New to the world of BPs & need some advice!

Hi everyone! Just joined this forum today. On Friday, I went to my local pet store (not a chain) & purchased a BP for my 12 year old son for Christmas. I was told that it (sex unknown :/) is about 6-9 months old. I am questioning this because pics that I have seen, judging by size, would suggest that it is more like 2 months old. I will get pics posted later on today. Or maybe he (I call it he) was underfed & just small?

Also, I have him in an approximately 20 gallon long glass tank. I'm not sure of the measurements because it's an old tank that my bf had (I will post measurements later today). I am using a small UTH. I think that I need a larger one. And a 75 watt heat lamp. Right now, he has reptile carpet for substrate, but I am changing that to aspen or coconut. I do not a thermostat or thermometer yet. I am getting that today. I didn't know that any of this was needed. My concern is that my house is old & drafty. I think that I will be able to keep the temp up on the hot side using both the UTH & the heat lamp, but I wondering what I can do to keep the cool side warm enough. I doubt that it will stay above 70 because the temp in the house is rarely that high. Would I need to use a low wattage heat lamp on the cool side as well?

For feeding, the pet store was feeding live, but I want to feed F/T. Is this going to be a challenge? Also, the frozen mice that they gave me were small, furry, white mice. They were about 3-4" long, without tail & about 1 1/2 fingers width wide. Is this big enough?

Any help, comments, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)

Welcome to the site!

If you haven't already check out these threads:

Care: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Cage Setup: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...With-Pictures!

Cage Heating: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

Cage temps are going to be your first priority, no part of the cage should ever get below 75 F. Ideally the cool side of the cage should be between 78-82 F and the hot side should be between 88-92 F.

It sounds like you are on the right track. If you setup your cue the way it is shown in the cage setup thread I linked to you should be able to get the right temperatures without too much trouble.

Look at these
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...With-Pictures!
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers
its probably just smaller than you expected, i got mine at 6 monthes and it was tiny

Thank you for the reply! I've read all of those links. I think I pretty much know what I need to do, but my main concern is the cool side not staying warm enough. I have both heat sources running right now & it seems pretty chilly on that end. :/ It's only 27 degrees here right now & my house never really gets toasty in the winter.

you shouldnt worry too much about heat as in the wild it is unpratictible, as long as it stays between 24 and 30 degrees C (75-86) roughly and prefrebly a bit colder in the night. If your snake feels cold or hot than just change it but if he seems ok then don't worry about it.

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Originally Posted by thejenius77

Thank you for the reply! I've read all of those links. I think I pretty much know what I need to do, but my main concern is the cool side not staying warm enough. I have both heat sources running right now & it seems pretty chilly on that end. :/ It's only 27 degrees here right now & my house never really gets toasty in the winter.

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Put your lamp more towards the middle, the uth will give you the hot spot needed, so if you put the lamp more towards the center more heat will get to the cool side. You may have to play around with placement of the lamp a little but it'll work

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You could add a uth to the cool side if you are truly that worried but this would likely need another mat stat to keep the temps right as you wouldn't want it to be another hot spot. A breeder suggested that to me as my cool side never reaches the correct temps! I have a 3ft viv for my girl and I use a ceramic bulb at one end with thermostat.

To work out appropriate we would need either weight or a photo where we could see the size of him in comparison to something. Feed should be 10-15% of the BP's weight or about the same, or slightly bigger than the widest part of the BP. Find out what he was eating first and how (e.g. frozen thawed, pre-killed or live) and feed the same until the snake has eaten for a few weeks. If you then feel like that prey size is too small you can slowly move him up :)

Get yourself a digital hygrometer/thermometer to properly monitor temps and humidity. Humidity should be 40%-60% normally bumper up to 70% during a shed.

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

Put your lamp more towards the middle, the uth will give you the hot spot needed, so if you put the lamp more towards the center more heat will get to the cool side. You may have to play around with placement of the lamp a little but it'll work

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I did that last night. :) Now I need to go get that thermometer & thermostat & see what the results are.

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Originally Posted by Naom9Anne

You could add a uth to the cool side if you are truly that worried but this would likely need another mat stat to keep the temps right as you wouldn't want it to be another hot spot. A breeder suggested that to me as my cool side never reaches the correct temps! I have a 3ft viv for my girl and I use a ceramic bulb at one end with thermostat.

To work out appropriate we would need either weight or a photo where we could see the size of him in comparison to something. Feed should be 10-15% of the BP's weight or about the same, or slightly bigger than the widest part of the BP. Find out what he was eating first and how (e.g. frozen thawed, pre-killed or live) and feed the same until the snake has eaten for a few weeks. If you then feel like that prey size is too small you can slowly move him up :)

Get yourself a digital hygrometer/thermometer to properly monitor temps and humidity. Humidity should be 40%-60% normally bumper up to 70% during a shed.

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He was eating live, but I told the guy at the pet store that I wanted to do frozen, so he sent me home with a couple. But I should feed him the live for awhile first? Ugh

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Originally Posted by thejenius77

I did that last night. :) Now I need to go get that thermometer & thermostat & see what the results are.

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Yes definitely get those, also a hygrometer for humidity... :thumbup:

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I have a somewhat cold house in the winter and on the cool side I use a Zilla Mini Halogen heat light, they have 25 and 50 w day and night bulbs, I'd suggest the 25w red night bulb and just keep it on all the time that should get you into the 70's unless your house is really cold, I also use a UTH and ceramic heat emitter on the warm side with a thermostat, seems to work out well for me but with all the heaters it takes a little more to get the humidity up but I can get it right at 40-45% with just a damp towel covering 2/3 of the top (with a hole cut for my heat light) and then I mist during sheds to get it higher.

If he won't eat frozen you should try live if that's what he was eating and try to transfer him onto frozen after a few feeds.

You can of course try frozen and he might take it, but it's there to let you know why he may not eat. BP's can be fussy eaters at the best of times. Some will eat anything, at any time. Others can easily go off food by the slightest change.

Hope he takes F/T for you :)

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

Welcome to the site!

If you haven't already check out these threads:

Care: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Cage Setup: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...With-Pictures!

Cage Heating: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

Cage temps are going to be your first priority, no part of the cage should ever get below 75 F. Ideally the cool side of the cage should be between 78-82 F and the hot side should be between 88-92 F.

It sounds like you are on the right track. If you setup your cue the way it is shown in the cage setup thread I linked to you should be able to get the right temperatures without too much trouble.

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As always great advice!

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Originally Posted by dgring

you shouldnt worry too much about heat as in the wild it is unpratictible, as long as it stays between 24 and 30 degrees C (75-86) roughly and prefrebly a bit colder in the night. If your snake feels cold or hot than just change it but if he seems ok then don't worry about it.

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I understand what you are trying to say, however please don't give misleading information. Temps are vital to having a healthy reptile. If your temps are off it can throw your humidity off leading to bad sheds, going off feed, etc.

In a 20g long that I have, I keep my lamp in the middle to make sure my ambient temperature stays where it needs to be. As others have said, a separate under-tank heater with another thermostat set to a lower temperature may be a good option if your lamp just won't do it for the cool side temp. Another thing to try is adding either aluminum foil or a towel to the top of your tank. This can help to keep both heat and humidity in.

Something good to note is that you shouldn't ever run a heater without a thermostat. This is because they'll just turn on and keep heating, and they can reach really high temperatures that may burn your snake. A thermostat will tell it to turn off when it reaches a certain temperature, then turn back on when it gets too cold.

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Originally Posted by thejenius77

He was eating live, but I told the guy at the pet store that I wanted to do frozen, so he sent me home with a couple. But I should feed him the live for awhile first? Ugh

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Yes you should try live first, after a couple feedings then try to switch

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Here are some pics of Monty. Does he appear to be 6-9 months old? How does his size look? Does he look well fed?

Also, how can you tell when they are agitated and about to get pissed? This is my first encounter with any type of snake. I used to be terrified of them, so I'm clueless. He seems to be very easy going, but I really don't know.

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9d37b8df.png

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...psf53ef000.png

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...ps852084d0.png

:confusd:

It's almost impossible to determine age by size, I can't zoom the pics in enough to clearly tell body condition, I don't think it's quite as round as it could be... but a couple good feedings will cure that easy!
What was he being fed and how often?

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

It's almost impossible to determine age by size, I can't zoom the pics in enough to clearly tell body condition, I don't think it's quite as round as it could be... but a couple good feedings will cure that easy!
What was he being fed and how often?

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He was being fed live,fairly small mice, once a week. I didn't think he looked round enough either. More triangle. I wish I knew how old we was.

I would feed him 2 mice, see if he'll take the second.. after a few successful feedings with you (at least one mouse is successful) then try to get him on small rats, go by the widest part of your snake, you want the prey the same size or just a lil bigger.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

I would feed him 2 mice, see if he'll take the second.. after a few successful feedings with you (at least one mouse is successful) then try to get him on small rats, go by the widest part of your snake, you want the prey the same size or just a lil bigger.

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Ok. Thank you very much!