Newbie, Almost

If you go with sterlite or rubbermaid, just a couple of points to keep in mind.

You want ones that are appropriately sized for the size of snake. You want more floor space than height as ball pythons aren't climbers. You want one with a very good locking clip lid but still reinforce it (check threads for different ideas on how to do that)...snakes are escape artists.

Grab a soldering wand for melting holes into the tub. Very cheap and a huge time saver and your tubs won't crack.

The great thing with plastic tubs come with controlling humidity and temps. You can always add holes or cover up some holes during the change of seasons very easily.

Whatever you decide for housing, it's best to buy all your supplies and set the enclosures up a week in advance of actually buying the snakes. That way you can get everything settled, tweek here and there and be good to go when the snake arrives.

Here's a few pics of our snakes just to illustrate (not saying we do it perfectly but the snakes seem happy enough LOL)

Adult female ball in her hide. It's a large rubber dog dish with an entrance cut out ($3.99 at the feed store). As Adam says, if there is room for anything except the snake, the hide is too large!
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...irseinHide.jpg

Baby ball python hunting from his hide. It's a terracotta pan from a planter ($1.00).
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...bushKiller.jpg

Large adult female ball python in her enclosure. Sterlite tub 36 x 19 x 6.5 ($11.97 WalMart)
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...nnaghinTub.jpg


~~Jo~~

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ddbjdealer

With the tubs, I burn holes in the front and sides of the sterilite tubs, keeping the back closed off to form a heat pocket at the back, and put the water bowl in the front of the tub. With no misting, and with the heat tape set to give me 93 degree hot spots, I get 50-60% humidity 24/7. When a snake goes into shed, I just lightly mist, and BAM, 70-80% for about 24 hours or so.

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In this set up is the heat tape at the back or front of the tank?

What are you using to mist with?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

If you go with sterlite or rubbermaid, just a couple of points to keep in mind.

~~Jo~~

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I was planning purchasing 24"L x 16W"x 6" tall Rubbermaid containers but now I'm wondering if I should start with smaller shoebox sized ones since I'm starting with young snakes.

How many holes should I be putting in the containers? It sounds like four would be enough, especially since I want to keep humidity in.

That's about the size we have our young male bp in...he's about 6 months old now. As long as whatever size you go with is big enough for two hides, one water dish and a proper thermal gradient so the snake can move back and forth between the warm hide and the cool hide, it'll do fine.

As far as holes you'll need more than 4 but how many really depends on your house/apartments own natural heat/humidity levels. Just start with a few, set your tank up fully, with the heat, water dish full, substrate, etc. then let the tank settle for a few hours, check your levels then add more holes as needed. I know we had to add a lot more during last August's high humidity to allow the tubs to "breathe" better but can just cover them up as needed or to temporarily raise the humidity during shed cycles.


~~Jo~~

WELCOME!!!!! Everyone here has pretty much covered it. A good idea is to also buy a thermometer / humidty digital reader ($11.88 @ WalMart). This way you can monitor the temps and humidity, takes the guess work out of it. Best of luck.:twocents:

Acu-Rite (similar product sold under another brand name at both Home Depot and Lowe's)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../Accu-Rite.jpg

Thanks to Bryce for this excellent photo.

~~Jo~~

I think I have everything I need except for the Sterilite bin. I took a picture to show what I understand the set up should look like. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...=3&userid=2810

* My lowest ambient humidity is 60%
* The heating pad will obviously go under the Sterilite container.
* I'll punch the wholes in the container on the opposite side of the bin as the heater.
* The ball python will be real, and not a cheap immitation rubber snake stolen from the floor of my son's room.
* The newspaper will not commonly feature politicians faces.
* The thermostat will be set to 92 F.

My biggest concern is that the ambient temperature in my room is only 75 degrees, and if I crank it up higher than that I'll put an end to my shrimp hatchery. Is that close enough? If not, does anyone have any suggestions?

I have the herps in my game room and generally keep the home around 76 degrees year round. I have also placed an Acu-Rite about 2/3 up on the wall around the enclosures so I can also monitor the ambient temps (kids are in and out non stop). To date I have had no issues (living in Houston, TX). This is what is working for me. You'll rest easy after a few months of monitoring, but do continue to monitor periodically LOL. Hope this helps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by srozell

I think I have everything I need except for the Sterilite bin. I took a picture to show what I understand the set up should look like. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...=3&userid=2810

* My lowest ambient humidity is 60%
* The heating pad will obviously go under the Sterilite container.
* I'll punch the wholes in the container on the opposite side of the bin as the heater.
* The ball python will be real, and not a cheap immitation rubber snake stolen from the floor of my son's room.
* The newspaper will not commonly feature politicians faces.
* The thermostat will be set to 92 F.

My biggest concern is that the ambient temperature in my room is only 75 degrees, and if I crank it up higher than that I'll put an end to my shrimp hatchery. Is that close enough? If not, does anyone have any suggestions?

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Looks pretty good! You didn't say, but I would nix the dial thermometer in your picture and get the AcuRite from WalMart that Jo posted a picture of. It's just $12 and takes one AAA battery.

I would also invest in a thermostat for the UTH (it looks like you may have a rheostat in the picture). Helix, from what I've read is the "breeder's choice" but many of us use Ranco or Johnson's.

Here's a quick picture of how my enclosure is going to look for my new kids that are coming next week (one for each of them). It's a Sterilite 1986 model that's 41 quarts, I think it was $7 for the tub. In the picture I don't have substrate, because I'm still waiting for the flexwatt and thermostat to arrive first.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...8/0/Setup1.jpg