Needing some help, first time snake owner.

Hey everyone!

I have been looking into getting a BP and finally found a 4yr male on Craigslist. The add said,
"4 yr old 3ft ball python comes with enclosure, lights, heating pad, temp/humidity gauge. "

I emailed questions and got text message answers. I decided to get the snake!

I went and picked him up today. I am now officially a first time snake owner!!!

I quickly realized when I got home that the setup she had been keeping him in is not going to work!
It is a 20 gal, long aquarium with some type of wood shavings, two lights, a white one and a black one, and a tiny hide and small heating pad. This and the snake are all I got!!!

I quickly added a water bowl and cover a section of the tank with a towel to give him some privacy.

I know he needs more and soon, but I'm not sure what I need to add/adjust/change to make the setup more suitable for him. I didn't get any thermometers or gauges or thermostats either.

I found it odd that she said, "he's really relaxed and never even hides, he's always just chilling in the cool side of his tank."
I realized it is because his "hide" couldn't fit 1/3 of his body into it and he is probably hanging out on the cool side because the warm side is too hot.

Also she said he only eats one rat once a month.. is this normal for a 4yr or will he need fed more often?
Can anyone help guide me in what I need to do to the setup to make sure he is happy and healthy?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36195246@N04/5575677868/

I'd get a bigger hide to start. And something to moniter the heat better. My BP's not 4 yet, so I'm sorry I can't be more help.

I would recommend 2x hides preferably the same. One for hot side one for cool side. Make sure it's tight but not too tight.
Also, if the heating pad isn't large enough, I would invest in a new under tank heater or UTH.
Invest in a thermostat or at least a plug in lamp dimmer.
You'll need a temp gun or thermometer with a probe. Preferably both. Put the therm. probe on top of the glass directly above the uth, that way you'll know the temp. I like my basking/hot side to be around 90 and I let the cool side stay room temp.
The wood she was hopefully using is aspen. I use newspaper but I also keep mine in tubs lol.
I feed all my snakes every 7-10 days. My ball has been off feed for 3 months now though.
Hope that helps

Hi,

Have a read through the caresheet - and some of the links at the bottom should help you as well. :)


dr del

use paper towels as substrate. just roll a few layers down on the bottom of the tank, if your tank is a 20L it should be 3 squares of paper towel to cover the bottom, i use 3 layers for absorbency. Also get a water dish, they should be able to fit in it. get 2 hides, www.reptilebasics.com is a good website for them! they are really inexpensive and made to be reptile hides. get a rheostat and an under tank heater. also some sort of foil or bubble wrap to cover the top of the cage to hold humidity in is good. dont cover it all, just about 2/3 of it.

Hello, and :welcome: to BP.net.
Nice looking BP.

I have found that a good size UTH should cover at least 1/3 but not more than 1/2 of the floor space, but smaller ones can be used.

Here are some links for some of the supplies you should get. The total for everything will cost you about $70.

Thermostat- Thermostats come in several styles, brands, prices and features. This is a good basic thermostat:

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...1529683&sr=1-7

Thermometer- This is a good thermometer. It has a probe to monitor the warm side temp, and it will give you ambient (cool side) temp and humidity, as well. You can also use a temp gun if you prefer.

http://www.amazon.com/Chaney-Instrum...533152&sr=1-25

Hides- These are the hides that I use. They are light weight, durable, and easy to clean. The medium size is good for a 3ft BP. If you don't like them, there are many different styles available, just make sure they are a good size for your snake and will fit in the tank.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/medium-hide-box

Dimmer- If you need to use one of the lamps as supplemental heat, I suggest using a lamp dimmer switch on it. This will let you adjust the amount of power to the bulb and regulate the ambient temperature. You can get them at Lowes or Home Depot in the lighting section for about $10-$12. You can also use them to control the UTH, but you will need to make a few more checks and adjust ments on it each day to maintain a fairly consistant temperature.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Instructions

Also here are a couple of threads that may give you some ideas on setting up the tank.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...p-w-pics-*DUW*

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...tment-Tutorial

The hides from reptilebasics.com are great, I have a few myself. However, if you want a slightly more cost friendly option you can get a small cat litter pan from Walmart and use that as a hide. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...0-Hides-my-way

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions!

I found two large sunny d jugs and cut them to make them into temporary hides for now. I filed the edges so they wouldn't be sharp. He was pretty interested in them but just crawled on top instead of inside them haha.
He also investigated and appreciated the water bowl I gave him.
He seems happy, for now but I am definitely running out to get him the rest of the stuff tomorrow.

I was holding him while I put the new hides and water bowl in and he was squeezing pretty darn tight. When he finally loosened up he had left an imprint on my hand... Should I take this as a sign that he's hungry? Would it be too soon to try to feed him?

Thanks for all the help.

Welcome, and congrats on your first ball python!! :D

That's good that you got him 2 new hides and a bigger water dish :gj: Those are the main things I would have suggested that you look into. He probably hasn't gone in and really settled down yet since he's still adjusting to the change, so that's perfectly normal.

And I didn't see that you had said anything about an UTH, so you should definitely get one of those instead of the lights that came with him. Lights aren't bad if you need to keep the cool side temp up, but I try to minimize their use since they will eat up humidity. And some sort of thermostat or dimmer would be good to keep the UTH from getting too hot. I personally use the Hydrofarm one that Vypyrz already linked you too on Amazon, and it works great!

So just that and a digital thermometer/hygrometer, and everything else looks good :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by astoudt

I was holding him while I put the new hides and water bowl in and he was squeezing pretty darn tight. When he finally loosened up he had left an imprint on my hand... Should I take this as a sign that he's hungry? Would it be too soon to try to feed him?

---

No, once you finally get him all set up, I would let him relax for around a week or so before trying to feed him. Squeezing like that doesn't mean he was hungry, it just means he was trying to hold onto you and keep himself from falling! :P

Just like everyone else kind of touched base on, I can't stress the importance of getting something to monitor the temps of the heat pad. At the very least you will need a plug in lamp dimmer ($10.00 at Home Depot) and a tempgun. Some use a digital thermometer, but I just don't trust them for heat pad temps. They are great for ambient temps though. Tempguns.com has a really great model for sale for $35.00, also Home Depot carries them also not sure for how much, as I got the PE-2 from tempguns.com. This is at the very least, a good thermostat is obviously preferred. That Hydrofarm one is okay, I've never used it, there's Johnsons, Ranco, Spyder Robotics Herpstat, and Helix are the popular ones from cheapest to most expensive.

Thanks again to everyone who has replied.

I do have an UTH heater for him but no thermostat (i'm working on that) so for now I have just got extra newspaper and things on top so it doesn't feel too hot to the touch.

There is a little pet store less than half a mile from my house. The owner is super nice and has a LOT of snakes. He breeds and takes in snakes that people surrender over to him. I took my little no name guy down to have the owner take a look at him because I was worried about a few spots on his scales and also he seems awfully small.
The owner confirmed my worries. He is "really underweight" but said the spots are only from previous bad sheds and should go away after a few sheds if I make sure everything goes smoothly. I told him how I had just gotten him but he said that I should try to feed him soon because of how thin he is so he sold me two rats and told me to not handle him at all tomorrow and then feed him on Saturday. He also said that's the reason he is so active. He is constantly moving back and forth in his cage like he is searching for food. I feel bad for him I want to feed him right away but should I wait so that he can spend a day in the tank warm and stuff before I feed him?

Again thanks for all the helpful tips everyone!

The UTH without a dimmer or thermostat won't necessarily feel "hot" to the touch....my UTH connected to the dimmer is over halfway DOWN and it stays at 90*.....without it it goes over 130*......you need that asap....

As far as feeding I'd wait for him to settle in a bit before trying to feed.

Alright, I finally got two digital probed thermometers for the bottoms, an air thermometer, a hygrometer, and a thermostat!

I still want to get some "decorations".. sticks and fake plants and rocks to make it all more natural.

Shew this poor snake I wonder how he has been staying alive this whole time with those people I got him from.

I am so excited to have this all set up right for him so that is comfortable now.

I texted them a nice message telling them all about how the "complete setup" they gave me was crap and how dare them try to keep a snake alive like that.
They tried to tell me, "You must be getting your information about how to care for one from someone who doesn't know what they are talking about because that tank was set up perfect for him. That's how he liked it. And you shouldn't feed him more than once every 6 weeks."

There's no use talking to people like that, as long as your setup is good now he should live comfortably. Congrats on your addition :D

Aww congrats on your first snake! I only have one as well, and am keeping him in a 20 gal long too. Good luck and at least from what you've said so far it seems like he's doing okay even though his previous owners weren't treating him right!

So I figured out that this screen on my 20 gal is part of the problem I'm having with humidity, and fixed that by placing a rubber hinged type glass aquarium lid over top of my screen. There is just enough screen still exposed to give him plenty of fresh air. My humidity is almost perfect now. I'm trying to eliminate the lights cause I've heard they can cause humidity problems as well, but even with my UTH I can't seem to keep the temp up. Should I look into adding another larger UTH for my hot side and use the smaller one I have for my cool side? The one I have says it's the right size for a 20 gal so I can't figure out why it isn't keeping my tank warm.
Anyone care to explain just how they keep their tanks warm?

THANKS in advance!