Upgrade!

I have finished upgrading my 36x18x18 for my ball python! I did a foam background which turned out great considering its my first, I have a cypress mulch/repti bark substrate, 3 large pieces of unique wood I found outside(I baked them first) and some fake leaves. The tank has sliding glass doors, it's pretty nice and I got it for 35$. He is really enjoying the fake leaves, as he's never experienced them before. Lol he thinks he's a tree python... Anyways, the hot spot is at a perfect 90 f and is controlled by a rheostat. Now the only thing I am concerned about is the ambient temperature. I can't get it any higher than 65f. Any affordable suggestions ? Also, should I light the cage, or will that bother him? I will be posting pictures tomorrow!


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Is it a PVC cage? If so, best bet would be to get a RHP. Then you can ditch the UTH or at least I don't use UTH with a RHP and I don't think Mr Misha does either. Think a lot of others do though so its up to you. If its just a screen top cage, then probably a CHE. I use a CHE in my 36x18x12 glass tank for my BP but I also use a UTH since it is a glass tank. In my Pro-Line 48x23x14 I just use the RHP on a Herpstat.

Lighting is fine if you want but I wouldn't use some intense crazy bright lighting. Just something like leds or fluorescent tube. I have my BP glass tank close to my bearded dragons and BCI cage so she gets ambient lighting from them. In my BCI cage, the Pro-Line, I only use a 18" T8 4500k daylight tube. Its really up to you but as far needing light, no a BP doesn't need lighting in their cage, its more for the owner.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Is it a PVC cage? If so, best bet would be to get a RHP. Then you can ditch the UTH or at least I don't use UTH with a RHP and I don't think Mr Misha does either. Think a lot of others do though so its up to you. If its just a screen top cage, then probably a CHE. I use a CHE in my 36x18x12 glass tank for my BP but I also use a UTH since it is a glass tank. In my Pro-Line 48x23x14 I just use the RHP on a Herpstat.

Lighting is fine if you want but I wouldn't use some intense crazy bright lighting. Just something like leds or fluorescent tube. I have my BP glass tank close to my bearded dragons and BCI cage so she gets ambient lighting from them. In my BCI cage, the Pro-Line, I only use a 18" T8 4500k daylight tube. Its really up to you but as far needing light, no a BP doesn't need lighting in their cage, its more for the owner.

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No, it's not a pvc. It's a glass terrarium. Does the Che need to be on a thermostat?


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Okay, so I finally got some pictures. They are not the best (cellphone pics) but you get the idea. http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15...28b76fb986.jpg the background, which I carved and painted myself:D
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15...d5971353a6.jpg and the inside view. Let me know your thoughts!


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No, the CHE can be on lamp dimmer aka rheostat but you definitely want the UTH on a T-stat. Looks good but you are asking a minimalist person who keeps 2 hides, aspen and a water bowl for both my snakes. Not sure why there is a thumbs down on the heading in my post but I didn't put that there, just so you know.

I wish people would do some research before putting so much time and effort into trying to make an aquarium work for a ball python. they are not worth the effort at all. They are ground dwellers and don't need the height, which is where your loosing heat. From the picture it looks like there is a screen top on your cage?? You will never keep ambient temps up with this. cover it. They also don't need the sticks or the foam wall...those are for your viewing pleasure. Honestly man it is gonna be hella hard to keep this setup clean. Oh and that circle temp or humidity reader in the pic...throw that crap right out the window cause you are not getting any where close to an accurate reading with it. You need a infrared laser http://smile.amazon.com/Etekcity-Inf...ity+dual+laser to read your hotspot and http://smile.amazon.com/AcuRite-0061...words=accurite to read humidity and ambient temp.

Pay no attention to the thumbs down. I must have fat fingered something.

It would be much easier if you kept your issues in one thread instead of spreading the information among a few. It makes for a lot of wasted time and questions on both ends.

You would have a very hard time trying to get a rhp to work in that tank.

You could save a lot of heat by covering the two open sides and much of the screen top.

I used foil covered cardboard to make a cover for my screen and used thick art paper to cover the sides. These two things gave me a good boost in my temps.

If your using just uth for both sides the fix could be as easy as adding a heat bulb or a che. I wouldn't worry about it killing the humidity and would just add some moss to the hides. My 40gal tank needed a 100w che and a 60w bulb to keep the temps right but I still had perfect sheds by doing nothing else than adding damp moss to the hides.

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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

I wish people would do some research before putting so much time and effort into trying to make an aquarium work for a ball python. they are not worth the effort at all. They are ground dwellers and don't need the height, which is where your loosing heat. From the picture it looks like there is a screen top on your cage?? You will never keep ambient temps up with this. cover it. They also don't need the sticks or the foam wall...those are for your viewing pleasure. Honestly man it is gonna be hella hard to keep this setup clean. Oh and that circle temp or humidity reader in the pic...throw that crap right out the window cause you are not getting any where close to an accurate reading with it. You need a infrared laser http://smile.amazon.com/Etekcity-Inf...ity+dual+laser to read your hotspot and http://smile.amazon.com/AcuRite-0061...words=accurite to read humidity and ambient temp.

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I did plenty of research, actually. He actually quite enjoys the extra hight and goes climbing frequently. It's only 18" tall. It is a screen top, covered with a towel. The sticks and foam wall are certainly for my viewing pleasure, I enjoy making pretty display tanks. But to my surprise as well, he does use the sticks and the wall for climbing. Not sure what's so hard about keeping it clean... Having experience with frogs, I also have experience with humidity levels. I use the "crap" hygrometer for a general idea, but a digital one is just as bad . Water gets up the probe and then you are still getting an inaccurate reading. I do have a temp gun, I believe it's mastercraft brand. I also have the zoomed digital thermometer with probe. Everything is under control here. One of my hobbies is making nice display cages, so I didn't mind the extra hassle to get it set up and actually enjoyed it.


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Originally Posted by KMG

Pay no attention to the thumbs down. I must have fat fingered something.

It would be much easier if you kept your issues in one thread instead of spreading the information among a few. It makes for a lot of wasted time and questions on both ends.

You would have a very hard time trying to get a rhp to work in that tank.

You could save a lot of heat by covering the two open sides and much of the screen top.

I used foil covered cardboard to make a cover for my screen and used thick art paper to cover the sides. These two things gave me a good boost in my temps.

If your using just uth for both sides the fix could be as easy as adding a heat bulb or a che. I wouldn't worry about it killing the humidity and would just add some moss to the hides. My 40gal tank needed a 100w che and a 60w bulb to keep the temps right but I still had perfect sheds by doing nothing else than adding damp moss to the hides.

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Maybe I will go with the Che then. I've never had humidity problems with any of my reptiles, and owning frogs I know all the tricks to keep it up! The top is covered, but unfortunately it's not enough:(


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Oh and sorry for making another post.


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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

I wish people would do some research before putting so much time and effort into trying to make an aquarium work for a ball python. they are not worth the effort at all. They are ground dwellers and don't need the height, which is where your loosing heat. From the picture it looks like there is a screen top on your cage?? You will never keep ambient temps up with this. cover it. They also don't need the sticks or the foam wall...those are for your viewing pleasure. Honestly man it is gonna be hella hard to keep this setup clean. Oh and that circle temp or humidity reader in the pic...throw that crap right out the window cause you are not getting any where close to an accurate reading with it.

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I don't see what it matters to you if the OP or anybody else wants to provide their snake with a more natural environment. Many of my cages are naturalistic and I do not find them hard to keep clean at all. It is not your place to decide what is worth the effort when it comes to anothers animals. The OP just needs a bit a tweaking to get the numbers right but it is certainly obtainable.

BTW my ball climbs and so does my Hoggy.

Good work and enjoy your bp and your setup. Kudos. :rofl:

I'm a terrible bp owner myself. I've got one lowly snake in a .........gasp........100 gallon tank! I've got fake foliage that she climbs on quite often. My temps and humidity are fine, one piece sheds, and a content snake. I think the background the OP made up looks pretty cool.

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Originally Posted by h20hunter

I'm a terrible bp owner myself. I've got one lowly snake in a .........gasp........100 gallon tank! I've got fake foliage that she climbs on quite often. My temps and humidity are fine, one piece sheds, and a content snake. I think the background the OP made up looks pretty cool.

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Hehe thanks, I thought it was pretty cool myself.


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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Good work and enjoy your bp and your setup. Kudos. :rofl:

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Thankyou!


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Neat! I would appreciate a making of tutorial of the background.

Foil will help with temp and humidity, cover most of the top, and you can do the sides too.

For lighting, I have a red heat lamp for ambient purposes, which also provides light we can see but which they cannot.

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Originally Posted by anicatgirl

Neat! I would appreciate a making of tutorial of the background.

Foil will help with temp and humidity, cover most of the top, and you can do the sides too.

For lighting, I have a red heat lamp for ambient purposes, which also provides light we can see but which they cannot.

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Thanks! Alright so for the background I got a few sheets of foam. I cut 1 sheet to the right size, and then I broke pieces off of a separate foam piece and glued them on. To get texture in the "rocks", I took my knife sideways and chipped away at the foam. Once the glue had dried, I covered the background with grey grout/water mix. The first layer was a bit chunky, but it added to the texture. The next layer I mixed in a glue/sealant (I forget what it's called) with the grout/water mix. Once that dried, I painted everything a dark grey. I did this easily by mixing acrylic paint and water in a spray bottle. I did this 3 times. Next, I painted parts of the background a lighter grey, but still let a bit of the dark grey shine through. Then I did a bit of blackish grey to give it a more 3d look. Then I painted the edges with a bit of white to age the rocks. The last step is sealing it. I did this with an acrylic sealant and sprayed the background twice. It also gave the rocks a bit of a shine. This was a first for me and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I was pretty nervous, but basically you just have to start glueing crap on and if you don't like it then cut it off. It's very simple to fix errors, which is really helpful. I wanted the slate rock look, so I cut/broke off thin long pieces of foam, so just get an idea in your head and run with it!


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Originally Posted by KMG

I don't see what it matters to you if the OP or anybody else wants to provide their snake with a more natural environment. Many of my cages are naturalistic and I do not find them hard to keep clean at all. It is not your place to decide what is worth the effort when it comes to anothers animals. The OP just needs a bit a tweaking to get the numbers right but it is certainly obtainable.

BTW my ball climbs and so does my Hoggy.

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What I said was aquariums aren't worth the effort at all, not natural environment. A vision cage would be just as good for his setup and viewing but without the hard corners to clean and the issues with humidity and heat. Then I gave my opinion that his setup will be hard to clean and keep sanitary. First time his snake takes a big one on that foam/cement/paint background....goodluck cleaning it up. BY all means get 3 different sources of heat, cardboard covered tinfoil and a foam wall and enjoy this totally...cough...natural environment. One minute the OP is Posting multiple threads about multiple issues he is having, the next he is saying he has it under control. Not sure if he is a troll or just a kid, but this is the second of his threads that I now wasted my time with.

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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

What I said was aquariums aren't worth the effort at all, not natural environment. A vision cage would be just as good for his setup and viewing but without the hard corners to clean and the issues with humidity and heat. Then I gave my opinion that his setup will be hard to clean and keep sanitary. First time his snake takes a big one on that foam/cement/paint background....goodluck cleaning it up. BY all means get 3 different sources of heat, cardboard covered tinfoil and a foam wall and enjoy this totally...cough...natural environment. One minute the OP is Posting multiple threads about multiple issues he is having, the next he is saying he has it under control. Not sure if he is a troll or just a kid, but this is the second of his threads that I now wasted my time with.

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A vision cage is also 300-400$ compared to 35$. Tanks aren't that hard to clean in the corners... I just vacuum it and wipe it down like the rest of the cage. I don't have any problems with the humidity. The heat problem is because of the hight. But, I would have the same problem in a taller pvc as well. I kind of figured I would need additional heat, but I also know he enjoys climbing and exploring so I'm willing to spend a bit more for his sake. It's not any harder to clean a poop off of the foam wall then it is plastic. Just wet it and let it sit for a minute, it will come right off. 3 different sources? I only need an additional heat lamp. I'm not using tinfoil or cardboard or anything. Is a pvc really anymore natural? A naturalistic terrarium is not what the cage is made of, but more the furnishings you add to the inside. So yeah I will enjoy my natural environment and look at its beauty everyday. Multiple issues? Just one. And that is ambient temps. The tank is in a cold basement in Canada, so it's no shocker that I need more heat. Other then that, this cage is extremely under control and I'm quite proud of how it turned out. You enjoy your...cough... Boring pvc cages.


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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

What I said was aquariums aren't worth the effort at all, not natural environment.

Maybe not to you.

A vision cage would be just as good for his setup and viewing but without the hard corners to clean and the issues with humidity and heat.

I still use two glass tanks and they are no trouble at all and I believe look better than the pvc cages and my tubs.

Then I gave my opinion that his setup will be hard to clean and keep sanitary. First time his snake takes a big one on that foam/cement/paint background....goodluck cleaning it up.

My ball has never dropped anything that I would call big. If you want to see big get a Blood Python.

Was your opinion based on real world experience? I use glass tanks and have had foam backgrounds before and speak from experience when I say my opinion is they do not take much work at all.

BY all means get 3 different sources of heat, cardboard covered tinfoil and a foam wall and enjoy this totally...cough...natural environment.

I have no issues cleaning them and my husbandry is great. Sure at one point I had multiple heat sources but the two fixtures were on lamp stands and I never touched them and they were no trouble at all.

One minute the OP is Posting multiple threads about multiple issues he is having, the next he is saying he has it under control. Not sure if he is a troll or just a kid, but this is the second of his threads that I now wasted my time with.

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Thankyou for backing me up here.


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