Pricing/purchasing and questions.

Hey all! I'm David I'm 20 years old, living at home while I finish college, thought I'd give a small intro while I ask some questions. Sooooo I've decied to get a snake since I'm allergic to just about anything that doesn't have scales (Yes even birds... Figure that one out :rolleyes:). But after 30 or so hours of reading/research I have a couple of questions.

1. I'd like to get a morph if I can, but funds are limited. I have about 300-350 dollars, but that has to include tank/setup as well, whats the pricing like for a morph. The ones I've seen seem to be all over the place, anywere from 100 bucks to 3 or 4 thousand. I'm particularly interested in a killerbee, pastel or albino but in all honesty any morph in my price range is good with me. I wouldn't complain about a normal BP either, which leads me into my next question.

2. Where to find a good breeder, I was able to find 1 in my area that I've sent an email to, but if I can't find something on line I'll have to wait until october when the reptile Expo is held here in SLC Utah, (something I dont really want to do). I've seen a few links here on the website but the bigger my selection the more likely I can find what I'd like.

3. What does HET mean. I figure its either a breeding thing or something thats so obvious I have just missed it.

4. When I get my snake I'm hoping to get a very young snake, if I do which is better. To purchase a 10-20 gallon tank and upgrade as he/she grows or to just get a 30 gallon tank and make sure I've provided the snake with a few small hide boxs that are small enough for the snake to feel comfortable.

Thanks for the help! Hopefully I'll be the proud owner of a BP soon.
David.

Hi David. Well if you opt for a thermostat that will set you back a bit depending on model. That still leaves enough for a few different morphs.
Pastel, or a spider would be good. Pastels vary in quality/price, as do most morphs.
Shop around, go to show if you can.

Thanks for the quick reply Dave! I found a good website with a few different snakes I can select but I'm still looking at this point. I'll be buying the best cage setup I can afford. I'd rather get a normal BP and a good set up to keep it happy then a poor setup and pretty snake. I had a thought though about Albino snakes .

With other animals albino's can be kind of tempermental and have kind of an attitude sometimes. I was wondering, has anybody with an albino in there collection noticed any problems like that that could be attributed to there being an albino.

Very good of you to research before you buy. I would take a look around this site and read about the different set ups. Ball pythons do much better in "tubs" as you will see them called. Its a simple plastic tub from walmart or target etc....
I started with a 10 gallon glass tank, but very quickly decided that the tub route was going to be much easier. I had to have a heat lamp and that took all the humidty out so I was misting two-three times a day...very annoying.

First off check out these links

Here is the Ball Python Care Sheet
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=59

This is a nice write up on humidity
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=33

Here is a very do it yourself for a tub set up
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules/...warticle&id=40

Those are some good places to start.

I would suggest you also check out the morph list here
http://www.worldofballpythons.com/morphs/

I would figure out what all you need for your set up...glass tank or plastic tub. Get every and get it set up. Get the temps and humidity running smoothly. Then find what morph you REALLY want (do not settle because then you will end up a few snakes...) trust me it is addiciting!!
Once you really figure out what morph you want to look at for the next 15-20 years go to the SLC show and get one. Right now there is going to be slim pickings due to being the end of breeding season and people are just getting eggs. It 90 days there will be a ton of hatchlings out there to buy.
I can say in your price range the tub set up is much cheaper and normally easier to care for. Your not going to leave yourself much if you do not wait. Just make sure your happy with the morph you pick because the more your on this site and the more pictures you see the more you will want it if you do not get it up front.

Definitely get your enclosure set-up first, whether it be a tub, tank, or rack. I would suggest going ahead and investing in a good thermostat now. It will save you the headaches of constantly checking and tweaking a dimmer. Once you have the enclosure up and running, then you can save/ search for your new snake. Good Luck and :welcome:

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Definitely get your enclosure set-up first, whether it be a tub, tank, or rack. I would suggest going ahead and investing in a good thermostat now. It will save you the headaches of constantly checking and tweaking a dimmer. Once you have the enclosure up and running, then you can save/ search for your new snake. Good Luck and :welcome:

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Maybe I'm confused, I thought that most UTH's had thermostats built in and you regualated the tempreture of the cage with airflow and by spacing the UTH from the bottom of the cage.

I would definitely go with a tub vs a cage/aquarium. About a year ago I built a nice cage (because I thought all of the people on here housing their bp's in tubs were crazy). Well, I figured it out the hard way, and am now looking to buy a rack. With all of the money I spent building my beautiful enclosure I could have built or bought a nice rack for multiple snakes.

You see, bp's are very secretive and poor display animals. They are perfectly content in a tub.

This is what I would get to get started:

32 qt sterilite tub -- $7 (it's a bit large for a baby, but you can clutter it up with plants, etc. and it should work just fine for pretty much it's whole life)

flexwatt or uth -- $20 (reptile basics or petco, etc.)

reptitemp 500r thermostat -- $25 (amazon)

hides -- $5 (check out the hide sticky, or order from reptile basics if you get flexwatt from there)

water bowl -- $3 (just use a dog one from Walmart or Target)

unprinted packing paper for substrate -- $10 (Home Depot -- should last for a couple years)

Accurite thermometer $12 (to monitor temps and humidity) -- walmart

Aluminum tape $7 -- Walmart (to attach uth to tub)

Plastic terrarium plants (2) $14 -- petsmart

That's about all you need to get started, for a grand total of 100 bucks give or take.

I would say that would leave you with about $200 for a bp (figuring in about $50 average cost to ship a snake from a breeder)

You could probably pick up a normal, mojave, spider, or pastel.

I would defintitely check out baileyreptiles.com -- top notch!

Good luck!

Any more ?'s -- just ask!

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Originally Posted by David802

Maybe I'm confused, I thought that most UTH's had thermostats built in and you regulated the temperature of the cage with airflow and by spacing the UTH from the bottom of the cage.

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I don't know of any UTH that has a thermostat built in. The UTH is just a pad that plugs into the wall. The thermostat is the device that controls the amount of power going to the device. It has a probe that you adhere to the UTH so it controls the heat source directly.

If you want to go with a tank, it really doesn't have to be too expensive. You will need a UTH, thermostat, accurite thermometer/hygrometer combo, two hides, and a water dish at minimum.

If you want to go with a tub, it would be even cheaper and less of a hassle in terms of humidity.

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Originally Posted by David802

Maybe I'm confused, I thought that most UTH's had thermostats built in and you regualated the tempreture of the cage with airflow and by spacing the UTH from the bottom of the cage.

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I actually raise my tub off of the floor (I have it under my bed on top of a sheet of plexiglass) with 2 liter bottle caps super glued to each corner. That gives the heat tape ventilation.

You control the temp by placing (taping with aluminum tape) the thermostat's temp probe directly to the heat tape (on the outside bottom of the tub).

If you only have about $350 to buy everything you need, I suggest using a tub. Setting up a nice tank will cost WAYYYY more than a tub. Icurrently have a tank setup and its amazing, but that only because I only have 1 ball python currently. Once I get a couple more, I will switch them all to tubs in a rack system.

You can get 2 hides, substrate, a tub, and water dish for less than $40 all-toether. That leaves you with around $300 for a snake. You can get a nice pastel around where I live for around $100-$150. You could also just go for a normal for your first one to save money and even see if your truely going to get into the hobby before you shell out tons on a morph.

Everyone always wants a morph but to be honest regulars are nice to have too. My favorite is actually the regular.

So, $40 for the tub and substrate, and water dish and hides. And $300 to shop around for the snake you want.

I suggest saving some of that money and putting it aside though. You will need money for a feeder mouse every 5-7 days, and also any unexpected vet visits if your snake gets ill.

Good luck though man, your going to love having a BP

:gj:

EDIT - Oh im sorry man, I totally left out the heat tape or heat pad along with a thermostat and thermometer. I use the zoomed heat pad hooked up to a REPTITEMP 5OOR, and an accurite thermometer from walmart. You can get these 3 things together for around $60.

@ chapskis1 .... you are a god! Thanks for the list, I was trying to figure it out on my own but having something like that will make my life a million times easier.

@ Kaorte = thanks for clearing that up, it makes more sense that way. I thought the thermostat was for heating lights. makes more sense now. =D

@ purplepython = Normals do look beautiful, but this is the only snake I'll get for at least 4-5 more years, once I've finished college and live on my own I Can get more but I had to talk until I was blue in the face to be aloud to do this, that being said if this is the only one I'll have for a number of years I want it to be the absolute perfect one. I'll have money for mice every week I have a full time job it just takes most of what I make to pay tuition. And I already have money put away for any unexpected vet visit, about a year ago I purchased 2 ferrets and put 200 away for vet bills, that money is still in a savings account even though the ferrets are long gone. :(

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Originally Posted by David802

3. What does HET mean. I figure its either a breeding thing or something thats so obvious I have just missed it.

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It looks like everyone answered your questions besides this one.

When a snake is heterozygous (het) for a certain morph that means they carry one co-dom or dominant allele and a recessive allele. So a heterozygous snake will carry an allele for a certain morph but it will not be visual so this is why breeders keep records proving genetics. For example the recessive gene could be albino or pied. This is comparable to redheaded humans (i'm one of these lucky individuals :D) Just search heterozygous and you'll find info that is much more in-depth.

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Originally Posted by Falconsmith

It looks like everyone answered your questions besides this one.

When a snake is heterozygous (het) for a certain morph that means they carry one co-dom or dominant allele and a recessive allele. So a heterozygous snake will carry an allele for a certain morph but it will not be visual so this is why breeders keep records proving genetics. For example the recessive gene could be albino or pied. This is comparable to redheaded humans (i'm one of these lucky individuals :D) Just search heterozygous and you'll find info that is much more in-depth.

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Ic Thanks for the info, that makes sense.:D

Another question. How large a UTH do I need for a 32 qt tub?

Sorry for the double post. it wouldn't let me edit the last one.

They usually suggest that your uth should cover approximately 1/3 of your floor space. A 32 qt tub is about 24x16 -- so ideally you would want a uth that is 8x16 approximately. I'm not sure what size the zoomed or other heat mats come in.

I use flexwatt -- which you can get from reptilebasics.com It is sold by the foot, and Rich will wire it for you so all you have to do is hook it up to a thermostat and plug it in. It is also considerably cheaper than a heat mat -- even with the shipping.

Oh yeah...I am using 1 foot of 11" flexwatt on my tub (yeah, I know -- that's about half of the floor space. I suppose you could use 4" flexwatt, or two strips of 3" or 4"? (placed side by side?).

The main reason the "experts" say to only cover 1/3 of the floor space is in case of a thermostat failure then your snake has a cool place to escape to.

Hope this helps....

Rich at www.reptilebasics.com also has these amazing heat mats that are supposidly dedicated to reptile use, they get up to 97 degrees on the mat. I have one for my leopard gecko cage i tempgun at about 89-92 depending on ambient room temps. I'm not sure if I'd trust one with plastic but email him and see. Rich is an amazing guy and has excellent customer service.

these are those mats. http://www.reptilebasics.com/ultratherm-heat_pads/

the only reason im not using them for snakes is because i've got a small rack wired with flexwatt and hooked up to a thermostat.

You guys are awesome! I got my tank setup last night except for the thermostat which will be here tomorrow.

The snake should also be here tomorrow. The tank stays about 82 on the cool side and 93 on the warm side on top

Once I get the thermostat will it be able to handle the fluctuation of the bedroom temperature? My room is anywere from 80 degrees to about 62 depending on time of day and whether or not my window is open.

If it gets down to 60 with your window open, you'll not want to have your window open while you have the BP. Not only do you need to worry about cold and warm temps, but ambient temp too.

Maybe you can insulate the tank to keep ambient temps up while you have your window open. But I don't have experience with that, so I really don't know if that's possible.

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Originally Posted by Elise.m

If it gets down to 60 with your window open, you'll not want to have your window open while you have the BP. Not only do you need to worry about cold and warm temps, but ambient temp too.

Maybe you can insulate the tank to keep ambient temps up while you have your window open. But I don't have experience with that, so I really don't know if that's possible.

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:P I'm going to have to figure something out, I like it cool at night.

The snake will be here tomorrow and the tank has held to the same temps as the last post I made!

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Originally Posted by David802

:P I'm going to have to figure something out, I like it cool at night.

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What I did was cover three sides of the tank with foam board with mylar lining it. In addition I have mylar on half the screen with a hole cut in it for my lamp ... with this my room can stay comfortable with me, and good for Rumple.

Mind you I also have a 50 - 60 gallon tank, in Nova Scotia, so heating is a bit difficult. And I'm on a serious mylar binge. :weirdface

David802,
What kind of snake did you end up getting?
That's so exciting!!! I so can't wait until October! Oh, I'm in Roosevelt, Utah.