new BP, new set up, novice owner

1.) I purchased a BP on Friday afternoon. Its now Sunday evening and my BP has been hiding pretty much the entire time. Is there a good way to entice him to come out?

2.) I purchased the Zilla deluxe snake kit from Petsmart. In addition to the kit i purchased a UTH. The kit came with two ceramic light fixtures. One has a 75W day bulb. The other has a 50W night bulb. The terrarium is a 20 gallon long. With this set up I'm having trouble maintaining ambient temps without running both day and night bulbs at the same time. i have covered the screen top with foil temporarily to try to maintain temps but I worry at night if I shut off the day bulb that the temp may get a little too low. What heat set up is actually best for a 20 gallon long terrarium?

Any and all advice is appreciated as I'm determined to get this right.

Don't worry about enticing your bp out of its hide. Ball pythons are not the type of snake to want to be out in the open, and are happiest in their hides. As for the second question what are your temps currently at the hot and cold sides? What is the current humidity? How many hides do you have?

1) Give him at least a week or two to adjust to his place...chances are he will NOT come out.

2) I have the same exzact setup (not the kit...but same thing. Ditch the day light. Buy a $10.00 dimmer from Home Depot, get a temp gun, also from Home Depot or on Tempguns.com for $35.00. That heat mat WILL get too hot if you don't get a dimmer. Here is a picture of my 20L tank....the only light I use is a 100 Watt night black bulb...and it's more than anough to keep ambient temps right. Adjust the heat pad with the dimmer to a little less than halfway (YES they get that hot....) Check temps with the temp gun about 3 times a day and adjust as needed. You'll also need a mister, because you'll be misting a lot....tanks don't hold munidity well at all.
http://i53.tinypic.com/23uaefa.jpg

Also black Contact paper from Home Depot...about $6....stick it to the outside of both side walls and the back...makes them feel safer.

Also, read the caresheet from this site, you won't find any better or more accurate way to care for your new ball python :)

2 hides, with both lamps and the under tank heater I'm getting about 83-85 degrees on the hot side, mid to upper 70's on the cool side. I have one hide on the hot side and the other is in the middle. Without the day lamp on, the temp drops to mid to low 70's. Humidity is between 50 - 60% but needs constant misting to maintain above 50%.

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Originally Posted by stevebidw

2 hides, with both lamps and the under tank heater I'm getting about 83-85 degrees on the hot side, mid to upper 70's on the cool side. I have one hide on the hot side and the other is in the middle. Without the day lamp on, the temp drops to mid to low 70's. Humidity is between 50 - 60% but needs constant misting to maintain above 50%.

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What are you using to read the heat??

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Originally Posted by LGray23

1) Give him at least a week or two to adjust to his place...chances are he will NOT come out.

2) I have the same exzact setup (not the kit...but same thing. Ditch the day light. Buy a $10.00 dimmer from Home Depot, get a temp gun, also from Home Depot or on Tempguns.com for $35.00. That heat mat WILL get too hot if you don't get a dimmer. Here is a picture of my 20L tank....the only light I use is a 100 Watt night black bulb...and it's more than anough to keep ambient temps right. Adjust the heat pad with the dimmer to a little less than halfway (YES they get that hot....) Check temps with the temp gun about 3 times a day and adjust as needed. You'll also need a mister, because you'll be misting a lot....tanks don't hold munidity well at all.
http://i53.tinypic.com/23uaefa.jpg

Also black Contact paper from Home Depot...about $6....stick it to the outside of both side walls and the back...makes them feel safer.

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Thanks, this is great info!

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Originally Posted by LGray23

What are you using to read the heat??

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2 analog thermometers. one on each side of the tank.

analogs are very inaccurate. This is why so many of us use temp guns....Buy a digital thermometer and get rid of the analogs.

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Originally Posted by stevebidw

2 analog thermometers. one on each side of the tank.

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Those are NOT accurate at all. I had them when I first started...then got a temp gun and realized my heat pad was over 100 degrees...you really should get a temp gun before you burn him...you'll find your temps are way off....

You can get a decent digital thermometer/hydrometer at walmart for like 10 dollars. It is well worth the investment...

Looks like I had better invest in a temp gun. Thanks all.

The digital thermometers are much more accurate than the analog, but I personally prefer the temp guns because my digital thermometer is also very off...not sure why. I live by my temp gun lol...and for $35.00 you can't go wrong.

All the digital thermometer measures is ambient temp in your enclosure. I don't use it to measure the temps in my hotspot.....

Yeah I have one in mine for the ambient temps too :)

Here's a link to the best digital thermometer I've ever used:
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?...llow&cId=PDIO1

Also temp guns are great but they can also be inaccurate if they're not being aimed at the right surface type(ie. they were meant to measure surfaces with the reflectivity of something like a brown paper bag, and reflective surfaces like glass can make them read incorrectly)..just sayin'

Also, what are the ambient temps outside your tank?..cause sometimes it doesn't matter how hot your heat lamps or UTHs are if your room temperature is around 65* it's gonna take a lot of work to keep your ambient temps in your tank up high enough.

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Originally Posted by Powerspythons

Here's a link to the best digital thermometer I've ever used:
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?...llow&cId=PDIO1

Also temp guns are great but they can also be inaccurate if they're not being aimed at the right surface type(ie. they were meant to measure surfaces with the reflectivity of something like a brown paper bag, and reflective surfaces like glass can make them read incorrectly)..just sayin'

Also, what are the ambient temps outside your tank?..cause sometimes it doesn't matter how hot your heat lamps or UTHs are if your room temperature is around 65* it's gonna take a lot of work to keep your ambient temps in your tank up high enough.

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Thanks for the tips. I'm still using two lamps overhead to maintain ambient temps. Both are black night lamps. 1 is a 75W that runs constant, the other is a 100W connected to a dimmer. I also have my UTH connected to a dimmer and purchased the digital thermometer as described above. I have the probe set directly over the heat pad.

I've got black contact paper on the sides and back. I've been checking temps several times a day and adjust as needed. Eventually I'll probably upgrade to a thermostat and heat gun but I need to replenish funds first before my wife kills me :)

I'm keepin' cool side around low to mid 80's, hot side upper 80's and heat pad low 90's. I bought sphagnum moss to help maintain humidity.

Still the only time he comes out of his hide is when i take him out. But hopefully with time he'll pop out of there on occasion.

Anyway, i tried to post pics but I kept getting error messages that the files were too big.

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Originally Posted by stevebidw

1.) I purchased a BP on Friday afternoon. Its now Sunday evening and my BP has been hiding pretty much the entire time. Is there a good way to entice him to come out?

Don't entice him to come out of his hide, unless it's feeding time. Other than, trying to get him out of his hide will only stress him out. Let him come out of his hide on his own. A BP that is in his hide all the time is a happy snake. If he's always out of his hide and roaming, that's a definite concern. Which means a stressed snake, which is not good/healthy. Being that he's been in his hide for that long, is a good sign. Let him enjoy being in his hide, unless you want to take him out to handle him. My BP stay's in his hide all the time, only comes out when he's thirsty, or when's regulating his body temperature. And he goes back into his hide, or he'll peep his head out of his hide when he's hungry. Lol

2.) I purchased the Zilla deluxe snake kit from Petsmart. In addition to the kit i purchased a UTH. The kit came with two ceramic light fixtures. One has a 75W day bulb. The other has a 50W night bulb. The terrarium is a 20 gallon long. With this set up I'm having trouble maintaining ambient temps without running both day and night bulbs at the same time. i have covered the screen top with foil temporarily to try to maintain temps but I worry at night if I shut off the day bulb that the temp may get a little too low. What heat set up is actually best for a 20 gallon long terrarium?

You can stick with just the UTH, or both a UTH and overhead heat lamp. But you run into humidity issues with an overhead heat lamp. But that's easily fixable with adding a humid hide/moving the water dish to the uth, etc. I suggest not to use a daylight. Since BP's are nocturnal and rarely see sunlight. They won't benefit from the daylight it will just stress him out, since it's bright. He will be happy in paradise with just a night bulb/red infrared bulb. Make sure you have a thermostat to control the UTH, and a dimmer switch for the heat lamp if you decide to keep it. And from there you can adjust temps accordingly. And for sure cover up one side of the top screen with foil to help maintain/hold humidity.

Any and all advice is appreciated as I'm determined to get this right.

Don't forget, digital thermometers/hygrometers as well with proper substrate, etc.!
Good luck! Enjoy your snake! And keep us updated!

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