new normal

just picked up sunday, this is my first BP,wondering if yous could tell me m/f by any chance i know its not definate by pics. also does it look like he/she is about to shedd or alredy shed and the head cap didnt come off. i just started collecting snakes last tuesday i also have a abbotts okeetees corn snake

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/dsc00780.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/dsc00784.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/dsc00782.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/dsc00781.jpg

my corn snake
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...9/dsc00779.jpg

The BP looks to be still shedding. Raise humidity to 70% to help with the shedding by misting the enclosure with warm water.

Sorry, I cannot tell you what the gender is by just looking at it. You would need to take it to the vet to get it probed or popped, probing is safer though.

Also, what substrate are you using for your BP?

you cant tell by looking at a bp if its m/f. but the shed thats on its head is left over from a past bad shed. if you keep the temps and humidity right he/she wont have that problem again. you can either make sure the humidity is perfect and he/she will get it off themself. or put it in a damp pillow case for a few minutes and it should come right off. humidity and temps are very important.. he/she could easily die with the wrong settings. UTH with a thermostat i hope?

astro turf for now figure ill let her dirty that first then switch to aspen

over tank temp is at about 89 humidity is at 70 should i switch to uth

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Originally Posted by tylersweeney22

astro turf for now figure ill let her dirty that first then switch to aspen

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Good idea. If you aren't looking to spend a ton on bedding, paper towels work very well :)

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Originally Posted by tylersweeney22

astro turf for now figure ill let her dirty that first then switch to aspen

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Alright. So you know, with regular spot cleaning, you wouldn't have to change the substrate for a good 1-3 months. I like Aspen the most though, just switched my BPs over because they had Cypress before. Cypress isn't bad, and holds in humidity very well, but I just didn't like it much anymore because of some problems I've faced with it. I would definitely consider switching over to Aspen though, it works very well. The only downsides are that it can mold if too damp from misting, and it's kinda dusty when you mix it around though I've been using it for 4 years (ever since I got a snake)with all of my snakes and I gotta say it has to be my favorite substrate because I've had no troubles at all when using it.

i use aspen in my corn snake tank right now

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Originally Posted by tylersweeney22

over tank temp is at about 89 humidity is at 70 should i switch to uth

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A UTH is actually best for a BP because they need the belly heat to properly digest their meals. Though, never get a UTH if you do not have a thermostat or at least a rheostat because the snake can burn itself if the heat coming from the UTH is not controlled and can be fire hazardous. Heat lamps suck out the humidity pretty quickly, so that's why I'm switching over to UTHs soon. By the way, as stated before, you can always use paper towels or newspaper because it's easy to clean up and pretty cheap. Though, I still like using Aspen and I actually like cleaning out cages and taking forever. Makes me feel I really got some work done, and cleaning a hard-to-clean enclosure doesn't bother me one bit.

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Originally Posted by tylersweeney22

i use aspen in my corn snake tank right now

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I have my Corn on Aspen as well, and Corns seem to really enjoy it. The cool things about Aspen is that it's easy to spot clean and keep the tunnels the snake made from slithering underneath the substrate :].