My new BP and setup so far! With other questions

Yesterday, I purchased my first ball python from my local pet shop (Pangea Pets) in Miami,Fl. As some may know, yesterday Miami was hit by tropical storm Isaac. But since I had been waiting for weeks on getting my first snake I could wait no longer. My Dad and I trekked down to the store in the middle of the storm and decided to buy a beautiful male mojave BP. I have him in a 10 gallon fish tank with 2 hides, one on the warm side and one on the cold side. My warm side temperature is about 85-86 degrees and my cold side about 74-77 degrees. I heat my tank using an under tank heat pad called a Repti Therm wit the thermostat that is the 500r reptitherm (whatever that is supposed to be). He has been exploring and climbing around the tank not showing any signs of disease or much stress either :). But I do have to admit... I held him a few times. What am I doing wrong? What is the whole 0.1 male pastel listing thing that some people use? And also how do you post pictures?

Thank you

I know its tough but its best to let him settle into his new home for a couple days before handling him. Handling him isn't going to kill him, but he'll be happier if you let him hide for a while before plucking him from his home and hanging out with him.

I would raise your temps a little, warm side should be 88-94 F and cool side should be low 80's (80-84ish)

The numbering is a way of showing what pets you have. For example 1.0 pastel, 0.1 mojave, 0.0.1 Lesser means 1 male pastel, 1 female mojave and 1 unknown gender lesser.

To post pictures, just make an account on photobucket.com and upload them there, and they will give you a link to post so that the pictures show up on the forum

Congratz on the new snake :D

Hi and Welcome!
Your set up sounds pretty good, but you might want to bump up warm side to 89-90 and cool to 78-80. How are you measuring your temps & humidity?
You already know you're *supposed* to leave them alone for the first week or two until they eat 2-3 meals for you, so keep trying to leave him alone ;) I know it's hard, I just got my girl last weekend and she had her second meal for me friday, but MAN it was hard not to play with her.

0.1 is the sex of the listed animal. IE 1.0 means 1 male, 0.1 means 1 female 0.0.1 means 1 unsexed.
Male.Female.Unsexed
so if you saw a listing for 5.2 pastels that means they have 5 males, 2 female pastels :)

Upload your photo via a web photo hosting service like photobucket.com, then copy and paste the IMG link into your post :)

Sounds pretty good but your temps are a tad low. You want the warm spot to be 90-94 and the rest of the tank needs to be near 80.

The numbers list the sex of the snakes you have.
1.3.2 Ball Python Would mean 1 male, 3 female, and 2 unsexed/unknown. So this person would have 6 ball pythons total.

If you don't have any unknown animals it is usually shortened to 1. 3 meaning 1 male and 3 females.

Here are some pictures and ignore the temps I boosted them to what you recommended!

http://i1254.photobucket.com/albums/...85AFDEC23A.jpg

http://i1254.photobucket.com/albums/...8618AD6682.jpg

How are you measuring your temps? Hopefully not with that little strip thermometer. Investing in a decent digital thermometer/hygrometer will help your greatly. Wal-Mart sells one made by Accu-Rite for about $12. They are will be far more accurate than that little strip thermometer, which are practically useless for a ball python setup. You'll want to measure your hot spot on the glass, under your substrate with the probe. You can put the unit itself on the other side of his tank to measure his cool side and ambient temps.

Agreed. Those strip things are not accurate. Get something digital!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Here is the a link to the thermometer that is sold at wal-mart. Also below is a link to another thermostat, I have heard of a lot of complaints with the 500r.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acu-Rite-I...mometer/896347

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...+For+Heat+Mats

The half log hide you have looks a little small for you ball, here is another link for some inexpensive hides.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes

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Originally Posted by martin82531

Here is the a link to the thermometer that is sold at wal-mart. Also below is a link to another thermostat, I have heard of a lot of complaints with the 500r.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acu-Rite-I...mometer/896347

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...+For+Heat+Mats

The half log hide you have looks a little small for you ball, here is another link for some inexpensive hides.

http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes

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All thermostats have the chance of failing. What complaints have you heard about the reptitemp? I have one I use as a backup and it has been doing great for the last 4 years and then some. Its not perfect, but it works.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

All thermostats have the chance of failing. What complaints have you heard about the reptitemp? I have one I use as a backup and it has been doing great for the last 4 years and then some. Its not perfect, but it works.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

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I did a 500r search for them on the forums and I got the general consensus to stay away from them. Here are a couple threads.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...highlight=500r
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...highlight=500r

I used a 500R for about 3 years after I got my first bp. It worked fine and I didn't have a problem with it. Now, with that being said, it isn't digital, so it's harder to monitor and adjust temps. Any time I needed to adjust mine, I'd have to slowly turn it just a hair, wait an hour and check the temps again. Also, it seemed to allow a bigger temp fluctuation than the digital ones I use. It also needed to be adjusted more often than digital ones, although I'm not sure why. For about the same money, I'd go with the Hydrofarm for the digital display, but the accuracy and fluctuation are likely to be about the same. Make sure you're monitoring temps with a reliable and accurate thermometer, check and adjust frequently and you should be fine with either thermostat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by martin82531

I did a 500r search for them on the forums and I got the general consensus to stay away from them. Here are a couple threads.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...highlight=500r
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...highlight=500r

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If you are shopping around for a new thermostat I wouldn't recommend it, but the OP already has it. It should do the job just fine. Some people use dimmer switches as their only heat control and even those work fine in a room with a stable temperature.

My $20 500r outlived my $70 johnson controls stat. Just sayin' :P I wouldn't buy another of either, but if you already have it you might as well use it!

I use 2 hydrofarms in my reptile room. one for the room temp and one for the egg incubator. They can fluctuate a degree or 2 but are pretty accurate. PLus the added benefit of them having the temp on the face and easy adjustment. i like them. i think they run about 20-25 shipped on amazon.

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Originally Posted by Inknsteel

I used a 500R for about 3 years after I got my first bp. It worked fine and I didn't have a problem with it. Now, with that being said, it isn't digital, so it's harder to monitor and adjust temps. Any time I needed to adjust mine, I'd have to slowly turn it just a hair, wait an hour and check the temps again. Also, it seemed to allow a bigger temp fluctuation than the digital ones I use. It also needed to be adjusted more often than digital ones, although I'm not sure why. For about the same money, I'd go with the Hydrofarm for the digital display, but the accuracy and fluctuation are likely to be about the same. Make sure you're monitoring temps with a reliable and accurate thermometer, check and adjust frequently and you should be fine with either thermostat.

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Lol, yep that is exactly what I have to do with mine. It is basically a glorified dimmer.

Dont worry... That is just the ambient air thermometer.... I have 2 accurite thermometers for each side... And thank you now i am less worried about my 500r... Glad to know others have it as well. My snike also likes to climb so i bought a climbing tree, was that a good idea?

Also, How do you display your reptile collection along the bottom?

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Originally Posted by Isaac

Dont worry... That is just the ambient air thermometer.... I have 2 accurite thermometers for each side... And thank you now i am less worried about my 500r... Glad to know others have it as well. My snike also likes to climb so i bought a climbing tree, was that a good idea?

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I used the 500r before I got a herpstat. As long as you check your temps it should be okay. It's definitely better than nothing!

A lot of people say bps that are active and roaming can be stressed. They should hide. My Bp has perfect temps but I'll catch him hanging off his tree lol. He also eats all the time so I'm not worried :)

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Originally Posted by Isaac

Also, How do you display your reptile collection along the bottom?

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You mean your signature? If you click on "User CP" on the left hand menu, there should be an option to edit your signature.