New to the site

So I've been talking about getting a BP for several years, and today my girlfriend surprised me with an early birthday present- a trip to Exotic Pets of Chester to pick out a baby BP. So I found a 3mo. Old male pinstripe and he came home with us.

So here is Diablo-

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/24/ebe5u4eb.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/24/3u9ynazu.jpg

Getting a meal in before coming home-

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/24/tyvuzesy.jpg

Checking out his new home-

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/24/uduqyge2.jpg

The setup as of now-

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/24/reze4ebu.jpg

As of now, he's set up in a 10gal tank with UTH on the right (temps are holding at 92 on the hot side) with hides on the hot and cool sides (hides are 6" flower pots with a piece of towel in for bedding), floor is a section of non-adhesive linoleum, and I threw together a few sections of dowel rod to give him something to climb. Humidity is holding at 61% with the aid of a towel partially covering the lid. Temps on the cool side are being problematic- currently at 73. Planning on picking up another light fixture for a low watt bulb (probably red) to try to fix this.

Not planning on staying in the 10 gallon long- I have a viv that I picked up in a lot from UVA herpetology for our beardies that has a smidge more floor space and is significantly taller. He's already been climbing anything and everything, so I'm try to give him more room to explore. I built the viv for our oldest beardie and intend to build one for Diablo once he gets close to fully grown.

My experience has been mainly in beardies and leopard geckos- don't have much experience with keeping snakes even though I've been catching them since I was a kid. Any advice, suggestions, etc are welcome!

Oh, I do have a couple more digital thermometers and a thermostat in the mail- won't get here til Tuesday because of Memorial Day. Thanks!

No substrate?


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Shouldn't need two lights over a 10 gallon. What I did when I had a tank was I put the heat lamp in the middle for ambient temp (which also boosted the cool side surface temp a bit) and had an UTH on one side for the hotspot. I'd play with finding the right position for your heat lamp before getting two. May way to throw some eco earth or cypress mulch in there for something a bit more comfy for him and to help with the humidity. I think it's a good setup until he gets bigger though. Congrats and welcome to the forum! (and the ball python addiction as you'll quickly find out)

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

No substrate?


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Second that?

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Sorry about the confusion- I meant another fixture because all the fixtures I have are being used for beardies and Leo's.

The bottom of the tank has linoleum to prevent bacterial growth and for easy cleaning. There are towel pieces in the hides for comfort /to give the little fella something to burrow in. In researching this over the past couple of months, it seems as though this is an acceptable practice. Can you offer any reason why loose substrate is needed? Thanks!

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Originally Posted by CORBIN911

No substrate?

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Why?

Swapped out the water dish and warm side hide for a combination pool/cave piece I found today. He went in immediately and seems to like it!

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/25/avy6una6.jpg

Got the fixture and have set up a CHE with dimmer switch... Working on regulating temps now.

Just measured him... Weight is 122g and length is 18" (approximately). That being said, anyone have any useful tips for measuring length of a snake? He doesn't care much for straightening out lol

I have never bothered to measure the length on any of my BPs, just weigh them. When I had a boa I would measure her for the heck of it and I used a pice of 550 cord, then measured the cord.

Very nice little pinstripe, nice pick up!

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Originally Posted by OIFxMedic

Just measured him... Weight is 122g and length is 18" (approximately). That being said, anyone have any useful tips for measuring length of a snake? He doesn't care much for straightening out lol

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Use a piece of string and then measure the string


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Originally Posted by 989josh

Use a piece of string and then measure the string


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Good idea. Thanks !

Still why the non-adhesive linoleum I have never seen anyone use this. Not saying it cant be used...just never have seen it. I would think the temp of the flooring would be hard to keep right on this. Also when your snake decides to go pee along the sides of the tank I would think it may run down and under the linoleum then you would have to pull the whole thing up and clean it really good then put it back in. May be easy to just wipe the tops, but wait till you have to get underneith it all the time. Just my 2 cents worth.

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Originally Posted by ROACH

Still why the non-adhesive linoleum I have never seen anyone use this. Not saying it cant be used...just never have seen it. I would think the temp of the flooring would be hard to keep right on this. Also when your snake decides to go pee along the sides of the tank I would think it may run down and under the linoleum then you would have to pull the whole thing up and clean it really good then put it back in. May be easy to just wipe the tops, but wait till you have to get underneith it all the time. Just my 2 cents worth.

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Fair enough. We have to do the same thing with the beardies as far as cleaning- it doesn't turn out to be as much work as you would think. We have two sections cut for the viv so if one gets particularly nasty we can just pull the whole thing and swap it out. The loose substrate IMO has been harder to clean up with some of the other critters I've had from time to time. The flooring conducts heat fairly well, actually. My initial thought was that it might conduct heat too well, but it has basically allowed me to turn the dimmer down lower and use less electricity to keep it heated.

As long as it isn't a health concern, I'm ok with it. Thanks!