Soon To Be New Owner(I hope!) Questions.

Oh, I know that. It was a joke. Kinda. Sorta....Yea.

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I'm sure my roommate will come in here and think of PLENTY more to ask, don't worry.

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That would be me! As the more level-headed of the two, I'm glad she drug me over here and made me start reading in preparation for this. I've been a fan of snakes for a long time now, so finally making the plans to acquire one is a big thing we're both reall excited about!

Yeah, questions...

First and foremost, I'm a bit worried about temperature. I absolutely understand the need for constant heating, and have picked up that having two different temperature regions is important, too (one section/half slightly cooler than the other). What concerns me more is the temperature outside the enclosure. LSama forgot to mention that our shared space is a basement. We keep it pretty cool down here year around... is this something we're going to have to change?

I've also seen it mentioned more than once that BPs are "shy"; how shy are we talking here? I understand that each critter is unique, but in general - temperment-wise - is too much handling going to be stressful for them? I don't know about her (or any of you for that matter!) but I'm going to have a pretty hard time keeping my hands off! I will if I have to, of course, but how sociable can we be with the "slitherbaby"?

Also, thanks for the reassurance about the music. I admit it, I'm an addict - but my cravings are far more melodic than bass-ic, and knowing that both reptile and audiophile can cohabitate eases my mind considerably.

Oh, and backing up a bit, on the topic of 'shy' snakes and stress and whatnot... lets talk about kids. Okay, just one kid. One very well behaved, intelligent and inquisitive seven year old little girl (those are LSama's words, verbatim). She's never really seen a snake close up, and while she rarely comes down into the basement... well, how has anyone here handled the acclimation between snake and child, making it as un-stressful as possible for BOTH?

That's about it for now, but I betcha there'll be more questions before we're off to MARS!

Ah, don't mind her - or me, for that matter. We really are smarter than we sound. We're just... erm... silly. Yeah, that's the ticket. Hence "slitherbaby"...

... and no, we are NOT going to name him Julius, L. I forbid it.

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Originally Posted by Mygaera

First and foremost, I'm a bit worried about temperature. I absolutely understand the need for constant heating, and have picked up that having two different temperature regions is important, too (one section/half slightly cooler than the other). What concerns me more is the temperature outside the enclosure. LSama forgot to mention that our shared space is a basement. We keep it pretty cool down here year around... is this something we're going to have to change?

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Don't worry about the outside temps, as long as the inside temps are fine.

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Originally Posted by Mygaera

I've also seen it mentioned more than once that BPs are "shy"; how shy are we talking here? I understand that each critter is unique, but in general - temperment-wise - is too much handling going to be stressful for them? I don't know about her (or any of you for that matter!) but I'm going to have a pretty hard time keeping my hands off! I will if I have to, of course, but how sociable can we be with the "slitherbaby"?

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Too much handling can stress them, but some snakes tolerate it pretty well, it depends on the snake.

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Originally Posted by Mygaera

Oh, and backing up a bit, on the topic of 'shy' snakes and stress and whatnot... lets talk about kids. Okay, just one kid. One very well behaved, intelligent and inquisitive seven year old little girl (those are LSama's words, verbatim). She's never really seen a snake close up, and while she rarely comes down into the basement... well, how has anyone here handled the acclimation between snake and child, making it as un-stressful as possible for BOTH?

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Don't worry about it, as long as the child knows how to handle it, and you are watching, it is not a problem.

Oh, I hate to be the one to open THIS can of worms..but after reading around some more, I've got another question. One I'm going to HATE asking...

In the beginning, I had planned doing f/t feedings, but I've read a few horror stories that say that people were having mice/rats BURST OPEN?!!?

Someone please tell me this is a rare occurance, 'cause while it doesn't exactly squick me out, I'm not keen on the idea of it happening to me.

Now, moving to the next question, involving this: I found the thread about using dry ice to humanely kill rats and it sounds really easy and painless. So let's say I could do that. After you euthanize a rat in such a way, is there any amount of time that you should/have to wait before feeding that rat to the snake? I mean, I know CO2 is a gas and all, but is there any way that 'residue' could affect the snake? Or myself? I know I should never touch dry ice with my bare hands, but when I open the container holding rat and ice, is there any chance that the escaping fumes could hurt me?

(I never took chemistry, so if that last question makes me look ENTIRELY STUPID, I understand completely, don't worry. :3 )

It's also been said that the dry ice doesn't last long--it wouldn't last overnight in a freezer or anything, but how long, estimated, does it last? Or, in the words of Bill Engvall, on Dissolving Toilet Paper, "Just how rapidly are we talking, here?"

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Originally Posted by LSama

In the beginning, I had planned doing f/t feedings, but I've read a few horror stories that say that people were having mice/rats BURST OPEN?!!?

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Yup, it happens. It isn't frequent.

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Now, moving to the next question, involving this: I found the thread about using dry ice to humanely kill rats and it sounds really easy and painless. So let's say I could do that. After you euthanize a rat in such a way, is there any amount of time that you should/have to wait before feeding that rat to the snake? I mean, I know CO2 is a gas and all, but is there any way that 'residue' could affect the snake? Or myself? I know I should never touch dry ice with my bare hands, but when I open the container holding rat and ice, is there any chance that the escaping fumes could hurt me?

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I have no idea about this.LOL

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Originally Posted by bpkid

Yup, it happens. It isn't frequent.

I have no idea about this.LOL

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Boy, that dry ice is looking better and better with each passing second--regardless of whether or not Mygaera finds me KO'd on the floor one day due to fumes. I mean, I SERIOUSLY doubt that it woud do me any harm--rats are ittybitty and it takes less to kill them, but still..

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Originally Posted by LSama

Boy, that dry ice is looking better and better with each passing second--regardless of whether or not Mygaera finds me KO'd on the floor one day due to fumes. I mean, I SERIOUSLY doubt that it woud do me any harm--rats are ittybitty and it takes less to kill them, but still..

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You could always buy bulk frozen rodents.

Yea, but then I run the risk of them exploding on me! And honestly, the idea of doing it with the dry ice DOES sound more appealing, to me. I'll ask around at a few other places.

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Originally Posted by LSama

Hi there. While I've been watching--and researching!--these forums for the past several months, there are still a few questions I'd like to ask, because each new owner has special circumstances. I like to get answers to questions that I know are going to apply to my situation and no one elses. So, let me get started--.....

Oh. Yes. I'm Lauren. :D I guess I should get that out of the way first, huh? While this will be my first ball python that I've owned, it's something I've wanted since I was...gosh, 13? Ten(nearly eleven) years later, I think I'm ready for it! Now, to the questions!

I'm considering a BP, hopefully to be purchased at MARS this year. So that's my first question; I would prefer to buy from a buyer that is, at the very least, someone local to my area. I live in Glen Burnie; I'm about 10-20 minutes from Baltimore and Annapolis, give or take a few minutes. Are there any reputable dealers that you guys can suggest I should keep my eyes open for, while I'm at MARS? Which brings me to my next question...

I know MARS is a big event, and I'm slightly worried that the only thing I'm going to see while I'm there is going to be nothing but really expensive morphes, something I don't have the cash for, frankly. I'm sure some of you have been to MARS(or go regularly!)--is this something I should even be bothered with worrying about? I'm looking to get just a plain ol' normal BP, though believe you me when I say that I love some of the pictures of the reduced patterns I've seen floating around on the forums, of normals(Oh, those long back stripes, how I love them..!). Oh, this leads into another question...

While I understand what reduced is, I'm not 100% sure what 'blushing' and 'flames' are--I mean, I know they are patterns/colors/lackthereof! on snakes, but do you think you guys could give me a better explination(a visual would be even better!)?

Onto the topic of enclosures. First of all, what are good size dimensions for a slitherbaby? I've heard that getting something too big can be stressful, and I don't want that..and while I'm sure, one day, I'm going to want something nice and lovely to look at(AP, I'm thinking!), I've read that rubbermade/sterilite is a widely used enclosure; It's cheap, it holds humity well, and can be replaced easily as soon as the snake gets bigger. And while a glass tank would be aesthetically pleasing, I've heard it a bit harder to keep the humidity right--and they make sterilite that's virtually see-through anyway..
But I've a slight concern. I intend to use UTH pads for heating: Is this safe to use with plastic, no matter how heavy-duty, directly? Or should I put something between the pad and the plastic? I certainly DON'T want to melt it! Heck, should I decide to use a glass aquarium, for whatever reason, does the same still apply? Because I don't want to burn my new slitherbaby, either! And what is safe to put the heating pad, itself, on? The place I have in mind for the snake is atop a large metal trunk, that currently has a sheet across the top of it? Is that safe to put the UTH on, itself?

Substrate! Newspaper, while cheap and effective..well, it just doesn't look all that flattering, if you ask me. I've heard that aspen shavings are really good; I was considering using maybe a bottom layer of newspaper and cover that in the shavings..But then, earlier, I saw a video of someone who had apparently been simple shredding paper in a paper shredder(I believe they said it was junk mail, actually!), which I have. Which leads to this question: Is this safe? I've read there are concerns about substrate getting stuck to fur on rodents and then making it into the python's mouth, which is probably not a good thing..I imagine a paper cut in the mouth wouldn't be much funner(Though this is probably horribly unlikely)! And like pine is unsafe for snakes, I'm worried that...well, that if the paper got wet, who knows where it's been and what it's got on it.. Is this really safe? Or should I just stick to newspaper/aspen shavings and call it a day? Though I could probably make a newspaper last a loooong time if I shave that bad boy up..

My roommate and I(you'll probably see her show up on this thread and ask more questions!) are insane audiophiles..and we listen to music constantly. I wear headphones, but she doesn't have that luxury. It's not like we're talking booming, insanely loud bass here, or anything like that, but at night, she likes to keep it on--helps her sleep. During the day, it's very quite down here in the basement, but I don't want the snake to become stressed out by the music that's on at night--again, we're not talking about anything insanely loud or anything, but still, sound is sound, and snakes have ears too! ...Kinda. ..Sorta. Yea.

I think that covers most of my current questions. I think. I'm sure my roommate will come in here and think of PLENTY more to ask, don't worry.

I greatly, greatly appreciate all of you--reading this forum has really helped me in the past few months!

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Here's a few photo's to illustrate (pics worth a thousand words sort of thing).

Acu-Rite from WalMart....$12 plus one AAA battery...these things are golden to monitor your temps and humidity. You place the actual unit on your cooler side, run the long thin probe cord out and back into the tub and tuck the probe into your warmer side hide. Push a few buttons and you get IN Temp which is your cool side, OUT temp which is your warmer side inside the hide and tub humidity. You can use velcro to attach the unit to the tub...never use any type of tape...none of it is safe around snakes.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...g/Acu-Rite.jpg

One of our typical baby tubs. Very simple...two hides, one water dish, newspaper substrate and an Acu-Rite. You could just as easily use Aspen though. Just make sure the tub has a very secure lid or you add heavy clips, bungie cord, etc. Snakes are escape artists and anything more than 1/8" give they can slither out (especially babies). There is a baby BP in this tub in this pic btw. She was snoozing away in her hide and probably never noticed I was snapping pics.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...MuirnesTub.jpg

Newspaper trick you'll likely have read about here. Helps settle in nervous snakes of all ages.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ickTopView.jpg

Another hide idea for bigger snakes. Just a heavy black rubber dog dish with an entrance cut out and aspen for substrate (see happy snoozing snake LOL)
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...irseinHide.jpg

One of our adult females in her big tub. This tub is 39 x 19 x 6.5 and easily fit her 2,000 gram, 4 foot size.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...nnaghinTub.jpg

Handy little totes you can find anywhere (WalMart, dollar stores, etc). Melt a few holes with a soldering wand (another must have purchase....got mine from WalMart for $6.00). These are great for taking to the show to bring your baby home in, putting her in while cleaning her home, vet visits, etc. They came in a few sizes and run around $3 to $6
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...nsportCage.jpg

You can spend a small fortune at a pet store but I'd suggest going plain and easy for a baby BP setup. Looks are second to efficiency when you are getting used to these unique pets and you want everything in it's environment stable so that you encourage it to eat well. A lot of refusals to eat are rooted in poor husbandry so simple tub setups tend to cut that issue down a lot for new owners.

I would suggest getting all your supplies together and setting up the tub complete with a full water dish for a week. Let it sit at least 24 hours then start tweaking to get your desired goal of cool side 82-84 degrees, warm side 92-94degrees and ambient humidity of about 50-60%. Far easier to be doing this well before you actually get the new baby snake in. That way you can add more vent holes if you need, bump or lower temps, etc. quite easily.

Congrats on planning so well in advance and welcome to BPNet!