A new Ball Python-- But I may have some problems

And I will certainly move up on food sizes, but I still have four more pinkies, and the box overall costed quite a bit so I'd hate to waste them. Is there any way I could feed him the pinkies until I run out? Like maybe give him more than two pinkies to make up for size, or something along that line? If not that'd be fine! I'd just hate to waste them, haha.

You can give him all four pinkies for his next meal.

Do you understand the difference between a thermoSTAT and a thermoMETER?

A thermometer measures temperature. A thermostat regulates temperature and there should be one hooked up to your under-tank heater so it doesn't get hot enough to burn your snake. If there isn't one then go unplug the UTH before you end up with a vet bill.

The uth we got didn't come with one. I'll be sure to turn it off, and get one with a thermostat! Gosh, thank you very much for telling me this. I did all this research about how to take care of them, but not enough about how to use the equipment TO take care of them. I feel very stupid 😞. My poor little baby. Also, how do I get off the heating mat I have? It's glued on.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-a-Zoo-Med-UTH
This is the uth I have, and the replies in this thread are very helpful. I'm going to the store today for fish(we have a fish tank we recently set up, so we're buying cheap feeder fish to test the water before we put in sicklets), so I will see about getting a thermoSTAT for the uth. Thank you very much for all your help! Any other tips will be helpful and widely appreciated. I'll post pictures of my snake, tank(which is in progress. I need to add some sort of background thing so he has a little more privacy, a thermostat, and other things), and keep you all updating with how my scaly baby is doing. I may not be the best of owner at the moment. But I'm willing to try hard for this snake and its wellbeing, and hope one day I will be as good of a snake owner as a lot of you all. Thank you so much for all your help!!

UTH's and most other heat sources don't come equipped with thermostats, you have to purchase them separately.

Ah, I see. Well, I'll be sure to purchase one here in about an hour when petsmart opens! Is there any thermostats you reccomend?

If you want to remove the UTH, use "Goo B Gone" available at many Dollar General/Family Dollar or Walmart type stores. But you can leave it on the tank(just unplugged) until you get a thermostat.

Thank you! Also, guys is there any good way to keep moisture in the tank? I have a mesh top, and because my house is so dry I constantly have to mist his tank just to keep the humidity level in its target range, otherwise it drops to around 30-17!! I was thinking maybe putting some glass on one side of the mesh, to maybe create a condesation effect and maybe trap some moisture, but I don't know. I was told by a lady who owns rainbow boas at the pet store to get the substrate moist and mix it in.

Check the "new posts" and find the "How to set up a glass tank" for tips. You'll need to cover the top because a screen top lets all the humidity out and a light dries the thing out. But that sticky will help you a lot.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dangernoodel

Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore your comment. Yes! We have an under tank heater(though my sister put it in the middle of the tank >-< and it's glued. Luckily there's a big patch of cool spots though, and I situated one of my three hides for him in the cool section to promote him to autoregulate his temperature). And I also have a thermostat!

---

Well . . You can peel off the stuck-on heat mat just to it slowly and reattach under one end ( rather than the middle ) then you will get a better heat gradient .

I think they suggest that the mat covers between a third and a half of the tank's floor