Say hello to my little friend...

Got him/ her the other day at the local pet store. Sadly he was sort of a rescue. The pet shop takes EXCELLENT CARE of their animals, but the previous owner of this guy did not. he was barely fed and kept in, as best i can tell, a 10 gallon tank. Worse yet the few times he did get fed he was fed live, so says the tell tale scar on his back.

anywways, on to the pics!

here is my setup, its a 30 gallon tall tank. UTH covers about half of the tank and keeps everything in the low to mid 80's with a nice red heat light to bask in if he actually come out to poke around. half log hide, some driftwood (baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 40 mins and let cool before it met my tank. the substrate is aquarium rocks on the cool side and forest floot on the rest and covering the rocks. the aquarium rocks are to thicken the side i dont heat and allow it to stay cooler. (i will be getting a bigger tank eventually despite my not really needing it)

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...1/sta50003.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...1/sta50008.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...1/sta50002.jpg


and here is the occupant, though a little camera shy. He is roughly 2 years old and only about 2.5 feet long.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...1/sta50007.jpg

I have been primarily a keeper of Tarantulas, but a while back my wife got a Cali King (chain pattern) that topped out around 6' and i was like ok, its a snake nice hon... after a while she gave it away because of space limitations (he really needed a large tank which we did not have. we kept him in a 50 gallon long tank) he went to a good home so its all good. I saw this snake and heard the story and just had to have it.

Hello and congrats!

But without no lid on the top of the cage there is a big risk of escape
Plus, without no lid there will leave no humidity for your BP

Even if you think those are tall enough sides theres two problems with that


Just curious what type of heating element you are currently using and what you are using to control the heating element with

he has a screen top, partially covered 4 locks and two rather large rocks. i just couldnt take pics with it on they all came out weird looking. The UTH is a flukers UTH 11"x 11" 12 watt. says it puts out a constant 100 degrees, but after letting it warm up it was barely warm to the touch. The UTH alone gets it to about 75-78 in the tank, the heat lamp is for colder days and to help maintain the temps since we have A/C in the house.

He's a cutie, but you may want to think about two smaller hides enstead of one big one, also, on the UTH you may wanna put a heat probe on it to be sure its not getting too hot =]

temp should be around 91-95 degrees

you should also have a thermometer measuring the uth instead of just feeling it to the touch
i recomend an acurite thermometer from walmart

again you should have a thermostat controlling the UTH

well i do have a 50 watt heat lamp that i run during the day, that keeps the temps in the early 90's with the UTH running 24/7.

but in the next few months im looking at a 40-50 long with lots of accesories

I would greatly recommend looking over the caresheets on this forum
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=59

Check out the glass tank setup
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=56846

And double checking the FAQ's
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=30763

...Just to get the basics taken care of. You shouldnt have to struggle to create good husbandry. ;)

You will need a thermometer/hygrometer to measure the temps and humidity very soon (I didnt see any)

Once you cover the screen top, and get a UTH, you'll find it much easier to keep the humidity at 60%, and 70% for shedding. :gj:

Welcome and good luck!

Yep. Whereas it's great that you took that little guy in, the enclosure needs work.

A 20long would be a much better tank. Height not only isn't needed but makes the temperatures harder to stabilize.
Unless that snake is full grown, and it doesn't look like it in those pictures, a 40 or 50gal tank would be too big and stress them out.
UTHs can get up to 120 if not controlled, so you need a thermostat.
You should have a digital thermometer to monitor the temps.
Two identical fully enclosing hides would be much better.

We aren't criticizing you, just trying to help. :)

exactley

how do you know the temps?, are you using a thermometer?, just asking because you didnt mention that before