New Ball Python Owner

Hello,

My mom came home on Thursday with about an 18' ball python from PetSmart. On Sunday I fed him a pinky since they where outs of fuzzies at the store. i need to buy some more things for him, like hide and better thermometers. I have a UTH on the side with the hide that's only a tissue box. At night he's active moving around exploring climbing up on the thermometer. I have a water dis for him to drink in and soak in with our lamb over it to help humidity stay at about 50%. He's on freeze/thaw mice. I got some pics of him. Sorry if i posted this in the wrong spot.

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/a...widestpart.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/a...BPfullsize.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/a.../BPcloseup.jpg

http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/a...hon/BPcage.jpg

Sorry for the bad quality i used my phone to get the pics. Any advice? I know i need two hides.

Try getting him a smaller hide. That will both allow you to fit two hides in there, and will help him feel more secure.

If you're having trouble with humidity (heat lamps tend to suck it all out), move the water bowl over the UTH. That, and putting some foil over the top (if you have a screen top) will make it easier to manage it.

Read the caresheet, and I suggest getting an Accurite to measure your temps and humidity. Walmart usually has them for $15. Get a thermostat for your UTH, you don't want it to go too high and burn your snake.

Get some of that paper that you attatch to the tank walls to provide scenery, or just blackout paper, and attatch it to both sides and the back. This will also help your snake to feel more secure.

Other than that, welcome to the forum!

Yup get him a not to big not to small hide

Well right now I have a tissue box in there looking for another box to work until i get to the pet store or order online for the hides and when i get a chance to get to Walmart I'm planning on buying that and a rheostat for the UTH, but it keeps falling off under the tank. She bought a snake kit for it.

Thanks for the welcome :)

Hi,

Have a read through the caresheet before you go shopping.

I'd pick up some of the aquarium backing Silver Demon mentioned to black out the sides and back of the tank with at the pet store. But everything else you need can be bought cheaper elsewhere. :)

Hides I would probably try and buy those saucers they sell for catching drips form plant pots and cut a single opening in them from rim to base and turn them upside down. Very inexpensive, easy to clean and ideal from the snakes point of view.

You can also pick up the foil tape in lowes etc that will hold the heatmat on the underside of the tank.

I would recommend a thermostat rather than a rtheostat though unless your house temps are extremely stable.

I would also recommend newspaper or paper towels for the substrate ( easier to clean and much easier to keep an eye out for things like mites, unusual faeces etc ).


dr del

Alright, how do you set a UTH to a thermostat? though is it a good thing he ate that early since i got him?

If he ate it's a pretty good thing. It means he has a strong feeding response at least.
To set up a tstat it's rediculously easy. Get tstat and uth, plug uth into the tstat, set your temps, place your probe and plug tstat into the wall. Hydrofarm makes a decent plug and play tstat. Easy to set, and affordably priced.

Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

Welcome to BP.net :colbert2:, pretty cool of your Mom to come home with a pet for ya :gj:

If you're stuck for a hide you can make one out of a smallish margarine tub! Cut a hole and make sure you smooth the edges of the cut so it can't cut itself. You can make two of these hides. Also the drip trays from flower pots can work, or even a small clay flower pot.

You should put something ruff like a drift wood or a smallish rock in the tank so that it can use it for shedding!

Its a great looking little snake and big up to your mom for bringing it home, I don't think many of us here where ever so fortunate! Its good that it ate, now just read the care sheets, look around the site and perfect your setup, then enjoy your new pet!!!

welcome and congratulations both on the new pet and having a mom who's cool enough to not only let you have a snake but actually bring it home for you. my mom still doesn't want me keeping snakes and I’m 35 lol. I think that even a fuzzy mouse is pretty small for the size of that snake. I think from the pictures it could probably handle even an adult mouse without much trouble and if I were you I would try to get it eating rat pups as soon as possible.

Also, something that hasn't been mentioned (I forgot to):

After you fix up his setup, leave him alone for a week. Just refill his water and spot clean if you have to.

He'll need that week to settle in fully into his new home, since any changes in a snake's world naturally stress it out.

After that, you can start handling him for short periods of time a couple times a week, and slowly work up from there.

Get him on a regular feeding schedule. For a young snake like that, once a week with appropriately sized prey should have him growing well. It's not as important to get him up to size quickly, since he probably won't be breeding.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OokamiReyuu

Well right now I have a tissue box in there looking for another box to work until i get to the pet store or order online for the hides and when i get a chance to get to Walmart I'm planning on buying that and a rheostat for the UTH, but it keeps falling off under the tank. She bought a snake kit for it.

Thanks for the welcome :)

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welcome
If you plan on using a natural looking hide make sure it there is no plastic smell, I made my little Russian sick using one of those. Plus your bp will be out growing them constantly, so one that's small and secure for now will be too small in a couple months and not worth the $$ of one of the expensive rock hides.

Welcome to BP.net :salute: Any more questions you may have please feel free to ask!! The ones you have asked were pretty well covered here already :gj:

Wow so many replies while i was at work :).

So i should be feeding him rat pups? how big are they? We went to Walmart and bought the Accurite but i couldn't find the things under the plants to make the hides. The temp on the warm side increases and decreases but the cool side is about 78 degrees F

If you are looking for the drip trays, they'll be at the section that deals with potted plants and such. They are cool because they're quite low and since BP's naturally live in termite mounds and rodent holes, they like small spaces. They should be really easy to find, a nursery will have them too for sure! They're also very cheap, so it won't hurt much when he out grows it!

alright i'll look next time i go to walmart

Well everyone else covered the care aspects of it, so I'm going to offer some advice on a different matter.

From the sound of it, you weren't planning for your mom to come home with this guy. For future reference, do as much research as possible and get your set up finished and running before you get the animal.

Other than that, congrats and good luck!

Your right i wasn't really expecting to come home to him, but i'm happy with him and i'm gonna do my best to make him feel at home here. Heres an update on his temps, the warm fluctuates between 88-89 some times 90, and the cool side stays at 77

Hi,

You really want to bump those temps by three degrees or so.

I have quite a cold house and I ended up insulating the bottom, sides and back of the tank with cork sheeting.

Not everyone needs to go to those lengths however. :)


dr del

I think if you order the thermostat and get it ASAP youll have an easier time keeping The hotside from fluctuating. Thats the purpose of it. The coolside needs a little bump too but I have a feeling that if your hotside can maintain 92.f your coolside will be perfect.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

Alright

I ordered the thermostat today should arrive on monday, and i'm looking into getting rat pups. so about how old is he since hes about 18 inches?

He's still a baby. I'd say a few months, maybe.

Alright, i know you guys are experts in a way but rat pups look a little big for him and i don't have a scale quite yet to measure him, i was looking at them on amazon are there certain brands to buy?

I'd suggest asking people where they get their feeders from. I can almost garuntee that Amazon will overcharge you.

And appropriately sized prey is something that's about the same or a little thicker than the widest point of his body. When you get the scale, that would be about 10-15% of his body weight. You'd be surprised how big of prey they can swallow.

The food item should be the same size or just a little thicker than the thickest part of the snakes body. To be technical, the prey should weigh 10 to 15% of the snakes total body weight.

Well the biggest part of his body is about the size of a nickel