the UTH allow you to reach those temps.

And remember with any heat source you MUST use a thermostat.

Of course all this also mean that you need to accurate reading with a DIGITAL thermometer.

Oh and :welcome:

That's sick dude. Another case of a free or cheap python from a crappy source to save a few bucks will end up costing way more than going with a reputable breeder and getting a healthy, feeding cbb animal.

well the day i purchased him was exactly a week from the day he ate so we fed him a small furry mouse, he ate it very fast, and we made sure he fed in a different tank. The owners and people at pet shop said you only need a secondary heat source if you cannot get enough with a lamp, and can someone explain the different types of lamps and when you need to use them

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Originally Posted by otniel01

well the day i purchased him was exactly a week from the day he ate so we fed him a small furry mouse, he ate it very fast, and we made sure he fed in a different tank. The owners and people at pet shop said you only need a secondary heat source if you cannot get enough with a lamp, and can someone explain the different types of lamps and when you need to use them

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Well people at the pet store are wrong :rolleyes:

Your primary heat source is the one that you use to provide belly heat in other words a UTH or Heat tape.

If your UTH or Heat tape does not allow you to achieve proper temps, than you need to consider a secondary heat source such as a heat lamp.

Also if you fed outside the enclosure because the owner or the pet store told you to do it so your BP would not associate opening the enclosure with food, know that this is a myth and that you can feed your BP in his enclosure and he will not mistake you for food. (Trust me I feed mine in their enclosure and they never mistaken me for food)

Question do you know your temps, your humidity, do you use a digital thermometer/hygrometer, do you provide to tight hides? My guess if you listened to the previous owner (which obviously is not in a position to give advice) or the pet store your setup might be far from optimal.

Here is what I will recommend you to read http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=59 & http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...004#post569004

Hmm.
My BP is now set up with belly heat and a secondary lamp but he was kept well for over a year with a heat lamp as a primary source. The problem with this set up is low humidity but with effort you can make it work. I don't accept that this kind of set up is 'always' wrong but I would agree that is neither the easiest or a first choice.