New owner and site member, BP Dehydrated from store.

I have decided to never buy a snake from any of the local pet stores again. I just recently received a new baby pastel ball (nicknamed Kaa) from the local pet smart as a birthday gift, and upon getting it home I noticed that his/her skin was very wrinkly and the spine was noticeable. However, he started a shed the next day and is still finishing that up and I've heard that sometimes they can get dehydrated looking when they go into a shed. The skin is flaking more than sloughing off completely which I would think would also indicate dehydration. The team members at the store were unable to provide me with any information as to the last feeding time, nor anything about Kaa's temperament, feeding habits, or history.

i'd appreciate any suggestions as I've heard a few different things as far as treatments and i'm a little confused. Some sources say to soak for a few hours every day, others say to soak multiple times a day; however some sources say not to handle for a few weeks. Other sources still suggest simply misting the tank. Furthermore he hasn't fed since he's been home and some sources say that's fine while others state the dehydration could be fatal if he doesn't eat. So I don't know whether to handle or leave him alone, and whether to keep attempting to feed or leave him be.

I will attempt to get some decent pictures when i get home. He has a constantly full water dish and two hides, his temp is 87 on his warm side and about 82 on the cool. Aspen bedding and I don't use a daytime light, simple a red heat lamp for his warm side and the natural light cycle in the room. The humidity fluctuates around 50% but my meter needs replacing as its old.

(Side note: my last snake was also from the same store and died from an eating disorder)

I will also get a weight and length when I get home if it helps by knowing his approximate age.

Skin wrinkles
http://i59.tinypic.com/e0ikus.jpg

And here you can see the paraspinal indentations.
http://i57.tinypic.com/dwcb9d.jpg

And I'm not sure if it's residual skin flakes from the bad shed or not but there's a small white "V" on his right eye that almost looks like an abrasion. He wouldn't pose for a good picture :/
http://i58.tinypic.com/whfx8m.jpg

This is my first Ball so I may just be seeing normal structure and thinking it looks bad but something just looks off so I figured I'd ask the people that know more about them than I do. Any input and suggestions for how to help this would be very appreciated. I got a new humidity gauge and the humidity is pretty low so I'm trying to block off air flow by obstructing half of the screen on the top of the terrarium. I'm also going to start misting once a day and I'm trying to set up a soak to help him get rid of the rest of this bad shed. The ceiling fan is off and his water dish is always full so i'm not sure why the humidity was so low, but hopefully you all can help me out. I don't want to lose another baby :(

Looks to me like a lot of that is stuck shed. A good 30 minute soak in lukewarm water in a closed tub would help loosen that stuff up. As for raising humidity in the cage covering the top should help. You might water to cover more than half of it.

Sorry to keep spamming my own post but I'm really needing some help. The new humidity gauge is now reading 35%! I just dropped a damp cloth to help with his bad shed and to raise it but I don't even see how that's possible. I live in central LA, and it's raining, and as stated before there is no fan going and half of the screen lid has plastic wrap covering the mesh. The temps are alright (actually running a little hot on the side with the UTH) but I can't get the humidity up for the life of me. Any help would be really nice right now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by salt

Looks to me like a lot of that is stuck shed. A good 30 minute soak in lukewarm water in a closed tub would help loosen that stuff up. As for raising humidity in the cage covering the top should help. You might water to cover more than half of it.

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Ok i'm currently trying to set up a soak box, i'm thinking adding a water hide in addition to his water bowl might help raise the humidity and give him a place he can go and get as hydrated as he needs at the same time.

I don't understand how I've seen so many snakes raised to full maturity being kept in a Tupperware bin with some newspaper and I have tried to follow every diagram I can short of building a few hundred dollar vivarium (which I do plan on doing, is just a temporary home for Kaa) but I can't seem to get him to a healthy setting. I feel like a horrible owner.

"Humidity gauge" - would that happen to be one of the dial ones you stick to the side? What are you measuring temps with? What are you heating with? Give us an exact description of your tank/tub setup. If it's a tank, do you have tinfoil covering the top at all? Pics might help.

You're right, sorry. Pics are taking forever because I have to use my phone then upload and host them and this isn't my laptop but he's in a 20g long terrarrium with a locking mesh lid that has a locking access hatch. Aspen bedding with two hides at each end. The warm end has a UTH under the bottom with some pseudo tile as a barrier and a 75watt red heat lamp resting on the top above that side. There is a thermometer with probe measuring that side, the probe is under the bedding on top of the glass. that side reads about 95 and i'm trying to bring it down by thickening the barrier. The other side just has a stick on thermometer on the side, reads about 80-85. the humidity gauge is another stick on one, in the middle attached to the back wall, not under the lamp. I know it's not an elaborate setup or the best or most perfect. Like I said, Kaa was a surprise and I just threw this together to hold him until I build him something nice and just for him. I just want to ensure his safety until said vivarium can be built.

EDIT: plastic wrap over the left side of the lid

Best I could get at the moment, lights are only on for picture purposes. He's in his soak bowl right now which normally isn't in there. The water hide hasn't been made yet.
http://i62.tinypic.com/2jffy48.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karokash

that side reads about 95 and i'm trying to bring it down by thickening the barrier.

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The snake is gonna burrow. You need to adjust the temperature itself so the glass is only 90 degrees.

I can say you sound kinda stressed, but take a breath and relax. You can't be positive from pictures, but I don't think your snake is gonna die tomorrow or in the next few days. In other words, you have time to adjust things and he'll be fine.

My opinion, don't handle him unless needed, don't feed him yet, put a humid hide in the tank for him to go into. If you're really worried about overall humidity, put a bigger water bowl in as well. If you're really stressed about his hydration levels, soak him once a day for 30 mins for a few days. Then try feeding him in a week.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 200xth

The snake is gonna burrow. You need to adjust the temperature itself so the glass is only 90 degrees.

I can say you sound kinda stressed, but take a breath and relax. You can't be positive from pictures, but I don't think your snake is gonna die tomorrow or in the next few days. In other words, you have time to adjust things and he'll be fine.

My opinion, don't handle him unless needed, don't feed him yet, put a humid hide in the tank for him to go into. If you're really worried about overall humidity, put a bigger water bowl in as well. If you're really stressed about his hydration levels, soak him once a day for 30 mins for a few days. Then try feeding him in a week.

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Thank you. I will admit to being a little overly cautious and paranoid due to my last snake's sudden death. I think the only way I can get the temp regulated is to find a thermostat. Something the local pet shop doesn't sell, with no real surprise there. The barriers are a band-aid solution. The next step is the water hide. I've heard it setup as a large bowl inside a hide as well as a hide with wet moss inside; I think the first option leaves less room for complications. I am also going to increase the size of his dish. I fill it every day but I think it's too small to keep adequate humidity apparently. I'll repeat the soaks until I see all the stuck shed gone but judging from the pictures, would you say the dehydration is a correct call? And if so, what changes should I notice to be able to tell if the soaks are working.

Thank you again

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Thank you. I will admit to being a little overly cautious and paranoid due to my last snake's sudden death. I think the only way I can get the temp regulated is to find a thermostat. Something the local pet shop doesn't sell, with no real surprise there. The barriers are a band-aid solution. The next step is the water hide. I've heard it setup as a large bowl inside a hide as well as a hide with wet moss inside; I think the first option leaves less room for complications. I am also going to increase the size of his dish. I fill it every day but I think it's too small to keep adequate humidity apparently. I'll repeat the soaks until I see all the stuck shed gone but judging from the pictures, would you say the dehydration is a correct call? And if so, what changes should I notice to be able to tell if the soaks are working.

Thank you again

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Yes. You definitely need a thermostat if you don't have one already. 95F is about the upper limit on the hot side, but it's not fatal for him so you should be okay for a little bit until you get the thermostat.

If he has stuck shed, follow this: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hed-No-problem

A lot of people also put them in damp pillowcases to help the snake remove the stuck parts. If all he has is stuck shed, you don't need to soak him for days in a row, just the once as directed in that thread above.

Humid hide I would use the moss, but that's just because I've done that in the past. I've also used damp paper towels in a pinch, but that dries out much quicker than the moss. Never done the water bowl in the hide. Maybe someone else has and can tell you how well that works.

I would say do the instructions on the bad shed tomorrow to get that taken care of as much as you can, get the humid hide in his enclosure, get the bigger water bowl in place, and then post some more pics of him after that. Based on those updated pics, someone will be able to help you further along at that point if you still need it.

You're very right, you need a thermostat. Good idea to use a barrier, but really I would stop using it alltogether until you can get a stat if that heating lamp is enough to keep it in the 80s on its own. It's good that you're using a probed thermometer on the hot side, but you need to change the others - those stick on dials are not very reliable at all. You can get an all-in-one thermometer/humidity sensor from wal mart for about 15 bucks, I linked it below. Put the probe in the hot hide under the substrate, put the actual device on the cool side, and it will measure both. It also takes humidity.

Some tin foil covering 2/3 of the screen top will be much more effective than plastic wrap at reflecting in heat and humidity. I can't tell you if he's dehydrated, I'm a bit new myself, but it can't hurt to put in a humid hide. If you're going to put in a bowl of water I'd fill it with sphagnum moss, some snakes don't like physically "swimming" or soaking, but damp media is preferable. A mister will raise humidity also. Put your heat lamp right above the water dish, and I also hear coco husk bedding holds humidity well. I do a 50/50 mix of aspen and coco husk and mist once in a while.


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

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 200xth

Yes. You definitely need a thermostat if you don't have one already. 95F is about the upper limit on the hot side, but it's not fatal for him so you should be okay for a little bit until you get the thermostat.
...

I would say do the instructions on the bad shed tomorrow to get that taken care of as much as you can, get the humid hide in his enclosure, get the bigger water bowl in place, and then post some more pics of him after that. Based on those updated pics, someone will be able to help you further along at that point if you still need it.

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Decided: Taking off tomorrow and getting this done. I'm going to change the tiny dial thermometer and hydrometer for probe ones and replace his water bowl with a bigger one. I actually read that other page for sheds and soaked him with the rag and it loosened the skins. I'll check him tomorrow to see if he got it all off before I try to do anything that requires me to handle him. Also my first priority is finding a thermostat. Another thread here showed one that allowed the UTH to be plugged into it for auto regulation but I haven't been able to find anything like that locally. I'd order one if I knew what to look for. But I'm going on the hunt tomorrow to get this temporary home setup correctly until I can build his custom home. Should I post the update pics here or start a new thread. I'd like to keep it all together in case someone new comes in and wants to see progress to make suggestions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spoons

You're very right, you need a thermostat. Good idea to use a barrier, but really I would stop using it alltogether until you can get a stat if that heating lamp is enough to keep it in the 80s on its own. It's good that you're using a probed thermometer on the hot side, but you need to change the others - those stick on dials are not very reliable at all. You can get an all-in-one thermometer/humidity sensor from wal mart for about 15 bucks, I linked it below. Put the probe in the hot hide under the substrate, put the actual device on the cool side, and it will measure both. It also takes humidity.

Some tin foil covering 2/3 of the screen top will be much more effective than plastic wrap at reflecting in heat and humidity. I can't tell you if he's dehydrated, I'm a bit new myself, but it can't hurt to put in a humid hide. If you're going to put in a bowl of water I'd fill it with sphagnum moss, some snakes don't like physically "swimming" or soaking, but damp media is preferable. A mister will raise humidity also. Put your heat lamp right above the water dish, and I also hear coco husk bedding holds humidity well. I do a 50/50 mix of aspen and coco husk and mist once in a while.


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

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Can't thank you enough for all that. The link especially. That sounds like an awesome piece of equipment. I'll also try the coco husk mix. I have an issue with the foil in that the access hatch is in the middle of the lid :/ which means I can't cover it with foil so I either have to put my lamp in the middle which throws the whole gradient off, or sacrifice covering 2/3 of the lid. But I will change the plastic for foil and see if that can help. My only question left would be if you have a problem with mold with the moss. That's all i'd worry about with keeping something moist like that in the cage constantly.

Just thought of something, if anyone is still here. I read that the overhead light might contribute to the drop in humidity. Seeing as i'm having trouble with my UTH making that side too hot, Is it possible to just have the UTH going without the light? In other words, is the light necessary for anything more than heat if, say, I turn it off and the ambient temps are fine and the UTH side drops to a healthy level would I be depriving Kaa of anything.

Well, I guess I'm not sure about mold, but once you get the humidity in the tank regulated a bit more permanently you shouldn't need the humid hide save for maybe when he's going into a shed. If you can get the tank to maintain at the proper 50ish percent the humid hide won't be necessary. Otherwise you could get a big thing of Sphagnum and rotate it out each week - put a bunch in there and swap it after a few days, let the other stuff dry out really well. I haven't used it in my tank so I'm not sure, the only experience I have with sphagnum is keeping it wet for my orchids and Venus fly traps - I generally have some algae after a while, but no mold yet. I am considering making a temp humid hide with sphagnum when he goes blue, but I've only had him for about a week and thus far the damp coco husk mixed with the aspen is keeping the tank at a good humidity.

RE the thermostat, you can find a lot of good recommended brands reading the forums. if you check out the tub/tank setup stickies, I am fairly certain there's 3 brands linked there, a high end, midrange, and a cheaper one. I use the cheaper one, a Hydrofarm heat mat thermostat, it was ~30. It works great, some day I'd like to get a nicer one but for now it keeps my mat at the perfect temp.

Your snake is very lucky he ended up with you as an owner :)

I actually just checked that exact thread :D. I am going to look around tomorrow one last time for one locally but now I have one I can order tomorrow night if I don't find anything. I'm itching to start construction on his sturdier and more snake specific home but alas, $$$. Thank you so much for all the information and help; it definitely helped me calm down for tonight. I have been so worried about him since I brought him home. (I hope I can sex him soon so I can know if i'm making a gender mistake) I'll feel loads better when I see those numbers in the ranges they are supposed to be. And when he finally eats I'll rest a lot easier. Thanks for clearing up the wet hide thing, using it as needed makes much more sense.

EDIT: just saw the compliment, thank you for that. I plan on doing much better for him as soon as I can, I just want to make sure he sticks it out with me until we get there.

A light is not necessary, and will definitely contribute to drying out your cage. Most only use them for ambient temperatures since your UTH isn't going to change those much. If your room is already around 80 degrees the light is not needed. I second the coco husk substrate recommendation for humidity. I've found eco-earth to hold a lot higher humidity compared to aspen.

Not something I've tried but I've seen on the caresheet for ball pythons on this website and in other peoples posts they've used a lamp dimmer like the kind you'd get at home depot to tune down their UTH until they could get a thermostat.

Thank you, you've been a huge help. I will mix the coco with the aspen first just so i don't waste the bag and see if it does anything. If it doesn't help then i'll just go straight to coco completely. I was actually worried at first that Kaa would try eating the coco or that it would be too abrasive. Thank you for the advice. As for the lamp, the ambient temps in the room are under 80 with it being winter, so I'll leave it for now. but i'll definitely consider putting it away once the freezes have passed.

For the record, this is the smallest and weakest UTH they sold...

If you need to keep it warm in there overnight, I recommend a ceramic heat bulb. I use one so I can keep it on at night when it gets chilly without bothering the snake (and myself, since the tank is in my bedroom) with light. I have the lower wattage one.. I want to say 65? and it keeps my tank at an ambient 80, though my room is pretty toasty in itself. A higher wattage one could be hooked up to a dimmer to be regulated.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spoons

If you need to keep it warm in there overnight, I recommend a ceramic heat bulb. I use one so I can keep it on at night when it gets chilly without bothering the snake (and myself, since the tank is in my bedroom) with light. I have the lower wattage one.. I want to say 65? and it keeps my tank at an ambient 80, though my room is pretty toasty in itself. A higher wattage one could be hooked up to a dimmer to be regulated.

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Fortunately the light seems to be one of the few things that isn't a problem. It might actually be a 50 watt and keeps the overall temp at about 80-83, it's just the UTH thats too hot right now. As for the light output its a purple-blue bulb that doesn't really light anything. Often I look and think it turned off because there is barely any light output, mainly heat. The eventual housing will use ceramic however.

You could always try a light dimmer as an immediate fix for the UTH being to hot...just dial it in to a more appropriate temp. However, this is just until you can get a thermostat. I purchased a hydrofarm thermostat of Amazon for the UTH on my tank, and it seems to be running fine...I've had my BP for almost 2 years. I really need to weigh/measure him...but that's another topic. Anyways, a dimmer you should be able to find locally until you can get a thermostat shipped to you.

Aaron

Allright, so, update: I went and bought a dimmer because I still couldn't find a thermostat like the one I need. I plan on ordering one but my truck just had to get put in the shop this morning so that grinds my funding to a halt for a few weeks. I also got the dual thermostat with the hydrometer so tonight I am going to set that up as well as put the foil on either sides of the lid and switch his water dish out for a bigger one.

The little stick on hydrometer was reading something like 15% this morning so I really think it is useless because that simply cannot be right. I will try again to get pictures once i'm done and I'll update on any progress it makes.

Still a little worried about the fact he hasn't eaten since I got him, only because I really can't trust the word of the store associates to know when he ate last, so I have no idea how long he's been without food. But he refused the last two feedings I tried so i'm hoping he's just fasting due to the shed and new acclimation.

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Originally Posted by yellowbelly76

I purchased a hydrofarm thermostat of Amazon for the UTH on my tank, and it seems to be running fine...I've had my BP for almost 2 years.
Aaron

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Do you mind me asking about how much that ran for you? I keep searching thermostats and all I seem to find are either really expensive ones or ones for houses that don't have plugins for things like UTH's. I have that link saved for the mid range thermos but as I mentioned, the truck dropped my immediate budget so even the $50 one would have to wait. Unless you think the dimmer will suffice for a few weeks until I get back from the mechanic bill.

I am seriously spamming my own board, sorry everyone, but I just found this

http://www.lllreptile.com/products/1...tat-with-probe

It's a brand that my local store carries so I could probably find it there if I ask them, just wondering if anyone had experience with the brand or this device specifically.

Hydrofarms are only about $35 and have one plug-in for a UTH. They're considered a budget option, but I've found mine to be reliable so far.

^^ that's the one I use too. It actually works very well for me. I'll probably upgrade later if I get more than 2 snakes or so, but it keeps my UTH exactly where I want it.

The hydrofarm is the one that I use and it keeps my UTH regulated within a few degrees. I have mine set for 90 degrees, and I've seen it as low as 87.5, and as high as 91.5. I have the probe taped directly to the bottom of the tank under the substrate.

As for your humidity situation, to help your humidity spike up, take a towel and dampen it. Then put the towel on top of the screen on the top of your tank. I've had my percentage drop down to 35% and I can spike it up to 70% within a half hour. Also, you can mist the tank a little with a spray bottle and water.

When I do the towel trick, I also put a tin cooking sheet over it to help hold in the moisture. Also remember, the more moisture you have, the more you'll be able to heat the tank because moist hair holds heat better than dry air. But keep it under 60% unless they're shedding.

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Originally Posted by Reed12321

The hydrofarm is the one that I use and it keeps my UTH regulated within a few degrees. I have mine set for 90 degrees, and I've seen it as low as 87.5, and as high as 91.5. I have the probe taped directly to the bottom of the tank under the substrate.

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Tape is generally considered a bad idea inside cages. Snakes can get stuck to it and suffer injury when you peel it off of them. Might consider going the hot glue gun route.

I have misted the cage before and it doesn't change the humidity but again I haven't put the nice meter in yet. I think a cheap meter is part of the problem. But I will definitely try the towel trick as well as adding foil to the lid

I have two hours left at work then I'm adding the new therm/hydro and the dimmer and foil.

Alright guys I'm so lost right now. This is his current setup. I realized I didn't have foil so that's a wet towel on the left of the lid.
http://i62.tinypic.com/2nurry0.jpg
However
I cannot for the life of me get the humidity up! What am I doing wrong? I feel like I'm sweating in the room but it won't go above 35%
http://i59.tinypic.com/5p4lko.jpg

also the UTH is hooked to a dimmer now which is almost all the way off and I just got it down to 91. Why am I having such a hard time getting this setup to normal ranges. Is it normally this difficult for everyone?

It would be one thing if each new thing I try produced a small improvement and I just needed to keep doing better but it's as if nothing i'm doing is making any changes at all. I feel like i'm either an idiot or just a horrible owner. I know I still need to switch to coco bedding and try the tin foil thing but I would have thought all of this would have at least shown a slight improvement...

EDIT: while still trying to avoid handling him, it does seem like the soak got rid of most of the loose shed, at least on his head. I'll try to get a hold of him later to look at the skin on his body and see if it's less wrinkly.

Okay here's the problem with your current setup. Your heat lamp needs to be on the same side as your UTH. That makes you have a pretty drastic difference between the hot side and the cold side. Second problem, you only put a towel covering 1/2 of your tank lid. Once you move your lamp over, either open up the towel more or add a second towel. That way, you keep the heat in as well as the moisture. Attached is a picture of my two tanks that I have set up. I have the upper tank on a thermostat and the lower tank is on a dimmer. The thermostat is way easier because its a "set it and forget it" type of thing. The dimmer I find I constantly have to check the temps because sometimes I'll make a micro adjustment and the temp skyrockets, and other time's i'll make a significant adjustment and the temp doesn't really change.

But you can see that I have my lamp all the way to the right which is also the side that the UTH is on. Normally I have a cookie sheet on top (which acts like your aluminum foil) but it covers the wet towel to keep heat in. If anything, I should have horrible times keeping my humidity up, but now that i've fine-tuned my setup, it's much easier. I live in an upper apartment with all bare-wood walls that absorb all of the humidity in the air and I can keep my tanks over 50% humidity.https://31.media.tumblr.com/f1413822...0dbo1_1280.jpg

As you can see on the lower tank I actually do have the cookie sheet. The UTH and the lamp are both on the left side (Hidden under the blanket). The blanket is only there to prevent my cat from staring at the baby Albino I have in the lower tank (I got her 2 days ago!). I also have a space heater. This is because that tank sits on the floor where it is notoriously cold. If I didn't have the space heater and only used the UTH and heat lamps, I'd barely be able to get the temps up to 75F.

If worst comes to worst, you could always buy a reptile humidifier: http://www.petmountain.com/product/r...nCgaArBE8P8HAQ

I genuinely think the coco husk addition will be the thing that helps you out, if you're still having trouble. I soaked my brick of coco husk, squeezed out as much water as I could in a dry towel for the amount I was using and mixed it straight in with the aspen. It felt pretty dry to the touch, but the humidity spiked immediately within the day. Actually it got TOO high today, and I had to remove part of the tin foil and turn on the ceramic bulb to dry it out in there a bit. Give the humidity meter (if you haven't yet) a few hours for everything to settle and for it to get on par.

Misting is good for temporary humidty but it won't last unless it's got something to collect on - like the bedding. Just misting the air/walls doesn't do much, it evaporates immediately. My ball has a half log hide in the middle of the cage that I am considering soaking if my humidity drops, bark holds water pretty well. Another thread I was reading today suggested the wet moss not necessarily in a humid hide, but tucked in the corners of the cage to release humidity. The humidity is definitely the hardest part of the whole thing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by salt

Tape is generally considered a bad idea inside cages. Snakes can get stuck to it and suffer injury when you peel it off of them. Might consider going the hot glue gun route.

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The tape is packing tape, so it takes a lot of effort to actually lift it up, so I'm not too worried. I've had the tape for like 2+ weeks now and haven't had any problems. The tape is also mostly hidden under part of the hide so it would also require a lot of digging and moving of heavy objects to get it up.

Aright i'm going to move the lamp back, that's how I originally had it but I saw on here to move it to the center so the ambient temp on the cool side doesn't drop too low and so that the humidity would rise with it being over the water. I'm worried if I put the lamp over the UTH, that side will rocket into the high 90's again. The UTH is still reading like 92 with the dimmer almost off and a pseudo tile barrier between it and the tank bottom.

But i'm going to go move it like you said and see what that does. And yes I still plan on ordering a thermostat as soon as I can afford it again (recent hit to my bank account) I was just hoping the dimmer would hold me off until then

Here's a quick shot of my setup, a 20 gallon long, with the mixed bedding. At some point I'd like to get more plants and stuff to stick in there, but for now this will have to do! The lamp on top is a 65 watt Ceramic, the UTH is the ExoTerra HeatWave 16 watt medium size, and the thermostat on the wall is Hydrofarm's.

Quick edit to add: Snakes are pretty resilient little things. They can forgive mistakes, so long as you're on your way to figuring things out, which you are. I think you can rest assured that your snake even now is getting much better care than he was at the pet store and is very likely already much happier and more comfortable. :)

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps7f0638a3.jpg

Thank you for the encouragement. I know the two big things now are changing the bedding and getting that thermostat. I just went back in and the readings looked a little better: 88 on the hot side, 81 on the cool and the humidity got to 37%.

So weird that the humidity is the thing i'm battling with most, I didn't think it was possible to have a humidity of less than like 80% anywhere in Louisiana. I swear just walking around feels like you just got out of the shower.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Karokash

Aright i'm going to move the lamp back, that's how I originally had it but I saw on here to move it to the center so the ambient temp on the cool side doesn't drop too low and so that the humidity would rise with it being over the water. I'm worried if I put the lamp over the UTH, that side will rocket into the high 90's again. The UTH is still reading like 92 with the dimmer almost off and a pseudo tile barrier between it and the tank bottom.

But i'm going to go move it like you said and see what that does. And yes I still plan on ordering a thermostat as soon as I can afford it again (recent hit to my bank account) I was just hoping the dimmer would hold me off until then

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The coverage on top of the tank will prevent the cold side from getting too cold. Also, I noticed your cheap humidity and temp gauges are placed in odd locations. I just have mine in the middle because that's where I gauge everything from. I suppose there is no right or wrong way to put those gauges, but so long as you can maintain an accurate temp you're fine. And your hot side, the top of the substrate should be like 88F (that's why I have the thermostat set to 90 because with a layer of substrate and the fact that the temp varies across 3 degrees, it'll give a better condition for the snake) I have a very similar size tank to yours and I think I even have a 100 watt bulb in there so you may be set in that area.

I work at a boarding school, and the school pays for all of my housing, so my apartment is set to 73-74F inside so that helps maintain some temperature.

Also, just for reassurance - you're not a bad snake owner. I faced all of the same problems that you did for the first week or so after I got my first snake. Now that I'm confident in my abilities to create a nice habitat, I'm thinking about getting even more snakes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spoons

Here's a quick shot of my setup, a 20 gallon long, with the mixed bedding. At some point I'd like to get more plants and stuff to stick in there, but for now this will have to do! The lamp on top is a 65 watt Ceramic, the UTH is the ExoTerra HeatWave 16 watt medium size, and the thermostat on the wall is Hydrofarm's.

Quick edit to add: Snakes are pretty resilient little things. They can forgive mistakes, so long as you're on your way to figuring things out, which you are. I think you can rest assured that your snake even now is getting much better care than he was at the pet store and is very likely already much happier and more comfortable. :)

http://i745.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps7f0638a3.jpg

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I'm pretty jealous of that setup. I just bought fake plants from wal mart, cut the long stems off of them and made it it more visually appealing that way.

Reed: The little cheapo ones are only there because I was too lazy to take them off once I put in the accurite one, heh. And If you are confident that you're making comfy habitats you should totally get more.

My dream plan, at least herp wise, is to breed one day. Not for profit really just because I really love them and would love to see new ones come into the world and watch the variations that develop. So I really hope I can also get confident in my ability to care for these creatures. I feel very responsible for Kaa; I feel he deserves a happy and comfy life and all I want is to give that to him to help him forget the pet store. And if I can accomplish that, then I will plan on repeating it with as many new babies as I can comfortably support

Reed, If you're looking for cheap plants, don't go to WalMart, go to JoAnn Craft stores. They have a huge floral section with all kinds of fake plants. Seasonal ones too if you want to deck out the tank for holidays. Just be sure that the ones you buy, if they're the "chain link" kind of fake plant, you cut the loops so they don't wedge themselves in there. Also on their website and their app they have crazy good coupons all the time.

Side note, I really like the name Kaa. Is it from something or did you come up with it? My guy is still unnamed so I just call him snake. lol

Kaa is the name of the python in the jungle book. In the original story he was extremely wise and powerful and had this ambiguous view of everything. You never knew which side he was on and generally he was viewed as not really having a side. He was sort of "beyond" the triviality of good and evil. Representative of strength and intelligence.

He was also ancient, so I was hoping it would bring my little guy good luck as well as inspiration.

I like the name Kaa too. I like when people name their pets and they have actual meaning behind it. I named my little guy Akeda. It's Matisyahu's newest album name and it's the hebrew word for "The Binding." It sorta fits because BP's are constrictors. I named my cat August because I really like August Burns Red. They're a hardcore/metalcore band and my cat is a hardcore cat. She got frostbite from her previous owner and the tips of her ears fell off because of it. My other snake is named Cleo (cleopatra) and you'd need to ask my girlfriend why she named her that.