Introductions....

http://http://www.flickr.com/photos/...08/6145493938/

I thought I'd take a second to introduce myself instead of lurking. I adopted a BP yesterday. They told me that she is a yellow belly. I've never had a snake before so I'm not 100% sure what to do with her yet. She's decent sized. I haven't measured her yet because she won't sit still, but I guess she's about 30 inches long. They told me that she is about 2 years old. She is very active. She moves around her tank a lot. She also spends a lot of time exploring while I am holding her.

She seems to be a very good eater. Right after I got her home I noticed that she was doing that yawing looking thing so I tried to feed her. I was told to give her 2 mice. She was used to live, but I gave her f/t. She snatched them out of my hand so fast. (dangled the mice by the tail, don't have hemostats yet) After the first once she took right to the second one. She seemed to take a little longer on that one, but I think that she would have taken another. I am considering feeding her a f/t rat next time.

One question. SHe came with two lights. One is white and the other is red. There are also two under tank lights. I've been keeping both lights on during the day and only one heating pad on (red light side). At night I turn off the white light. What am I supposed to do with them?

So my project list for now is....
confirm that she is a yellow belly (tried to upload pic, but tech difficulties)

get her some better hides. She came with a shoe box that had an entire side removed. I thought that it was too big and open so I got 2 smaller boxes with small, offset openings. It took her a while to figure out how to get in, but she seems to like them.

Find her something besides a pie tin for her water. She needs something big enough for her to get in because she really seems to like her water. I had a smaller one but she keeps tipping it. A pie dish was the only other thing I had.

Get her something to climb. She seems really bored in her tank spends a lot of time going up the side. I think something to climb would be nice for her.

if she is a 2 year old and she was free then i would doubt very highly she is a yellowbelly. it would be a stretch to think someone who knows she is a yellowbelly would give her away for free. the first thing you need to do is regulate the heat in your tank to keep and hold an ambient temp of 89 degrees. pie tins are not good for water cause they will rust. plastic or stone crocks are best. i wouldnt use cardboard boxes for hides. again plastic would be ideal. as far as feeding i would offer her one size appropriate rat every feeding instead of multiple mice meals. the ywning thing if she keeps doing it can be signs of bad things to come with resp infections. watch the yawning, how many times in a row etc, also keep an ear open to hear any kind of wheezing or coughing type sounds from her or bubbly mucousy gargling sounds. snakes kept in tanks without the proper heat setups and proper care are big targets for respritory infections.

Well she wasn't really free, I had to pay a $100 rehoming fee, but that's not very much I know. She was only yawing right before and right after I fed her. I haven't seen her do it since. I read on some other blog that sometimes they do that. I will get a good picture of her side and put it in my album. Not sure why I can't get one in my post. Is there something that blocks new users from doing it?

I got some pics up. I am thinking she's just a norm, but it'd be nice if she was a yellow belly.

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/brow...mageuser=23874

Welcome to BP.net :colbert2:

She is a normal, a good looking girl. Depending on your location, the heat lamps may not be need. Get rid of the under tank lights, and get a uth, with a thermostat.
Check out the BP husbandry forum for sticky's on BP set ups.

pretty girl - she's a normal. Ditch the lights, get a heat pad, and a thermostat! the Thermostat is very important. We bought glass candy dishes from the dollar store and they work great as water dishes for the snakes. Mice are too small, get her on rats ASAP. she looks like she could eat a medium sized adult rat.

Cheers.

What everyone else said. :P

Definitely a normal, ditch the lights and get a heating pad + thermostat. Get her on F/T rats.

Here is a link to the guide for identifying a yellowbelly:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...s...-Het-Ivory

Ty guys. Next time I go to the store I will have to try to find one of those thermostats. There are two pads on the bottom of the tank all ready. But they don't really keep the tank warm enough on their own. I moved her tank into a less open area, so I hope that helps.If that doesn't work then I will see if maybe the pads are worn out. They are at least one year old. I was thinking about getting one of those ceramic lights. Are those good to use?

I did get her a frozen rat for her next feeding today. I was told that she should be eating medium sized. It looks a little big I think, but it's got to last for a week, so....I was surprised that it was only $3ish. Way cheaper than Petco (which is great because I'm avoiding them).

The rat should be as big around as she is at her thickest point. Definitely get a thermometer (or a temp gun) so that you know for sure what the temperatures are in her enclosure and on the hot spot. A ceramic heat emitter shouldn't be necessary unless your home is unusually cold. If the pads aren't warming up properly it's best to just replace them. People have differing opinions, but I believe that belly heat is always best for ball pythons.

Welcome! Congrats on your new snake. She looks like a very healthy, pretty girl:)

Bear in mind that a UTH isn't designed to heat an entire terrarium - it's primary purpose is to create the heat gradient and hot spot. Depending on the ambient temps in your house, you may need a space heater in the room where you keep her, or another heat source (ceramic or otherwise) for the actual ambient temp increases.

Ok. I will turn on my space heater then. Hubby is talking about getting a red tailed boa so we may end up building a rack system (hubby is a journeyman carpenter). I guess I will look into better heating options then and use a spce heater in the room now. Right now I have one side of the tank at 88 degrees and the other is 82-84 degrees.

So I think the temp is ok, but that's with that white bulb going. I know that she doesn't like it because she never goes to that side of the tank. Although she may not be used to actually having it warm in her tank. Her previous owners didn't really know what they were doing. One side of the tank was around 80 degrees and the other was around 70 degrees. So maybe she needs time to get used to a warmer tank. They also didn't keep track of humidity either.
She would drink a lot of water at first, or run through her water dish. Now that I am keeping the humidity up (55ish) for her, she doesn't spend so much time near the water dish.

When I bought her a decent hide, she didn't know how to get into it. She kept trying but couldn't figure it out. I had to put her in the hide and set it on top of her. Now she loves it. She's in there all the time instead of trying to figure out how to escape. I guess that lets me know that I'm doing an okay job with her.