Housing for baby ball python

I'm interested in getting a new born ball python. I have a 30g tank that I used as a salt water aquarium for several years, and was thinking of converting that into a new habitat for a ball. Would 30g be too big for a young python? If so how could you properly set up a hot a cold side in a smaller (10g) class enclosure? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

10 gallon for a baby. get a under tank heater for the hot side controlled by a thermostat. Ranco,johnson,herpstat are all good ones. Adjust the thermostat before you put the snake in and keep the hot side at around 90 degrees and the cool end at low 80s. Have a hide on the hot side as well as the cool side. Provide a water bowl and try and keep humidity at around 50 percent. You can use aspen bedding,unprinted news paper,paper towel or cypress mulch. cover the top of screen with tinfoil to hold the humidity in but leave some part of it open for air circulation. Get yourself a temp gun. If the room is fairly cold you will want to provide a heat lamp as well to keep the ambient temps up in the tank. depending on how cold the room is will depend on what wattage bulb you would have to use. you could also use a 16 quart tub with the uth and thermostat as it will be easier to hold humidity.

Thanks a lot. I'm going to shop around this weekend and hopefully get it all set up. There is a reptile expo around here at the end of February where I will be shopping for my first reptile in 15 years! Really looking forward to getting back into them.

I have successfully kept babies in anything from 10 gallon to 40 gallon, they will do fine if you dont have the money for another setup!!!!!!:D

You could always make a divider out of wood or plexiglass and partition off the tank to make a smaller habitat. Then you can just adjust the divider as the snake grows until it is no longer needed...

I went ahead and picked up a 10g along with an under the tank heater, digital thermometer and humidity readers for ambient temp as well as the temps in each hide, and a ceramic infrared lamp for ambient temperature because the room it will eventually be in normally sits at around 74 degrees F. Outside of a water bowl is there anything I'm missing?

You may want to cover the back and sides of the tank for more security! Babies need alot of security! Don't handle or bother the snake for about two weeks to let it settle in then try to feed. If it doesn't take it then wait a week then try again! Good luck!

make sure you run the uth on a thermostat or it will get to hot and burn the snake.

Dont forget hides. Some say have one hide on the cool side and one hide on the warm side. It's your choice.

Good luck!

I had everything set up last night, and left the uth and infrared light on to test my temperatures. The ambient temperature of the cage stayed at about 83 all night, but the temperature in the hide rose up to 116. I was using a 10-20g uth so I figured I would drop down to a 1-5g and hook it up to a rheostat. After just two hours, and with the rheostat turned to as low as it could go, the hide temperature was still 97. Any suggestions?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jlawson

Dont forget hides. Some say have one hide on the cool side and one hide on the warm side. It's your choice.

Good luck!

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Actually, I think most, if not all, say that. You need a hide on both sides so the snake doesn't choose security over comfort, or vice versa.

Hi,

I still recommend a thermostat over a dimmer. But have you plugged the dimmer into a light and double checked you are turning it the right way - it happens quite a lot.


dr del

The dial is pretty clearly marked, but I guess it could be mislabeled. I'm running a test right now to see if I can put it on a time to run for 30 minutes, shut down for 30, then start back up and maintain a temp of 90 - 94. Once I get the readings I need I'll try it on a lamp.

Hi,

How stable are your room temps?

I'm wondering about the type of rheostat you got as well - the ones I have used go all the way from full power to completely off.


dr del

I try and keep the room temperature as close to 70F as possible, and the ambient temperature inside the enclosure hasn't changed much from 84 since I've set everything up. Right now I'm using a Zoo Med Repti-Temp Rheostat.

Ah,

That pretty much explains the problems you're having. :(

If you are dead set on a rheostat instead of a thermostat you would have more success with a lamp dimmer - lutron make some for around $10 I think.


dr del

I went ahead and ordered a ReptTemp 500R Thermostat. Hopefully that will fix the problem. Thanks for all the quick replies.

ps. I tested the dimmer on a lamp, and it's a piece of junk. There was almost no variance between the lowest setting and the highest. Here's hoping the thermostat does the job

Hi,

If you want to be certain check out the rancos and johnson controls thermostats on reptilebasics.com.

They are a little more expensive though. There are plenty of people on here using the reptitemp 500's without issue but then there are also people who dislike them. I don't think they sell them over here so I have no personal experience to pass on though. :(


dr del