New to Pythons

Hi Everybody,

I am really new to pythons, so I have a few questions. I just put my 20 inch Ball, Seraph, in her enclosure last night. I have it heated by a 75W blacklight on the hot side and a "people's" heating pad on the cool side. She is in a 10 Gal. with wire screen lid.

First, I have a terra cotta hide for her on the warm side, right under the basking light. Do you think I should switch her water bowl to the warm side and her hide to the cool side? She seems to be staying on the cooler side,between her water dish and the side of the tank.

Second, the cooler side tepmerature is at 85 and the warmer side temperature is at 89. But, like I said, she hasn't gone in the warmer side yet. Could it be too hot for her?

Thanks For Your Help.
You can either email me or reply here.

Try putting a hide box also on the cool side and she will go where she feels comfortable.
My Ozzy I keep warm side about 90-92 and cool side about 77-82 with night time temps at about 85 warm side to 75 cool side.
Ozzy stays pretty much in hide on cool side which is more toward the middle of cage. I have him in a 20 gal glass tank with screen lid.
What are your humditiy levels??

How are you measuring your temps? I suggest getting a good digital thermometer. Temps are not something you should be guesing at.

I would get rid of the lights as a heat source. Ball Pythons are vry shy snakes and light can stress them out, espcially if it is left on all day and night. I use human heating pads for all of my snakes as a heat source. You can find them at Wal-Mart for $10. Just don't get the ones with auto-shut off.

I also think glass tanks are horrible enclosures for abll pythons. They do not hold proper humidity and are too visible. Balls are seclusive and being "out in the open" or too visible can stress them out.

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I also think glass tanks are horrible enclosures for abll pythons. They do not hold proper humidity and are too visible. Balls are seclusive and being "out in the open" or too visible can stress them out.

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Im glad that my Monty Joe is an exception to this.
I for one am haing no trouble keeping the humidity up around 60 without covering the screen top. All I have is a humidifier in the room, and a 5 quart dish that sit's halfway over the heating pad. I have heating pad's over each end of the tank. The warm side stays at 89 pretty much all the time, and the cool side at approx. 80 during the day, and 77 at night. I use a 75w red light on the cool side that stays on all the time and a 100w that is on during the day and off at night.
And except for his sleeping times, seclusive he is not. My grandaughter loves to stand over by the tank at night and watch him. He seems to enjoy watching her also, allways staying in the area she is at. If she leaves his presence he starts roaming around until she comes back, then he is back to watching her. I wonder who is the caged one sometimes.
But of course this is how mine reacts, all BP's have different manerism's and stress points. Mine just happens to be a hardy feller I guess.
The only reason I dont use tub's and use the aquarium is I like to be able to see my snake, it is a permanent fixture in my living room.

Forgot to mention that I have him in a 60 gallon tank.

I have two Zoo Med Reptile thermometers, one on each end. My humidity is at 60% (when she goes into shed, I will put a wet hide in). Right now, Seraph's water bowl is too large to fit another hide, but I am going to get her a smaller one tomorrow. Should I put it in the warm end or cool end? I know the cool end will help with humidity levels. Also, I am working on a basking branch for her. As for lights, I have read in several places that light that is not white (e.g. red, blue, green or black bulbs) will not bother a snake because they cannot see it. Is that infromation incorrect?

I am going to try feeding her tonight. I have no idea if she will eat or when or what she last ate. My husband is an animal control officer and his colleague was called out on Christmas morning to get her off of someone's toilet seat. We don't know any of her background, but she seems to be an extremely tame and healthy snake. I feel terriible for the person who lost her, but nobody called animal control or the Humane Society to claim her.

Putting the water on the warm end should raise humidity........are you using an UTH(under tank heater)? If so, placing water dish partly over the uth will help keep it warm and the humidity rolling. If not, you might want to pick one up. As far as I know, pretty much all of us use them either by themselves, or with a light. Speaking of light, I use an infrared bulb(100W) and a uth. The bulb is on 24/7 and the uth is hooked up to a dimmer switch for control. The tank is a 30 gallon. Xaero is about 22 inches or so. Doesn't seem to mind the red light at all.
Sounds like you lucked into a nice animal! Post some pics soon's you can!

Whoa, a 75 watt in a 10 gallon is way too much. Try and find a 50 watt.

whats the problem with a 75w? i have a 100 watt on my 10 gallon. its actually heating two tens at once...temps are 85 on the warm end and 76 on the cool. i dont have it directly over the cage, its clamps on my bed and its half way over it and half way over the other cage.

Whatever works, I say.... As long as temps and humidity are constantly accurate, there is no problem with whatever method you decide to go with.

And what Mike really has, it sounds like, is 50 to 75 watts worth of light and heat spilling onto each tank, depending on angle and distance. That makes it work out like John suggested.

good point...:oops:

Sorry, Mike. Just trying to point out you both seemed to be right. :wink:

Thanks Everybody!

I seem to have the temps regulated now. Water bowl under light, moist hide on cooler side, dry hide in the middle. Next...the basking branch. Apparently it's ok temp in there because she's moving back and forth now. Also, she ate wonderfully, seemed very hungry. it is amazing what they can fit into their mouths. I'll post pics soon, I emailed to get a Gallery on here. She really is a beautiful animal.

Ceramic Heat Emitters are a very good heating method for all snakes, in my opinioin. I've been using them for a while 24/7 and they don't give up. Their price is worth it since they last for years. My method for keeping the humidity levels up is to soak some newspaper(substrate), cover about 1/3 of the screen with Syran Wrap and it works for at least 2 days.

I suggest EVERYONE who is using those crappy Zoo-Med or stick on thermometers to invest in a good digital thermometer. The cheap ones can be VERY wrong sometimes which can lead to serious problems. Trust me, this is not something to be taken lightly.

Or get a good ol' temp gun ;) I don't like trusting those stick on thermometer thing's either.. Never have.

Where is a good place for a digital or temp gun???
I really dont know much about them.
I have those small round temp gauges made by Kritterz, that look like a small clock or dial, also the same type of gauge for the humidity.
Any info would be great.

I use zoo med ones and they've worked great for me the only thing i would suggest is to have one you keep in your tank at all times and one you can move around to all your tanks if they both read the same thing then they are accurate.

You can find digital thermometers or temp guns just about anywhere nowadays.....online, at Radioshack.....and they're nowhere near as expensive as they used to be.

I use 4 zoo meds in my tank. Two on the warm side and two on the cool side, and each read the same on thier respective sides , so as long as they all are reading the same I think I will stay with them. Not saying that their are bad ones, but I think mine are working properly.

You'd be surprised how wrong they can be.....they are not meant to be exact, but in the "general range" of the correct temps....thats NOT good enough if you ask me. I had one that said it was 84 in the tank, but in reality it was 105!!!! That was when I was using a 75 watt heat lamp as heat.....I quickly ditched the thermometer and the heat lamp.

I got my temp gun at ProExotics (online) and my digital thermometer/hygrometer at Bigappleherp.com

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You'd be surprised how wrong they can be.....they are not meant to be exact, but in the "general range" of the correct temps....thats NOT good enough if you ask me. I had one that said it was 84 in the tank, but in reality it was 105!!!! That was when I was using a 75 watt heat lamp as heat.....I quickly ditched the thermometer and the heat lamp.

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Just a suggestion, it would be possible to buy an accurate temp gun AND test your temp range thermometers to see how exact they are, just an idea, if it works well for some then thats great, do whatever works best for you and your healthy herps.

Thats what I did, Rusty. And the Zoo-Med therm. was horribly inaccurate.

Thanks for the information David, hopefully it will help others

No problem!