New owner needing help

your in knoxville??? dang i miss knoxville:( anyway) if your wanting to know the sex, call larry @ "the critter barn" and ask him if he might sex it for ya.. there close to campus,,,,, or try caling michael @ "fins and skins" (west knoxville) and he might do it as well..... might wanna try a live fuzzy or something, just to stimulate eating....
spooky

Here is a photo of my current 20 gallon long setup. I wanted to go ahead and post it while I finish reading the information everyone has provided and respond back here in a few minutes. :)

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1879/downloadpt.jpg

Okay, so let me make a list of everything that it looks like I need to change.

1) Buy an accu-rite digital thermometer/hygrometer from Walmart for around $15 to replace the cheap dial one at the top of the cage. This will measure both the cool and warm sides of the cage.

2) Get rid of both the day heat lamp and the purple nighttime heat lamp. Get an under the tank heating source, such as Flexwatt, perhaps. If I get Flexwatt, what size should I get? Does anyone have specific recommendations as to product, size, and wattage?

3) Get a second hide rock. Does the one I have in the current setup I posted above look too big? My BP seems to like it well enough, but I don't know if a second one of those will fit in the current setup. I thought it was a plenty big enough tank until she got to adult size, but I don't know how to make everything fit. :P Also, does it look like the water dish is big enough?

4) Either cover the current screen top with aluminum foil, leaving some ventilation space, or get a plexiglass lid for a 20 gallon long tank. I'd prefer something more aesthetically pleasing than the foil, but I don't know where to get a secure plexiglass lid, or how much it would be.

5) Buy some aquarium background and leave only one side of the tank uncovered, that way my BP has security.

Is that everything?

Also, what should first priority? Even something like spending an extra $15 a week will really throw off my budget, so I've got to try and fix this stuff over the course of a couple of weeks. =/

Thanks so much!!

Oh, and mr.spooky, thanks so much! Ya, I'm pretty fond of Knoxville, and I live about 2 minutes from fins n skins. I'll stop by there Monday or Tuesday. :D

Eating is more important, but if I'm not mistaken, Pet Smart only sales 'male' animals. That could be referring to the rodents though, but I was thinking it was for everything as they don't want people breeding unless they WANT too. I could be totally wrong in that though.

As for eating, I had a new one that didn't want to eat F/T. Offered a live, and it was full on then. I do plan on swapping over to F/T at some point when he gets a little bigger, but right now I just want him eating.

you can go to Lowes with the measurements of the top of your tank and pick up a piece of plexi-glass ( acrylic or lexan ) and they will cut it to your specifications. You can get an 18x24in piece of pretty thin acrylic for about $9. You don't have to mount it on the top of your screen lid, you can just set it up there so hold in the humidity.

You could then use a drill or heat up the end of a phillips screwdriver to put holes in the the plexi without breaking it. *make sure to do it outside as melting acrylic doesn't smell too pleasant*

If pet smart is close, they should have a 'small-medium' exoterra UTH for around $18 that should work fine.

An identical hide is good, but as long as it is 'somewhat similar' I think it would be ok. I don't have matching hides in any of my setups and the BP's swap to wherever they need. They are all nice and dark with only one entrance/exit. That's what really matters imo.

You can use a dark towel or something on the back of the tank for now to save ya some money if need be ( i have done this in the past ).

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Originally Posted by theJuju

Third, she hasn't eaten once. The PetsMart label said she was captive bred, which is good, but I've had her for a month and a half and have wasted 3 frozen pinkie mice now. I've tried different thawing and warming methods, I've tried moving the mice with tongs, leaving the mouse still with tongs, and even leaving it in the cage overnight and covering the sides. There are two things I haven't tried: scenting the pinkie with gerbil bedding from a pet store (which I plan to do next; I last tried feeding last night to no avail), and freshly killed. But I'm far too squeamish to try fresh killed, plus I'm not sure where I would even get live mice that tiny and young.

If gerbil scent doesn't work, what do I do? My ball python is getting skinny, and when she curls I'm noticing skin folds. :(

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Sounds like she is dehydrated and getting extremely skinny, which is how most balls from Pet(not so)Smart usually are.

PetSmart sells captive HATCHED. They are imported from Africa from eggs that were either laid in captivity by gravid wild caught females or by eggs collected from the wild. Few, if any, have even eaten before being imported, so I highly doubt your snake has even eaten yet.

That said, pinkie mice are WAAAAY too small of a meal, even for the smallest hatchlings. Right out of the egg 99% of balls can be started on rat fuzzies with the rare undersized hatchling requiring rat pinkies. Rat pinks/fuzzies are many times larger than mouse pinks/fuzzies. Ball pythons, especially those that are not established feeders, can be some of the hardest snakes to convert to f/t. A lot will simply NEVER eat f/t, even if it means they starve themselves to death. Being that your ball is still young, they cannot go for that long without food like an adult can. Your best bet right now would be to offer your snake live rat pinks or rat fuzzies or at the very least a live mouse hopper, depending on your snakes weight and health. Ideally you should be feeding your snake a meal that is 10-15% of their body weight every 5 days. Since it has been so long I would start off with slightly smaller than normal meals (but WAY bigger than mouse pinkies) and feed him more frequently to get his metabolism going for a few feedings.

As to where to get live feeders, check local mom & pop pet stores, craigslist, faunaclassifieds, etc. Those will be your best bet. If all else fails, just get one from PetSmart. Play it cool like it will be a pet because they do not sell live feeders. You will overpay for it, but beggers can't be chosers sometimes.

OK, thanks for the advice! I'll try bigger prey here soon, possibly live.

I also went by a local pet shop and they said the Zilla UTH heater won't be enough to heat the warm side to 85-90 degrees, and I'd need a light on top of the cage, too?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by theJuju

OK, thanks for the advice! I'll try bigger prey here soon, possibly live.

I also went by a local pet shop and they said the Zilla UTH heater won't be enough to heat the warm side to 85-90 degrees, and I'd need a light on top of the cage, too?

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Blasphemy! Unless your house is really cold. The UTH is used for belly heat and you will actually want it to be 90-92 degrees. Cool side should be about 80 and ambient temp somewhere between. Ball pythons do NOT need supplemental light. They are just trying to make a sale, end of story.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AK907

Blasphemy! Unless your house is really cold. The UTH is used for belly heat and you will actually want it to be 90-92 degrees. Cool side should be about 80 and ambient temp somewhere between. Ball pythons do NOT need supplemental light. They are just trying to make a sale, end of story.

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Okay. :P So the Zilla UTH pad will keep the warm side around 90 by itself?

Also! I have an UPDATE!!! My BP ate the thawed pinkie for the first time ever just now!! This is the happiest I've been all week! I am so relieved, and it was such an awesome and amazing thing to watch! I'm gonna post a few pictures in the photo area. :D

I appreciate all of the advice, and am going to make sure I get her home set up how it should be. I'm so happy she ate, though!

I can't edit my last reply, so I apologize for a double post, but I fed her a second (and the last of what I had) and she ate it, too. :D

I put the pics here: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ime!&p=1697075

So happy right now! :banana: