New Ball Python Owner....?

Hey All:

First off, 1st time here....I gotta say this is a cool sight....

Anyways I just acquired 2 young ( 6-8 months) ball pythons, male and female. Both are healthy, male fully shed recently and just digestlng his mouse and the female has just finished shedding with a bit left on the head area and eyes and waiting to be fed.

They came with a 10-12 gal aquarium tank for them and they have a Aspen substrate of about 2.5 to 3.0 inches. I know that I should separate them but that will be a bit ( month or so....$$ ).

All I have is the tank, a UV light on the top ( does throw some heat) and the Aspen substrate ( they burrow it seems when cold or?). There is NO hiding place or what do I do for a water dish

They also have been fed live grown mice and seem ok with that.

The previous owner said everything has been great and the pythons do seem very healthy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated....thanks

:welcome:

You will find tons of info and help on this site

You need another tank or tub, you will want to get rid of the lamp and get 2 under tank heaters, 2 thermostats or lamp dimmers will do each snake will need 2 hides per tank 1 on cool side and 1 on warm side (I use the plastic bowls from the chinese restaurant as temporary hides they work great for your size snakes), 2 water dishes. 2 accurite therm/hygros

I'm sure others will add to this :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by displacedinbc

Hey All:

First off, 1st time here....I gotta say this is a cool sight....

Anyways I just acquired 2 young ( 6-8 months) ball pythons, male and female. Both are healthy, male fully shed recently and just digestlng his mouse and the female has just finished shedding with a bit left on the head area and eyes and waiting to be fed.

They came with a 10-12 gal aquarium tank for them and they have a Aspen substrate of about 2.5 to 3.0 inches. I know that I should separate them but that will be a bit ( month or so....$$ ).

All I have is the tank, a UV light on the top ( does throw some heat) and the Aspen substrate ( they burrow it seems when cold or?). There is NO hiding place or what do I do for a water dish

They also have been fed live grown mice and seem ok with that.

The previous owner said everything has been great and the pythons do seem very healthy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated....thanks

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:welcome:


You came to the right place!!!!

Where to start...?

3 things to help;

Here is a ball python caresheet from this site:
http://ball-pythons.net/modules/Sect...warticle&id=59

Here is a link to a sticky on how to setup at tank:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=56846

That should help you out a great deal, otherwise just search through the Husbandry sub forum to learn more about housing the snakes:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=62


Hope this helped! and enjoy your new pets!

welcome to the site..... you can get a tank at walmart for like $12

Welcome to BPNet! :)

Heck put the word out to friends, co-workers and family. You'll be surprised at how many people have used tanks sitting in some dusty corner of their basement that they'd love to unload on somebody LOL. Just remember every snake is a born escape artist so a secure lid, no matter what style of enclosure you have, is a must. On glass tanks, metal lid clips are your best friend.

As far as hides, no need to break your bank. Figure out how big the snake is coiled up, hit the dollar store and buy a couple of dark colored plastic bowls that are just big enough for your ball python to happily stuff itself into. Melt or cut out an entrance either in the "roof" or on the side. Instant hides for about $2.00. Sort of like this....

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...chlingHide.jpg

For a water dish you want something that's not easily spilled but is easy for you to scrub clean. Water dishes in the warm, humid environment of a bp home can be breeding grounds for nasty germs so you need a material that you can clean/disinfect easily. Personally I love these ramekins. Their kitchen grade and you can find them very reasonably priced in any major department store and some dollar stores in the kitchen supplies area.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ewaterdish.jpg

As suggested above you do really need to address the issue of housing these snakes together. While it may not kill them to live together, the vast experience on this site seems to indicate that they do much better over the long haul by living solitary lives other than during their breeding cycles.

Well folks:

I'm on my way. Bought another 10 gal tank lsst night from the "Buy and Sell", 2 new under tank heaters, water dishes, and hideaways.

I plan on just using the normal daylight from the daytime, and change over the night time for the cycle to the morning.

Sound ok....

Quote:

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I plan on just using the normal daylight from the daytime, and change over the night time for the cycle to the morning.

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If I am reading this correctly you are saying that you want to just use ambient room lighting for day/night transitions. That is fine. No extra daytime supplemental lighting is needed as these are nocturnal creatures who really get stressed by lighting anyway.

Next, with those UTHs, if you don't have them on a rheostat or thermostat, please get that done ASAP! Those things can get hot enough to burn a snake and that is a totally avoidable vet bill, not to mention just good care.

Other than that welcome to the forums!

Bloodsong

you can pick up 2 sliding lamp dimmers from homedepot levitron makes one for $8 and change lutron makes one also but it's like $10 and change they do the same thing

Ok, I will get 2 thermostats for the UTH's as I've are not installed them yet on the tanks. Hopefully I'll get to doing most of this in the next day or so.... I'm also trying to find or build a nice cheap stand to house both tanks.

I greatly appreciate all the help and suggestions that you all have given to me so far. I'll keep you all up to date as things progress....

:)