Rescued a BP.. omg poor thing!! :(

Picked up a dimmer.. Slowly warming things back up. Probe on the glass bottom. He's almost fully shed, took a dip and explored last night. :)

You don't have to tell the person you get the rats from that you're going to breed them for food. And you won't be lying if you tell them you're not going to feed their pets to anything. The rats that I keep, my breeders, are pet-like. Except for one old bitey jerk and one new momma that's really skittish, I can (and do) handle/play with them. It's just their babies that wind up in the snake tubs. I keep my colonies in big chinchilla cages and I find it's nice to be able to reach in and touch the ratlets without getting attacked by super defensive mommas anyway.

Good luck with the snake, sounds like things are going well.

My unsolicited .02 to the convo:

.01- for the lid to the enclosure, you may be able to find something in the DIY section of the forums. Also a lot of turtle hobbyists use above tank basking areas so searching turtle forums for ideas on the doors/screens and such. Disclaimer: I am not saying create an above enclosure hot spot for the snake, in fact I would advise against it. I am simply suggesting a place to get ideas for DIY stuff cause turtle hobbyists are a good source for ideas.

.02- I'd rather get bit by any snake that I have than get stung by a bee. :D