New Owners here!

Hi my Wife and I picked up our first snake this week, he is a 10 year old ball python, about 4 foot long and roughly 2700 grams. COnsidering it was our first snake we wanted one that was fairly tamed and calm. My wife has owned many reptiles before and has a full understanding of them. But when we went and picked him up he came up to his tank and was all curious and sniffing us and everything. He has been home fore almost a week now and is very skittish and lethargic. Hopefully he will get over it soo, but when we got him he hadnt been cared for too good, his tank only had a heat pad, water bowl, and a rock. She also has a heat rock in there! :mad:. He ate last Friday and his shed was not very complete(whenever his last cycle was). But now we have his tank fairly nicely set up, 2 thermometer one on the hot side and one on the cold, a hygrometer, 2 hides one on each side, a msive water bowl, some rocks out of the garden that I disinfected. I am a litle concered on the heating aspect and im not sure if my setup is adequate. But the tank is a 30 gallon bredder, i have a 150 watt infrared heat bulb on the hot side with a dimmer to regulate the heat, a UTH, and the basking temp is around 88-92 and the cold side i just have a regular 60 watt incandesent light bulb from walmart haha but it holds out around 80-84 with an assumed ambient temp of arounf 85. Does this sound adequate set up for him? Oh I am using Reptibark for substrate, and im noticing a problem with humidity, I cant keep it up but im assuming its from the lights. I will post pics later cause my Adobe is acting up. Hope to get some input, Thanks !

Is the UTH being regulated by a thermostat? Without a thermostat UTH's can get hot enough to kill a snake.

Otherwise as long as the hot side is around 90 and the cool side is around 80 you should be fine. (no part of the cage should ever get below 75 or above 95 degrees)

Do the thermometers that are in your cage have probes?

Sounds good. Just make sure you have a thermostat to regulate the heat pad. It is not optional to not have one :)
Other then that thing sound good.

Are you using digital thermometers?

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your set up sowens perfect older ball pythons tend to be a little less active :snake:

Yea one of the thermometers has a probe, I put it on the hot side for the sake of not burning him,the other one i got a petco but i sets to do the trick, i check it with a digital one occasionally if i feel the need to.And for the UTH I have enough substrate on it to not burn him, almost 2 inches haha. But I am a little scared of handeling him, like i can stroke him and rub him but he kinda pulls away and goes into a S, not a ball or anyuthing. but Im thinking of giving him more time to adjust before we start to get him out of his cage. I think since its our first snake im terrified of getting bite and I dont want to stress him out to a degree.

A thermostat is not optional... ball pythons will dig down into their substrate from time to time. a UTH can and will get to 130+ degrees (it only takes 108 degrees to fry a BP's brain) If you are using that much substrate then your UTH isn't doing anything at all They are only effective when the substrate layer is 1/2" thick or less.

You really only have 2 options:

1. unplug the UTH and let the heat lamp do all the work

2. Get a good thermostat to regulate the UTH and thin out the substrate layer to 1/2" thick or less

Here are some good thermostats, stay away from the junk sold in pet stores. They are unreliable and overpriced.

Budget: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S

High Quality: http://spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html

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Originally Posted by mrSocks

for the UTH I have enough substrate on it to not burn him, almost 2 inches haha.

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If you have two inches of substrate the UTH is pretty much useless. You don't want to go deeper than 1/2" to 3/4". But, as everyone else is saying, if you want to do this right and avoid problems that thing needs a thermostat hooked to it.

[Edit]... ^^^the above post beat me to it. I must type slow...

Whre would i place the probe on the thermostate, under the substrate inside the tank?

To help with humidity cover up the top some, plexiglass or even foil does the trick. It will also help with ambient temp.

OP you mention using an incandescent bulb form walmart on the cool side. Your snake won't like that very much. They are nocturnal so bright white light is not the best thing to use. At the very least make sure its off at night. The infrared bulb is fine to leave on all night though. Some folks on here say blue is better though.

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Originally Posted by mrSocks

Whre would i place the probe on the thermostate, under the substrate inside the tank?

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Generally the thermostat probe will go between the UTH and the bottom of the tank. if the UTH has already been stuck on, you can just attach the probe to the underside of the UTH. You will then have your thermometer probe under the substrate centered on the UTH telling you what the cage temperature is.

Right now I have a pair of old jogging pants on top wiht a nice little vent in the corner, He hasnt moved anywhere in his cage today? stayed in the same general area under his heat lamp but thats it. I have his other hide out and I cleaned it this morning and I need to put it back in so he can chill for the ngiht but he doesnt want to cooperate with me, every time i touch him he kind of tenses up and seems scared, should I wait on puting his other hide back in or should i just go ahead and rty and pick him up to put it back down.

Just put the hide back on, a hiding BP is a happy BP.

Oh another quick quesion, for my probed thermometer I have it on the side glass somewhere in the middle, will that get me a good reading on my temp? or does it need to be directly under the light source?

The probe itself? or does the display have another thermometer in it?

The probe should be directly over the UTH, and under the heat lamp on the cage floor. The unit itself can be anywhere as it will just be measuring air temperature.

Im talking about the probe for my actual tank basking area, the one im using now, I unplugged my UTH until i get my thermostat, It is reallying at 91.3 and the probe is on the side sheet of glass about in the midle.

You really want the probe to be directly in line with the heat source. but your probe placement sounds ok as long as it isn't stuck there with tape.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

You really want the probe to be directly in line with the heat source. but your probe placement sounds ok as long as it isn't stuck there with tape.

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It came with a suction cup, he moved from the warm side to the cold side now, im assuming its cause i unplugged his UTH haha. This is my first snake and Im still a but scared of him, but he is gorgous! a lot different that I would have ever imagined.

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Originally Posted by mrSocks

It came with a suction cup, he moved from the warm side to the cold side now, im assuming its cause i unplugged his UTH haha. This is my first snake and Im still a but scared of him, but he is gorgous! a lot different that I would have ever imagined.

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Is this the probe going under the substrate? If so the suction cup won't work that great. I'd hot glue the probe, but not required. It should be fine just sitting there. This is the probe for the thermometer right, not the thermostat? Thermostat probe must be secure. Just never use tape for anything inside the tank.

Why would you unplug his UTH? Don't worry about him staying on one side, as long as its the right temp. Not sure I seen it anywhere, but are his hides identical? Post some pics, folks can offer advice on the setup better, and besides we all like to look at new snakes!

Oh and don't be scared of your snake, he's more scared of you. I'd leave him alone as much as possible for right now, but you can pick him up to clean and rearrange his cage furniture when he mucks it all up. After a few weeks, or at the very least after he's eating regularly, then start handling him more and more. Remember he's not a dog, not going to come slithering to you when he sees you coming, and maybe be a bit jumpy when you first reach in, but no big deal. He'll get used to you and you'll get used to him.

Woke up this morning to do a check and change his water and everything, humidity is at 52, ambient at 79, hot side at 89, cold side at 77. I checked the top of his hide, where i assumed he would be baskin. It read 122 degress! What cause it to get so hot over night? He was still under the hide but on top of it was rediculously hot. IM not sure how I keep the hot side at a constant temp without the heat lamp where it is.

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/y...91056017_o.jpg
As you can tell he didnt shed too well.
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/y...77485041_o.jpg
His halfway cleaned out house.
His new set up! I will be putting some more foliage in at some point. http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/y...915_121559.jpg

Looks good! Hmm, I use a light dimmer for my UTH, it works fine. I aslo spent several days before hand measuring and marking to make sure it is reliable. You want the bottom of the warm side, without substrate, to feel slightly warm. if it feels hot to you it is broiling to a snake.

Leave him for a few days and don't mess with him. Buy a small rat, and after a few nights if he is out hunting, place it in the cage and supervise.

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Originally Posted by Capray

Looks good! Hmm, I use a light dimmer for my UTH, it works fine. I aslo spent several days before hand measuring and marking to make sure it is reliable. You want the bottom of the warm side, without substrate, to feel slightly warm. if it feels hot to you it is broiling to a snake.

Leave him for a few days and don't mess with him. Buy a small rat, and after a few nights if he is out hunting, place it in the cage and supervise.

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She said he just ate last Friday and she only feed him once a month and on that meal he would eat 5-6 live mice.

Wow that is terrible. They should be offered food at least every 7-10 days.

As for your temperature spike it was probably caused by your heat lamp slowly heating up the top of the hide. For now I would place your thermometer probe on top of the hide and adjust the heat lamp until it is at a safe temperature.

Most likely the temperature inside the hide wasn't neat as high but this is still something to get fixed ASAP.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

Wow that is terrible. They should be offered food at least every 7-10 days.

As for your temperature spike it was probably caused by your heat lamp slowly heating up the top of the hide. For now I would place your thermometer probe on top of the hide and adjust the heat lamp until it is at a safe temperature.

Most likely the temperature inside the hide wasn't neat as high but this is still something to get fixed ASAP.

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Since he is so used to eating 5-6 mice at a time, what should i try and get? He has only ate live and she said he refused to eat frozen/thawn

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And what would be an acceptable temperature on top of the hide? If it is in an acceptable range my guess would be that ambient temp would probably drop a degree or two.

Try to get it to 95, that is a safe temperature as long as the entire hot side isn't that hot. As long as there is a basking site of approxamatly 90 degrees the ambiant temp in the entire cage can be closer to 80.

I would start out with a few adult mice just to get him started. Then I would try to switch him over to rats (that way you can feed 1 or 2 larger rats vs 5-6 mice)

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Originally Posted by mrSocks

I checked the top of his hide, where i assumed he would be baskin..

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Keep in mind these guys are nocturnal and won't just be sitting around basking in the heat during the day. If he his, then he's not happy about something.

I haven’t seen him basking yet, mostly just chilling in his hide, occasionally coming out for a drink and sniff. then back in his hide. But does come out at night and I have notice he does like this voo doo dance where he rubs his belly on top of the tank. I have gotten the top of the rock to 99 degrees does that seem acceptable?

95 is the hottest I'm personally comfortable with.

I have it hovering around 94-96 on top of his hide. but the actual temp of the air is 80. but I am headed to the store to see if he will eat. I’m just curious. How do I know he is actually hungry? I just now cleaned out his water bowl and he kinda came at me flickering his tongue and being a little weird ha ha. when the lid is off he comes out of his hide but any time the lid is on he just hunkers down.

Well my boy just ate 5 adult live mice and he is still hungry ha ha. 5 was all i bought so I’m assuming its a good thing he is eating like this. But I will try and get him to eat 2 rats on the 25th. Where would I go about buying them, cause the store I bought these feeder mice was the only place that sold them and they didnt have an feeder rats, but i guess I could just get the pet rats.

See if you have a reptile shop in your area, they usually have feeder rodents of all sizes.

There might be a rodent breeder or snake breeder in your area. You might be able to get some feeders there as well.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

See if you have a reptile shop in your area, they usually have feeder rodents of all sizes.

There might be a rodent breeder or snake breeder in your area. You might be able to get some feeders there as well.

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I found somewhere local i believe. Should I just get more mice for him tomorrow cause he is definitely still hungry, following my hand around and everything. Or shall I wait for his next feed? Thanks everyone for being so helpful im sorry for asking so many questions its just i want to give this guy the best possible life.

I would just wait, you don't want to over do it, and if he is a little hungrier next feeding day then you'll have better chances of him taking the rats.

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Originally Posted by mrSocks

Well my boy just ate 5 adult live mice and he is still hungry ha ha. 5 was all i bought so I’m assuming its a good thing he is eating like this. But I will try and get him to eat 2 rats on the 25th. Where would I go about buying them, cause the store I bought these feeder mice was the only place that sold them and they didnt have an feeder rats, but i guess I could just get the pet rats.

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I wouldn't go with the pet rats they are bred differently and much more expensive than one bred for feeding. I have no idea if the breed or anything is actually different. I know the pet shop I get my feeders at they have a sign clearly stating the "pet" rats and mice lol. They are about 3x the price of the feeders.

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Originally Posted by Gene Collins

I wouldn't go with the pet rats they are bred differently and much more expensive than one bred for feeding. I have no idea if the breed or anything is actually different. I know the pet shop I get my feeders at they have a sign clearly stating the "pet" rats and mice lol. They are about 3x the price of the feeders.

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They do here too,but I just don't know where else to look ifyhis one place doesn't sell them

I guess it would come down to cost if they don't have feeders. If the price of on pet rat is the same or less then the cost of 4-5 mice then you might as well. Personally I prefer live but in your situation you might want to look at mail order. Not sure if anyone ships pre-killed but it's worth looking into.

I might of missed something because I didnt know every BP would just go for a new prey item off back.

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Originally Posted by Gene Collins

I guess it would come down to cost if they don't have feeders. If the price of on pet rat is the same or less then the cost of 4-5 mice then you might as well. Personally I prefer live but in your situation you might want to look at mail order. Not sure if anyone ships pre-killed but it's worth looking into.

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For me 5 feeder mice was I think 8.93 or something like that, and the pet rats are like 6 bucks or something.

WOOT my boy ate a large rat this morning. He didnt hesitate or anything just went straight for it.IM so happy haha. Sorry. Just had to get it out there.