Newbie, Almost

I'm getting ready to purchase a couple of baby ball pythons, but before I do I want to make sure I have a reasonable setup.

My plan is to try breeding a bit down the road, but I figure that is a few years off, as for the mean time I simply want to enjoy the snakes.

For setup I'm planning on using a 40 gallon aquarium for each snake, newspaper as a substrate, water bowls of the large Hagen reptile variety and a heating pad under each tank.

Assuming my petstore has some hides available I'll get those there as well, and if not I imagine a cardboard box with a hole in it will do for now.

I have access to live and frozen rats, and I'm willing to breed my own rats in the near future.

As an aquatic enthusiast I've witnessed many people get into the hobby with the wrong ideas and fail miserably at first. I don't want to do this with snakes.

Please, if you have any advice, my ears are open. I don't wanna be a screw up!

...oh.. and what does the notation "1.1 ball python" mean?

how many ball pythons do you plan to purchase? Using aquariums may not be the best(or cheapest) route to housing multiple ball pythons. Also, 40 gallon aquariums are kinda large for baby ball pythons(but they are good for adults) and the open space can cause added stress, so be sure to put alot of hides in there. Do you plan on purchasing a thermostat to properly regulate the temperatures in the enclosure? If not, I would recommend them.

1.1 ball python means 1 male (before the ".") and 1 female (after the ".").


First, welcome! For a baby, a 40 gallon aquarium is going to be a bit overwhelming with too much open space. It will also be very difficult to heat and keep humidity up with all the air space.

I would consider starting them in a smaller aquarium (10 or 20 gallon) if you prefer a glass enclosure, or even better, a sterilite or rubbermaid tub for each of them.

I'm sure that other members are going to offer you great suggestions! Once again - welcome (sorry so brief, but I'm off to bed! LOL)

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

how many ball pythons do you plan to purchase? Using aquariums may not be the best(or cheapest) route to housing multiple ball pythons. Also, 40 gallon aquariums are kinda large for baby ball pythons(but they are good for adults) and the open space can cause added stress, so be sure to put alot of hides in there. Do you plan on purchasing a thermostat to properly regulate the temperatures in the enclosure? If not, I would recommend them.

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I plan on purchasing 1 male and 1 female het albino.

Aquariums are cheap for me currently as I have dozens of them, as well as shelving for them.

I have lots of 20 gallons so I'll start with 20's then. Should I put both snakes in the same tank or is that asking for trouble?

I would like to purchase a good thermostat, but I'm not really sure what to look for when it comes to snake housing. Is there a good model to look for? I've heard a lot about heating tape with a thermostat. That sounds like a good option. Can someone reccommend a place in Canada that sells it?

First off, welcome to the forum...glad you found your way here!

As far as housing I'd agree a 40 gallon aquarium per snake is very large for a baby ball python. They are very shy snakes that are easily stressed by large open areas in their enclosure and a stressed ball python is likely going to give you troubles when it comes to feeding time. If you do want to check out the option of either permanently or temporarily housing them in tubs I'd suggest using the Search function and putting in the either the word "sterlite" or "rubbermaid" and a ton of good threads will pop right up.

You'll find that terracotta pots, plastic bowls, etc. make great cost effective hides and are easier to keep clean and dry then cardboard. Actually we were surprised when we got into ball pythons how little we'd end up ever buying from a pet store and how much we'd find at WalMart, Home Depot, Lowe's and our friendly Dollar Store. The Accu-Rite or something similar sold by WalMart or Home Depot for under $20.00 is a great option to digitally monitor both temps and humidity. The analog ones at the pet store are notoriously unreliable.

Have fun reading through the threads and using the search function. Please let us know if there are any questions that come to mind.


~~Jo~~

Welcome! My personal opinion on tanks: They are for fish :D Plastic containers provide extra security because they are not as transparent as glass. They are also a whole lot easier to maintain your humidity with than tanks. I would encourage you to look into sterilite or rubbermaid products before you make your purchase. Also take a look at our caresheet section. You will find valuable information there. Good luck and congrats on your upcoming purchase :) I'm not sure where you would buy a good thermostat in Canada, but I would recomend mgreptiles for all your herp needs.

Click on Link to go to mgreptiles

i am using a sterlite container for my bp and i find it even hard to heat in the winter. the sterlite or rubbermaid containers are really inexpensive and work so much better than a tank with a screen lid loosing most of it's heat.

just my 2 cents... as i'm new to snakes as well... but this forum has enlightened me GREATLY as i was going to use a glass tank when i started out... but i believe it was adam who told me: "aquariums are for fish, not snakes"

:D
Aleesha

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Originally Posted by srozell

I have lots of 20 gallons so I'll start with 20's then. Should I put both snakes in the same tank or is that asking for trouble?

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Eek, definately not a good idea! Worst case scenario, one will eat the other (skim through the old threads, this has happened before!). It's just best to not even risk it.

So far I've got:

use a thermostat
1 snake per container
use sterlite or rubbermaid containers

It looks like 3" Flexwatt is the way to go, and through more reading it looks like I should buy a temp gun as well.

Are those foggers good enough for controlling humidity?

Welcome to the forums!

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Originally Posted by srozell

Are those foggers good enough for controlling humidity?

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If you're going to use a rubbermaid/sterilite tub option for your snakes, then a fogger really won't be necessary. I live in a VERY arid part of the country (10 to 20 % relative humidity pretty much all year 'round 'cept for the monsoon season where it gets SUPER humid (30-40% lol :) )

I have both caging systems in my house.. and here's what I do with both to control humidity:

In the GLASS viv, I have two wooden half log hides that I can soak in warm water but they're HORRIBLE for disinfecting and I don't really like doing it. I also line the bottom of the viv with two layers of paper towels, and then put aspen bedding over it. I have two water bowls in the cage... ONE is directly over the UTH and evaps quite quickly, and the other is in the middle of the cage. With NO misting after soaking both hides for about a handling session or so (15-20 minutes), the humidity stays right around 40% for about an hour and a half..... with misting (heavy), I can get it to spike up to around 70% for about 4 to 5 hours (because of the paper towels on the floor of the cage), so I mist quite often, and soak hides, and basically, it's a pain.

With the tubs, I burn holes in the front and sides of the sterilite tubs, keeping the back closed off to form a heat pocket at the back, and put the water bowl in the front of the tub. With no misting, and with the heat tape set to give me 93 degree hot spots, I get 50-60% humidity 24/7. When a snake goes into shed, I just lightly mist, and BAM, 70-80% for about 24 hours or so.

In other words... it's a LOT easier to house in tubs! You'll have a problem getting humidity OUT, not keeping it in... :)

If you go with sterlite or rubbermaid, just a couple of points to keep in mind.

You want ones that are appropriately sized for the size of snake. You want more floor space than height as ball pythons aren't climbers. You want one with a very good locking clip lid but still reinforce it (check threads for different ideas on how to do that)...snakes are escape artists.

Grab a soldering wand for melting holes into the tub. Very cheap and a huge time saver and your tubs won't crack.

The great thing with plastic tubs come with controlling humidity and temps. You can always add holes or cover up some holes during the change of seasons very easily.

Whatever you decide for housing, it's best to buy all your supplies and set the enclosures up a week in advance of actually buying the snakes. That way you can get everything settled, tweek here and there and be good to go when the snake arrives.

Here's a few pics of our snakes just to illustrate (not saying we do it perfectly but the snakes seem happy enough LOL)

Adult female ball in her hide. It's a large rubber dog dish with an entrance cut out ($3.99 at the feed store). As Adam says, if there is room for anything except the snake, the hide is too large!
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...irseinHide.jpg

Baby ball python hunting from his hide. It's a terracotta pan from a planter ($1.00).
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...bushKiller.jpg

Large adult female ball python in her enclosure. Sterlite tub 36 x 19 x 6.5 ($11.97 WalMart)
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...nnaghinTub.jpg


~~Jo~~

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Originally Posted by ddbjdealer

With the tubs, I burn holes in the front and sides of the sterilite tubs, keeping the back closed off to form a heat pocket at the back, and put the water bowl in the front of the tub. With no misting, and with the heat tape set to give me 93 degree hot spots, I get 50-60% humidity 24/7. When a snake goes into shed, I just lightly mist, and BAM, 70-80% for about 24 hours or so.

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In this set up is the heat tape at the back or front of the tank?

What are you using to mist with?

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

If you go with sterlite or rubbermaid, just a couple of points to keep in mind.

~~Jo~~

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I was planning purchasing 24"L x 16W"x 6" tall Rubbermaid containers but now I'm wondering if I should start with smaller shoebox sized ones since I'm starting with young snakes.

How many holes should I be putting in the containers? It sounds like four would be enough, especially since I want to keep humidity in.

That's about the size we have our young male bp in...he's about 6 months old now. As long as whatever size you go with is big enough for two hides, one water dish and a proper thermal gradient so the snake can move back and forth between the warm hide and the cool hide, it'll do fine.

As far as holes you'll need more than 4 but how many really depends on your house/apartments own natural heat/humidity levels. Just start with a few, set your tank up fully, with the heat, water dish full, substrate, etc. then let the tank settle for a few hours, check your levels then add more holes as needed. I know we had to add a lot more during last August's high humidity to allow the tubs to "breathe" better but can just cover them up as needed or to temporarily raise the humidity during shed cycles.


~~Jo~~

WELCOME!!!!! Everyone here has pretty much covered it. A good idea is to also buy a thermometer / humidty digital reader ($11.88 @ WalMart). This way you can monitor the temps and humidity, takes the guess work out of it. Best of luck.:twocents:

Acu-Rite (similar product sold under another brand name at both Home Depot and Lowe's)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7.../Accu-Rite.jpg

Thanks to Bryce for this excellent photo.

~~Jo~~

I think I have everything I need except for the Sterilite bin. I took a picture to show what I understand the set up should look like. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...=3&userid=2810

* My lowest ambient humidity is 60%
* The heating pad will obviously go under the Sterilite container.
* I'll punch the wholes in the container on the opposite side of the bin as the heater.
* The ball python will be real, and not a cheap immitation rubber snake stolen from the floor of my son's room.
* The newspaper will not commonly feature politicians faces.
* The thermostat will be set to 92 F.

My biggest concern is that the ambient temperature in my room is only 75 degrees, and if I crank it up higher than that I'll put an end to my shrimp hatchery. Is that close enough? If not, does anyone have any suggestions?

I have the herps in my game room and generally keep the home around 76 degrees year round. I have also placed an Acu-Rite about 2/3 up on the wall around the enclosures so I can also monitor the ambient temps (kids are in and out non stop). To date I have had no issues (living in Houston, TX). This is what is working for me. You'll rest easy after a few months of monitoring, but do continue to monitor periodically LOL. Hope this helps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by srozell

I think I have everything I need except for the Sterilite bin. I took a picture to show what I understand the set up should look like. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...=3&userid=2810

* My lowest ambient humidity is 60%
* The heating pad will obviously go under the Sterilite container.
* I'll punch the wholes in the container on the opposite side of the bin as the heater.
* The ball python will be real, and not a cheap immitation rubber snake stolen from the floor of my son's room.
* The newspaper will not commonly feature politicians faces.
* The thermostat will be set to 92 F.

My biggest concern is that the ambient temperature in my room is only 75 degrees, and if I crank it up higher than that I'll put an end to my shrimp hatchery. Is that close enough? If not, does anyone have any suggestions?

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Looks pretty good! You didn't say, but I would nix the dial thermometer in your picture and get the AcuRite from WalMart that Jo posted a picture of. It's just $12 and takes one AAA battery.

I would also invest in a thermostat for the UTH (it looks like you may have a rheostat in the picture). Helix, from what I've read is the "breeder's choice" but many of us use Ranco or Johnson's.

Here's a quick picture of how my enclosure is going to look for my new kids that are coming next week (one for each of them). It's a Sterilite 1986 model that's 41 quarts, I think it was $7 for the tub. In the picture I don't have substrate, because I'm still waiting for the flexwatt and thermostat to arrive first.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...8/0/Setup1.jpg