Got my first Ball Python! Picture and questions.

I got my first ball python today! She is a 1 year old female (or so he said), and is about 20 inches long. Is she undersized or is that about right? I haven't weighed her yet, but she looks ok and he said she eats weekly (f/t). Anyway I could tell right away I was going to have to put some money into her set up. She has no UTH, her water bowl and hide are massive! Below I have some questions, don't worry about answering them all (or add other advice), any help you guys can give is totally helpful!

I get the feeling she'd be better off with a few snug fitting hides not this giant one, are there any commercial ones that your BPs loved at this size?

Should I get her a smaller water dish too or is this one fine?

As for a UTH, is about 30% of the floor space right? That would be the exo terra extra large which is 11x17", the enclosure floor is 31x19, so if I put it to one side that would take up a 3rd of the tank, does that sound right?

She is on aspen right now, but I might change that, is there a substrate you prefer? Why?

I'm getting a probe thermometer and digital thermometer and hygrometer combo as well as he only had one of those stick on hygrometers which I'm going to remove.

I can tell she needs belly heat, she feels like my rescue leopard gecko did when I first got her and all she had was a light, always a little cold to the touch and super super docile and inactive, probably because she wants to soak up some body heat LOL. I'm placing an order today from Pets and Ponds (I'm in Canada), so she'll have to live the way she's been living for a few days more.

Here she is, it's more of a size comparison with her hide and enclosure than to really get a good look at her. Her water dish is about the same size as the hide is.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f8...psd032cfd8.jpg

The hide is too big for her, but on the other hand if she's eating a f/t rat every week then I wouldn't change it. She's clearly comfortable in it. Same goes for the water dish. However, to answer your question, yes there are smaller hides. The one you have looks like an exo terra hide, and they come in smaller sizes.

As for the UTH. You can get a medium or large, but don't plug it in until you have a thermostat to regulate it.

I'm not sure where in Canada you are, but the CRBE is just around the corner and you can find thermostats there for pretty cheap.

You have a thermostat too??

I have been using a rheostat (basic dimmer) for my gecko's tank with no issues, would that not work?

Oh, and she's on f/t white mice, I have heard rats are better (higher in protein?), but worry about changing to them because I don't want her to not eat. Are mice fine or should I make the switch? I'm in Ottawa ON btw.

Thermostats are better; Hydrofarm is the nice cheap brand. You dial the temp in and it turns the UTH on/off for you. If you end up getting more (they're addicting) you'll end up using a thermostat anyway


And congrats for owning snakes in Canada...keep the faith

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Originally Posted by Shera

Oh, and she's on f/t white mice, I have heard rats are better (higher in protein?), but worry about changing to them because I don't want her to not eat. Are mice fine or should I make the switch? I'm in Ottawa ON btw.

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I would keep her on mice for the next little while, but once she has had a few meals at your place I'd offer her rats instead. If she is a girl then she'll need larger food one day and it's easier to switch her to rats from mice at a young age then it will be when she's older.

Rats are pretty easy to find in Ottawa.

i would keep the hide for later, or maybe just leave it in, but get her a smaller hide in the meantime.

maybe a coconut shell or something. Offering several hides, when they easily fit into the enclosure, is never bad.

Ok, thanks, that's what I'm going to do.


Also does anyone know if I can use apple tree branches in the enclosure? I'm not sure if they would be ok, or what I need to do to prepare them (bake in oven and sand them??)

So I found someone online who sells frozen rats, what size do you think she'd need at 20 inches long? She has been eating 3 inch (from nose to base of tail) mice until now, it that a good size for her?

I bought an acurite thermo/hygrometer from Lowes today, it was cheaper than the exo terra one and I don't need a probe on the cooler side anyway. I have a spare thermometer with probe for my warmer (UTH) area, so I'm going to do the rheostat thing for now, I'll be in there often, and if I notice that it's not doing it's job at all, I will buy a thermostat, but I've never had an issue with my geckos, so I'll get the same brand.

Is there a better bedding than aspen? I use paper towel for my leopard gecko, but they can have impaction issues due to ingestion while hunting. I have half a bag of care fresh from a past hamster, can I use that? Will frequent bedding changes upset the snake?

Does anyone know about the apple tree branch question I asked in the above post.

Sorry I have so many questions, I'm new at this. Thanks.

A good way to determine appropriate prey size is to weigh your snake and feed a mouse/rat that is between 10% and 15% of the snakes weight. Slightly larger or smaller is fine if that is what you have. I have used that for the last year for my ball and she seems to be doing well. Got her at 62g and at approx. 1 year was about 500g. Good steady growth.

Another way is to feed an item that is 1 to 1.5 the width of your snake at it's widest point. I like to weigh for my record keeping, but I think either way works.

One of my resources suggests heating any wood to be place in a viv be heated to 135 deg. f for 30 min.

Good luck and congrats!

Aspen is fine unless you have humidity issues in which case coco husk or reptibark will hold humidity in the tank better. You might want to think about blackening out the back and sides of the tank. This will help make your little no legged friend feel more secure.

The proper size prey for her really is going to be determined by her weight, you want her eating about 15% of her body weight. She seems small if in fact she is about a year old. I would question that.

Pretty snake, is she a pewter or Mojave? Seems more than a normal.

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Originally Posted by dbassa

A good way to determine appropriate prey size is to weigh your snake and feed a mouse/rat that is between 10% and 15% of the snakes weight. Slightly larger or smaller is fine if that is what you have. I have used that for the last year for my ball and she seems to be doing well. Got her at 62g and at approx. 1 year was about 500g. Good steady growth.

Another way is to feed an item that is 1 to 1.5 the width of your snake at it's widest point. I like to weigh for my record keeping, but I think either way works.

One of my resources suggests heating any wood to be place in a viv be heated to 135 deg. f for 30 min.

Good luck and congrats!

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Oh, the weight thing might help. I have a digital kitchen scale that should do the trick. I have always wondered about the width thing...is it prey that is 1-1.5 as LONG or as WIDE as the widest part of your snake??

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Originally Posted by MsMissy

Aspen is fine unless you have humidity issues in which case coco husk or reptibark will hold humidity in the tank better. You might want to think about blackening out the back and sides of the tank. This will help make your little no legged friend feel more secure.

The proper size prey for her really is going to be determined by her weight, you want her eating about 15% of her body weight. She seems small if in fact she is about a year old. I would question that.

Pretty snake, is she a pewter or Mojave? Seems more than a normal.

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Yes, thanks, I keep forgetting that I mean to darken the sides of the tank, it keeps slipping my mind since I have so many other things to attend to with the set up. I want to buy something pretty, for aesthetics sake, but anything will do for now.


He said she was a year old, and maybe a little bit older (he got her on his birthday last year), but he was an uninformed...well "pet store informed", owner. I'll weigh her tomorrow, she might be stunted, I wouldn't be surprised.

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Originally Posted by MsMissy

Pretty snake, is she a pewter or Mojave? Seems more than a normal.

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Sorry, I missed this part. I don't know much about morphs tbh, but she strikes me as a normal. What would be the difference in appearance? I can post more close up pics, but I know most of these morphs can't be proven unless they are bred.

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Originally Posted by Shera

Oh, the weight thing might help. I have a digital kitchen scale that should do the trick.

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A digital kitchen scale is what I use:)

"I have always wondered about the width thing...is it prey that is 1-1.5 as LONG or as WIDE as the widest part of your snake??"

Width, not length. Side to side rather than nose to tail. You are looking for a mouse or rat that leaves a slight bulge in the snakes belly.

Paper towels are fine for ball pythons same as Leo's. Though, like yourself, the geckos are on paper towels and the snakes are on aspen.

The dimmer "would" work, however it won't flux and move with the room. So, if the air conditioner fails, then the room spikes to 90, the cage is heated on top of that, so like 110F. Bad news for snakeypoo.

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Originally Posted by Kodieh

Paper towels are fine for ball pythons same as Leo's. Though, like yourself, the geckos are on paper towels and the snakes are on aspen.

The dimmer "would" work, however it won't flux and move with the room. So, if the air conditioner fails, then the room spikes to 90, the cage is heated on top of that, so like 110F. Bad news for snakeypoo.

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Yeah I suppose that could happen although I'm not in a hot climate or anything (I think we are basically done with temps over 85F for the summer, we actually haven't been using the A/C all month), I'd be more worried about temp dips at night, but that shouldn't be a huge issue eh? I'm a stay at home mom, so I'm basically home all day, except for maybe an hour here and there. I'll definitely look into the thermostat though, but will probably use a dimmer in the mean time and just keep it to the lower end of ideal to be safe and monitor it frequently until I get one.

She's always cool to touch when I take her out, so I feel bad that she doesn't really have a way to warm herself (besides from my body heat when I hold her), I went to put the lamp on last night and the red bulb was burned out. Apparently the kid I got her from hadn't been using that either, and she'd just been at room temperature. The low on her thermometer said it only went down to 77F last night though, so that's not terrible.

On a side note I didn't know I shouldn't be messing with her or feeding her when her eyes are foggy (opps), but I have been. She's tolerated it well and she ate a thawed mouse last night. I'm torn between leaving her alone until she sheds, and just continuing what I'm doing to warm her up periodically. She hasn't been acting nervous and she's totally not head shy, I can pet her chin and head.

It's just a rule of thumb on not feeding or handling in blue. You can, and it won't throw the world off its axis. But, you'll know what does and doesn't do it for your snake.

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She will always feel "cool to the touch" since her body temperature is always lower than yours.

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Originally Posted by Rickys_Reptiles

She will always feel "cool to the touch" since her body temperature is always lower than yours.

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Yeah, I guess, but she's much cooler than my gecko, who spends 90% of her time on the warm side.

Found a great deal on a thermostat, so I'm going to get that and bypass the dimmer :)

I just weighed her and she's only 170 grams! She is roughly 20 inches long. Is it even possible that she is a year old?

ETA: I just face-stalked the kid who sold her to me, and it looks like he got her around November 20 2012, so that would make her probably 9-10 months old? Still tiny.

This is the one I got btw, I grabbed the last one in stock. I didn't expect to be able to get one under $40 in Canada, so I'm happy :gj:

http://www.amazon.ca/Jumpstart-Digit...mat+thermostat

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Originally Posted by Shera

This is the one I got btw, I grabbed the last one in stock. I didn't expect to be able to get one under $40 in Canada, so I'm happy :gj:

http://www.amazon.ca/Jumpstart-Digit...mat+thermostat

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I have several of these...they do the job. Good pick up.

I got a couple of more close up pics, someone had asked about morph, but I'm pretty sure she's just a normal eh? She's just about to shed, her eyes were quite blue and they have darkened a bit again today. I'm still wondering why she's so small for her age. She's super friendly though, I'm just loving her!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f8...ps6b5d584a.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f8...ps8737af44.jpg

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Originally Posted by Shera

She is on aspen right now, but I might change that, is there a substrate you prefer? Why?

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We use reptibark. It seems to help with the shedding, rough enough to pull shed off, but not to hurt them. I don't like aspen, it seems Cheesy & not rough enough. Also seems to carry mites more often then not at the pet stores & whatnot. Other then that it seems everyone covered anything else you have going on. And bigger water dish is always fine, easy to soak when they need it. Enjoy your new buddy!!! :)



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