lookng to buy baby snakes

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Originally Posted by rep_girl452

I now have pics of her cage and her in my profile. i know its kinda big but she loves it and i dont want to make her mad by taking it away. how do i get a pic so people can see it with my name when i post? i cannot figure out...

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I was able to view a few of the pictures but most of them only showed the dreaded red X when enlarged.

rep_girl452- When you come on this site, in the upper left hand corner there is a box that says "Main Menu". Click on "Caresheets" and there is a caresheet for Blood Pythons among them.

so my dad found my bp. he was outside of my house in my back yard.

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Originally Posted by rep_girl452

I now have pics of her cage and her in my profile. i know its kinda big but she loves it and i dont want to make her mad by taking it away. how do i get a pic so people can see it with my name when i post? i cannot figure out...

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What substrate is that?
That's a good size for when she gets older, but I don't know too much on bloods. May I suggest a good hide? :]

i'm trying to get money to get her more things, but yeah. i'm not sure i'd have to ask my brother.

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Originally Posted by rep_girl452

so my dad found my bp. he was outside of my house in my back yard.

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That's good. Don't keep your blood python together with your ball python. If you only have one cage you need to get a 2nd one or a plastic tub.

i have three cages altogether so i'm good on that.

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Originally Posted by rep_girl452

i have three cages altogether so i'm good on that.

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:gj:

i was woundering, how hard is it to change a ball's food from live to frozen? i don't have enough money to keep buying live mice for either of them...

Wow. Okay, so how old are you, really? It sounds like you haven't really had much experience keeping snakes yourself. Are your parents okay with you keeping a snake that will get to be maybe 20 lbs and have a big appetite? If you can't afford to feed them mice now (you won't save a whole lot buying frozen), what happens when your blood gets big and hungry and needs rats? They grow fast. You really really should have thought this through a lot better and waited until you were ready to keep a snake like this. Their husbandry requirements as babies are more strict than ball pythons. Everyone's offering you advice on where to go to read up on their care. For the sake of the snake, I hope you follow their advice, don't expect them to repost everything here. You have to do some of this research yourself, and should have done it before you got the snake.

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Originally Posted by rep_girl452

i was woundering, how hard is it to change a ball's food from live to frozen? i don't have enough money to keep buying live mice for either of them...

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It's too expensive to buy live prey once a week for two snakes? Shouldn't that have been something to consider before getting them?

I have to ask, are these animals going to receive vet care if they start to get sick? Have you put away money to pay for the unexpected? It worries me that all the snakes you've ever owned before died in your brother's care.

Buying rodents live from a pet store is expensive and they are always really small.

Have you considered buying f/t from a company an having them shipped to you? You would need freezer space for them, but it is a much more economical way than spending money on questionable mice from pet stores.

I would personally recommend The Mouse Factory (http://www.themousefactory.com/index.html). They sell both mice and rats turn out a great product :gj:

As for Robin's worry about a vet visit: It is a real consideration. I would encourage you to sock away money each week, if you can, so that you have $100 (minimum) saved up for an emergency.

i am going to change over to f/t starting this week. and i'm trying to find a job to help me with all the vet bills, bigger hid boxes, more bedding, lights, and more food. i figured that i would buy about 10 mice and that should last my a little bit till i can get more money...

You can level the cage with styrofoam sheets under the end that's lower. Use a carpentry level to be sure it's level.
If you don't have a level, then you can use a glass. Just measure halfway down with a ruler, and mark the glass on both sides. Then fill with water so it's to those two marks. set it on the cage, and lift the one side until the water touches both marks again.
Foam tape doesn't sound really sturdy.
Extra hides can be cheap plastic bowls(serving bowls are often $1 each) and you can cut a hole in one side or on "top" (the bottom of the bowl normally).
They won't look as nice, but the important thing is the snake's happiness and health.
I think you need to plan money wise about feeding your animals, and make sure to read the caresheets.

the foam tape is whaere the glass meets the side of the cage.

It is considerably less expensive to buy f/t mice or rats than live ones if you buy from the right sources. Where I live a pet store will charge $1.49 for a live mouse or $4.59 for a small rat. For $1.25 or less you can find f/t small rats at a local reptile show or online. The catch online is that you need to buy at least 100 rats to get a good price after factoring in the shipping. Some places (like ARS) feature free shipping to certain areas of the country for orders over $100.Your best bet might be to post here what area of what State that you live in and somebody on here could point you to the local reptile shows where you could buy small quantities of f/t at a good price.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

You can level the cage with styrofoam sheets under the end that's lower. Use a carpentry level to be sure it's level.
If you don't have a level, then you can use a glass. Just measure halfway down with a ruler, and mark the glass on both sides. Then fill with water so it's to those two marks. set it on the cage, and lift the one side until the water touches both marks again.
Foam tape doesn't sound really sturdy.
Extra hides can be cheap plastic bowls(serving bowls are often $1 each) and you can cut a hole in one side or on "top" (the bottom of the bowl normally).
They won't look as nice, but the important thing is the snake's happiness and health.
I think you need to plan money wise about feeding your animals, and make sure to read the caresheets.

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Wolfy Hound is giving you good advice here. If you bought your hides, water dishes etc from a pet store you would spend a fortune on cage accessories. You can make hides from empty flower pots made of plastic or terra cotta or cheap plastic bowls. You can find a lot of stuff that you need for free if you look and buy most of what you need in a dollar store.

She should easily swith to Frozen thawed prey. Given their fantastic appetite, I would do it early on.

Here's my two cents. I'm going to try to save you a ton of money and hard work here, so pay attention. :)


I'd ditch the large cage for now. She's small, and bloods when young prefer smaller enclosures.

Go to Walmart and purchase a Sterilite or Rubbermaid tub. Depending on the age and size of your blood roughly speaking....

12qt will work for babies up to 500 grams,
28qt for 500 to 1000 grams, and
32/41qt for 1000 grams up until they could use a large Christmas tree tub or Animal plastics T10, which measure 4x2x2.

Now, the reasoning I say to get a tub is because it’s much easier to control their climate in a tub, AND, she will feel more secure in a smaller tub, making her less stressed.

You will melt holes into the tub with a soldering iron to offer ventilation. Measure with a hygrometer until you get 60% with dry substrate.

Buy a thermoSTAT. Thermostats are going to be the most expensive thing you buy for this snake! I would recommend you look into Ranco, Johnson Controls, or Helix. Do not buy a zoomeds crap. Bloods need very constant temps and cannot have a heat spike or large dip in temps.

Buy a digital thermo-METER. I recommend Acurite Indoor/outdoor thermometer/ hygrometer. It costs 12$ from walmart and has a probe to measure the hot spot if you choose to provide one.

Now, invest in some flexwatt or a UTH. (best to buy online)

This is where some thinking and decisions come in. Are you going to provide a hot spot? Generally, bloods don’t need a hot spot and can be kept at a constant temp, but you must be certain your temps are not going to fluctuate, otherwise it would be a good idea to give a hot spot.

If you do not offer a hot spot, I would put the flexwatt on the bottom length of the enclosure, and set it for a low to mid 80's temp. (measuring with a good thermostat and thermometer probe)

If you were to offer a hot spot, I would cover 1/3rd of the enclosure to offer a hot spot from 86-88, and a low 80's ambient temp for the rest of the tub. (measuring with a good thermostat and thermometer probe)


Please read these caresheets, since everything I told you I have learned from here and asking questions for things I needed clarification on. Kara from NERD (KLG) is one of the BEST in the business, she has great advice all throughout this forum. ;)

http://www.newenglandreptile.com/CareBlood.html


http://vpi.com/publications/blood_py...ation_and_care

i went to a pet store today to get food, but they didn't have enough frozen, so my boyfriend was asking the lady about lighting and tepms. she saisd as long as i can keep her temp rught for now that i don't need a heat spot, but when winter comes i will and i'll need a semi bigger red light. i dont right now because my room is already in the mid 80's during the day and the upper 70's at night.

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Originally Posted by dsirkle

Where I live a pet store will charge $1.49 for a live mouse or $4.59 for a small rat. .

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damn dawg what store is this so i dont go there?

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Originally Posted by rep_girl452

i went to a pet store today to get food, but they didn't have enough frozen, so my boyfriend was asking the lady about lighting and tepms. she saisd as long as i can keep her temp rught for now that i don't need a heat spot, but when winter comes i will and i'll need a semi bigger red light. i dont right now because my room is already in the mid 80's during the day and the upper 70's at night.

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Pet stores are rarely going to give you proper advice, and more often than not, animals suffer in their care.

I trust the respected breeders at New England Reptile and VPI. You can't find better or more accurate information from people who have dedicated their lives to learning, understanding and breeding blood pythons.

It's always up to the keeper to stay on top of the most accurate and up to date advice. We can't force you to read anything, but I personally hope you don't listen to a pet store on snake husbandry.

I second Connie's comments.

all they sell are reptiles.

I recently gave my son a leopard gecko that I hatched. I gave him a good deal of the supplies that he needed that I had on hand and wasn't using anymore and gave him a list of things to buy prior to taking the leo home. He stopped to get these things at a Pet store that sells no animals other than reptiles. One thing on the list was a thermostat. The pet store clerk told him that a thermostat was not necessary and was a waste of money. I would listen to what Connie is saying rather than a pet store guy.

Even stores that sell only reptiles don't always know the things they should. The store I frequent is a reptile specialty store, with very experienced people, but they still don't carry everything they should, nor do they know everything. :)

The people here are knowledgeable through hands on experience. They have made the mistakes and learned from them, and pass on that learning. Stores can't care for their animals as they should or they would have too few in store to attract customer attention. Therefore, most employees go with what they see rather then look anything up. Even the owners of the stores don't necessarily have that hands-on knowledge since they have so much other stuff to work on and think about.

Trust the people here. Especially Kara and Kevin from NERD! They really know the business!

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Originally Posted by rep_girl452

i went to a pet store today to get food, but they didn't have enough frozen, so my boyfriend was asking the lady about lighting and tepms. she saisd as long as i can keep her temp rught for now that i don't need a heat spot, but when winter comes i will and i'll need a semi bigger red light. i dont right now because my room is already in the mid 80's during the day and the upper 70's at night.

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You need one side (cool side) 80-85 degrees and the other side (warm side) 90-95 degrees for the ball and 88-90 warm and 78-80 cool/ambient. There is NO need for the temperatures to go down EVER, not even at night if your not breeding.
Just because a reptile store is all about reptiles, doesn't mean the employees that are hired know or have experience with reptiles.

That ladies advice would allow the snake to SURVIVE. You want your snake to THRIVE.

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

You need one side (cool side) 80-85 degrees and the other side (warm side) 90-95 degrees for the ball and 88-90 warm and 78-80 cool/ambient. There is NO need for the temperatures to go down EVER, not even at night if your not breeding.
Just because a reptile store is all about reptiles, doesn't mean the employees that are hired know or have experience with reptiles.

That ladies advice would allow the snake to SURVIVE. You want your snake to THRIVE.

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She's talking about the blood, I think, not the ball. That's why this is now in the blood forum.;)