Feeding help and what I have tried so far???

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Originally Posted by MissterDog

You sure you mean a thermoSTAT and not a thermoMETER right? Kira already linked to a good budget friendly thermostat to get started on if you are tight on money. However if you are willing to spend more for a higher quality thermostat with better longetivity I highly recommend herpstats.

https://www.spyderrobotics.com/index...=index&cPath=1

As for African soft furs you'd be better off fixing your husbandry first and keeping with regular rats before pursuing asf. Unless you have readily available supplier they can be incredibly hard to come by on a regular basis and I've often heard of ball pythons being unable to switch back to any other prey once they've been established on afs. So be careful with afs unless you are ready to commit to only feeding asf and finding back up suppliers and hope they stay in business say 5-10 years from now. Just a possibility you may need to consider depending where you live.

But as others already pointed out your first focus is addressing your husbandry before feeding and answer Deborah's questions.

If you are only using a heat pad for your hot spot, which does nothing for ambient temps, then yes you may want to invest in a CHE lamp (on a thermoSTAT) to raise and maintain a steady ambient instead of dealing with fluctuations. Just keep in mind you will need BOTH your CHE and heatpad regulated by a thermostat.

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I ordered this for the over head heat lamp and humidity.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I also ordered the one that was linked for the heating pad. Now lets talk about settings? So much conflicting information here as well. What settings to use for all 3?

I am so grateful to everyone who is offering advice. A little history about me. I have had 2 corn snakes, 1 king snake, and 1 rather mean green tree boa. This is my first ball python. I fell in love with the different morphs and am studying how they are genetically driven. I am so excited to move into the world of larger snakes. I hope what I learn with my first ball will help me become a better caretaker for future pythons I will eventually own. I just downloaded the app that will allow me to share photos.

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Originally Posted by Skyrivers

I ordered this for the over head heat lamp and humidity.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I also ordered the one that was linked for the heating pad. Now lets talk about settings? So much conflicting information here as well. What settings to use for all 3?

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this is where you need to play scientist and run some tests on your own. everyone's environment and location is different so there is no one set way to achieve the proper temperatures. you need to create a 90° F hot spot, a 75-80° F cold side, and ~60% humidity, and how you achieve that with your equipment is up to you and your knowledge.

the thermostat probe for the UTH is placed between the UTH and the bottom of the enclosure OUTSIDE of the enclosure. this is very important, as you measure the temperature of the hot spot inside the enclosure BELOW any substrate. you'll likely have to set the thermostat for the UTH a couple degrees higher than the ideal hot spot (90° F). for the heat lamp, you're going to have to dangle the probe just above the substrate and adjust the settings for the lamp to the temperature readings in the enclosure.

does this make sense? :)

It's really not at all conflicting.

Hot spot that is referring to the inside bottom of the tank where the UTH is should be where you read for warm side temps. This is where the warm hide will be and should read between 88-92 degrees. 90 is a generally agreed upon target temp that is acceptable for most if not all juvenile and above ball pythons. You do not read from the top of the substrate for this as the snake will push and dig down to the heat. The UTH thermostat probe must be placed outside the tank in direct contact with the UTH. The best method is to wedge it between the tank and UTH itself. The thermostat probe must not be inside where the snake can lay or relieve themselves on and cause false readings.

The ambient temperature is the air temperature between the hot side hide and the cool side hide and should be aimed for a range between upper 70s to lower 80s so somewhere between 78-82 is a good target range.

The cool side is where the cool hide will be and should be taken inside or near the cold hide at the substrate level but not against the glass and should be above 75 degrees and a good target is roughly 10-12 degrees cooler than the hot side.

The danger levels are if you start getting it above 95 degrees on the hot side and below 75 in the rest of the tank. As long as you keep the temps out of those extremes you should be good.

The key is stable temps. If you can keep temp fluctuation within a 3-5 degree swing you are doing excellent. Also do not worry so much if there is a temporary cool down so long as it is not drastic and it is not long lasting. For example if the cage cools to say 74 for a few days it's not going to be bad. What you want to make sure is you don't leave it cool for any period of time.


So in summary, 90 degree target temp at bottom of tank where UTH is, upper 70s to low 80s for ambient temp between warm and cool hide and above 75 degrees on cool hide.

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

this is where you need to play scientist and run some tests on your own. everyone's environment and location is different so there is no one set way to achieve the proper temperatures. you need to create a 90° F hot spot, a 75-80° F cold side, and ~60% humidity, and how you achieve that with your equipment is up to you and your knowledge.

the thermostat probe for the UTH is placed between the UTH and the bottom of the enclosure OUTSIDE of the enclosure. this is very important, as you measure the temperature of the hot spot inside the enclosure BELOW any substrate. you'll likely have to set the thermostat for the UTH a couple degrees higher than the ideal hot spot (90° F). for the heat lamp, you're going to have to dangle the probe just above the substrate and adjust the settings for the lamp to the temperature readings in the enclosure.

does this make sense? :)

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Yes it does.

The pet store guessed he was 6-8 months old. Does that seam correct?

Here are some pictures. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...60a1d60f0b.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...59d097234b.jpg

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Originally Posted by Skyrivers

Yes it does.

The pet store guessed he was 6-8 months old. Does that seam correct?

Here are some pictures. https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...60a1d60f0b.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...59d097234b.jpg

Sent from my N9560 using Tapatalk

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honestly it's impossible to tell from a photo. weight is a better indicator. and just so you know, he looks very plump. :) a few missed meals aren't hurting him at all.

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

the thermostat probe for the UTH is placed between the UTH and the bottom of the enclosure OUTSIDE of the enclosure. this is very important, as you measure the temperature of the hot spot inside the enclosure BELOW any substrate.

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a picture is worth a thousand words...
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...842f0a184f.jpg

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Originally Posted by Skyrivers

He has always been fed live and so offering live.

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Slow down. Dont panic, they can go for Months & Months without eating. Don't try to feed more than once every 7 days or refusing becomes habit forming. Keep him in a quiet room without kids or high traffic. Offer the food after 8pm when nobody has bothered him & ONLY when he is in his hide. Do Not turn the lights on or have, the entire Family and neighbors standing over the enclosure watching. They sense it. Ball Pythons are not aggressive hunters normally. They are opportunistic. They rather sit quietly and snatch something when it walks by the hide door and pull it in to eat alone. All the monkeying around you will be doing with the enclosure and Thermostat soon will put this off longer. He needs proper temps and to adjust to his new home before he will be content. Hold off on feeding for a week after his enclosure is all set and leave him be. Once he eats you will understand the signs of hunger also. Most peak their nose out the hide door at night. This is how they wait for the perfect chance to snag something going by. Good luck and dont worry as long as he is 88/90 hot Hide UTH and a 78/80 cool hide your ok. Mine spend 98% of their time in the cool...
Also as far as Ambient.. You can get a smaller 12 watt UTH and run it at 78 under your cool hide or get a (100 watt for 20 gal tank) CHE for over the cool side. The small UTH at this point would be easiest for you. Heat lamps and CHE's dry the tanks out bad. The biggest thing to remember is that they have to be on Thermostats. A small UTH can get to 140 degrees directly plugged into the wall. If you cant afford a Herpstat 2 that runs two heat sources ($189) then go to Lowes and get 2 Dimmer Switch extension cords. They are $15.99. They are not reliable IMO but better than nothing.
Take your time and read this stuff over and over. Write it down if you need to and you will start to get a handle on it.
Most of all take things in stride here. Sometimes people come off aggressively but thats because everyday people come on here and have a snake in distress because they bought one without knowing what to do or they listened to some nonsense a 18 yr old worker at Petsmart told them that doesn't know the difference between a ball python and a meal worm hahahahahaha
Good Luck.


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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

a picture is worth a thousand words...
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...842f0a184f.jpg

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Got it and thanks. Will have it set up tomorrow after work.

SDA and tttaylorrr pretty much covered everything about settings and ideal temp ranges. To better read your surface temps for your hot spot I highly reccomend buying a temp gun. They are pretty inexpensive on amazon!

this is the one I use and works great!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1