Cant set up cage until the day I get the snake....

So Im getting my first BP this weekend, from a local (family owned, and they breed their own) Petstore that has a very good rep in this area.
But the problem is I wont be able to set up the cage for it until the day I get the snake.
I have a 10gallon tank I can use for a while, until I get the newer and larger tank for it.

Is this a good idea? or will it cause to much stress on the snake having to move it so many times?

It is not a bad idea to start with a 10 gallon if the bp is a relatively small. It will actually help to provide lots of security to your new snake and ensure he will eat properly for you.

If you do set-up the 10 gallon soon then you will have more time to tinker with everything and get your humidity/temperatures correct. Use the 10 gallon for at least a month, get your bp feeding well and settled in. Then when you have the new enclosure set-up and tweaked, ready to go, you can switch him to that enclosure and give him time to get settled again. It is not a bad idea to keep the bp in that 10 gallon until he has almost outgrown it, since 20 gallons for a juvenile bp can be a bit big (not enough security)

On another note, Welcome to the forum!! If you haven't already, check out the care sheets and refer to them while setting up your enclosure:)

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/f...splay.php?f=62

Maybe you can put off getting the snake until you get its enclosure properly set up and running for 48 hours, rather than making the baby have to stress through tweaks you may have to make.

If it's a baby - 10 gallons is perfect.

i dont know what you are using for heat but on the zoo med under tank heaters it says it take 6 hours to warm up

I have other heat sources I can use while the UTH heats up.

also do I need the UTH and a heat lamp? or is just the UTH fine?

I use both UTH & a (red) heat lamp. I had to mess with it for almost 2 weeks until I got the temps just right. I can't see how u could achieve the temp gradient without both. There's that OCD kicking in again.

:snake:

i use both the uth is on a thermosat and black light is on a dimmer.it took some work but its not too bad if you have 4 digital thermos in there.