new and getting conflicting advice

i just bought my first ball python on sunday. it's a female, a little under two feet long.
i'm keeping her in a 75 gallon aquarium, with a screen lid, several plants, 2 caves, and a large shallow water dish. for heat i have a pad under one side of the tank, and a ceramic heat bulb above. the guys at the reptile store (a large specialty store, not just a pet shop) said this set up would be fine.

but now i am hearing that this is too big, and she will be stressed. is this really going to be a problem?
also, she is very active at night, climbing everything, soaking in her water dish, etc. is this normal?

It is a little big for a small snake, but you can make do. If she is eating well and sleeping most of the day, she probably isn't too stressed. They are nocturnal and will explore their cage at night, so that is normal. If she isn't eating or if she is awake too much during the day, that could indicate stress. You can add extra hides, put a partition in the tank, put a bunch of balled up newspaper to fill up the empty space, or a combination of the three. Make sure her hides are small enough so that she can feel the sides when she curls up inside.

The biggest problem with a big tank like that is getting the temps and humidity right. Make sure she has a nice gradient of 80-82 on the cool side and 90-92 on the warm side. The humidity should be between 50-60 percent. The ceramic heat bulb might dry out the air too much. Just something to be aware of. If the humidity is too low, she might have bad sheds or you might have a more difficult time getting her to eat. You can pick up a nice dual temperature/humidity thermometer from Walmart for about $13 (I think) which will help get things right.

Read the caresheet on this site for all the details. And give your girl at least a week to be alone (no handling) before trying to feed. They need time to adjust to their new environment.

Good luck!

The enclosure is a little large for such a small snake. If you want to keep her in it, give her more places to hide and lots of foliage, at least until she's a bigger.

Soaking can be a sign of mites or an environment that's too dry. A checkup by a decent herp vet is a good idea. Overhead heat lamps can suck the humidity right out of glass tank. You need to maintain humidity around 60%. Try misting and/or switching to an just an undertank heater. Use substrates that will help hold humidity, like ReptiBark. If you have a screen top, try covering it.

Unfortunately, you can't always trust the people at the pet store. Sometimes they don't know what they're doing any more than you do.

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Originally Posted by erinisnice

the guys at the reptile store (a large specialty store, not just a pet shop) said this set up would be fine.

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Reptile/pet stores make their money on the supplies they sell, not really the actual animal itself ... the more/bigger that they can get you to buy, the more they put in their pocket. It's easy to take advantage of someone that is just getting started and has more questions than answers.

There's good advice on this forum ... take notes and you'll be squared away before you know it. ;)

-adam

does it help that i have a whole house humidifier that is on every day?

the guys at this store actually breed ball pythons, so i don't know why they didn't tell me my tank is too big. i used to keep fish in it, but it started leaking.

The humidifier may help, but you won't know for sure without a hygrometer to measure the humidity level in the tank. You should also have a reliable thermometer or temp gun to make sure you have the proper temperature gradient.

digital thermometers (not the stick on kind) are the good ones right?

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Originally Posted by erinisnice

does it help that i have a whole house humidifier that is on every day?

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The humidifier will definitely help, but the ceramic heater will probably still dry out the air. Get a guage to measure the humidity, and you'll know how much you'll need to do to get it right.

Way to go Adam!!!! :rockon: you couldn't have said it better !!! the average retail price on a BP from a pet store is $50-$80....but the setup can be well over $200 if everything is purchased from the store.

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Originally Posted by erinisnice

digital thermometers (not the stick on kind) are the good ones right?

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Right!

Here's an option for a reasonably priced digital deal from WalMart. It will read two temps (cool and warm side) plus overall humidity for about $10.00 plus a AAA battery. It's not perfect (what is for that price) but it's a lot better than those analog stick-ons. A lot of us use them and so far they seem a reasonable alternative. Lowe's and Home Depot also sell them for about the same price though under a different brand name (brand name at WalMart is Acu-Rite in case the pic is a bit fuzzy).


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...8/Acu-Rite.jpg

I don't use CHE heaters because of their drying properties; you have an UTH I think I remember reading. My concern would be creating a warm and cool end; it would probly be hard to do in such a big tank. I would put the tank up on ebay and meanwhile, get a rubbermaid setup going. I myself do mse tanks, but it is tough unless you experiment for days and get everything right before adding the snakes, and even then you basically need to heat the whole house around the tanks as well as use an UTH.
On the upside, at least in my area, used tanks sell for a lot on ebay. I got over $100 for my used 40 gallon :)

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

It will read two temps (cool and warm side) plus overall humidity for about $10.00 plus a AAA battery.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...8/Acu-Rite.jpg

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$11.88 last I checked! ;)

LOL, I'm being silly - but yes, that was the price in the metro Atlanta area this past week.

i doubt anyone is going to want a leaky aquarium :(
so far i have the temps right on either side, up in the 90's on the hot side, down to around 80 on the cool side.
she seems like she is getting used to her new home. she hasn't sat in the water since that first night.

i was reading about humid hides. are those a good idea? i'm afraid they might get moldy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Here's an option for a reasonably priced digital deal from WalMart. It will read two temps (cool and warm side) plus overall humidity for about $10.00 plus a AAA battery. It's not perfect (what is for that price) but it's a lot better than those analog stick-ons. A lot of us use them and so far they seem a reasonable alternative. Lowe's and Home Depot also sell them for about the same price though under a different brand name (brand name at WalMart is Acu-Rite in case the pic is a bit fuzzy).


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...8/Acu-Rite.jpg

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Just picked three up from Target (last three in the store) they were about $13 a pop. I've found those lovely little accurites at:
Home Depot
Walmart
Target

I love 'em! I recommend changing the batteries annually though because i don't think it maintains very accurate temps as the juice dies. I bought the other two for back ups because i was afraid I wouldn't find them again, they're hard to find around Chicago

also IMHO, I dont think the tank is too large necessarily, is there really such thing as too large a tank? With certain adjustments almost any will work... too small of a tank can certainly be a problem but with use of dividers, extra hides and water dishes, more plants. Bascially the reason a tank is too big is because BP's aren't big fans of open spaces. Make the space more intimate and the snake more comfortable and you win! -- the only pain with a big tank to me is having to clean that much more space all the time!

*EDIT* I forgot to say maintaining temps is harder too.

With regard to humid hides, clean early and clean often! As long as it's not sitting soaking for too long it shouldn't get moldy. It's just something you'll have to keep an eye on. Also with such a large tank be sure the humid hide is not becoming the prefered hide because of it's shape, size, or location. Last thing you need is belly rot (when belly scales sit in too moist of an environment for too long).

Welcome to the house of herp chat!

i am actually near chicago also, i hope i can find one of those things!

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Originally Posted by rabernet

$11.88 last I checked! ;)

LOL, I'm being silly - but yes, that was the price in the metro Atlanta area this past week.

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Bought two on Sunday...Woot. The kids don't seem to mind them, but quick question: Where to put the probe?!

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Originally Posted by Melicious

Bought two on Sunday...Woot. The kids don't seem to mind them, but quick question: Where to put the probe?!

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I put the probe under the hide at the warm end of the tank...and then set the unit in the corner of the cool side. In Caesar's tank, it's just propped up in the corner and does fine 'cause he doesn't mess with it. But in Kisasa's, I have it velcro'ed to the glass because she would likely drag it around the cage otherwise. LOL

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Originally Posted by erinisnice

i am actually near chicago also, i hope i can find one of those things!

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worst case scenario let me know if you can't find one and I'll send you one of my back-ups.

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Originally Posted by JLC

I put the probe under the hide at the warm end of the tank...and then set the unit in the corner of the cool side. In Caesar's tank, it's just propped up in the corner and does fine 'cause he doesn't mess with it. But in Kisasa's, I have it velcro'ed to the glass because she would likely drag it around the cage otherwise. LOL

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totally agree - I put the temp probe and the thermostat probe under the warm hide on top of the substrate (where the snake will be) and lean the actual unit up in the corner of the cool side. Gee JLC great minds think alike eh? I try to bury the wires under the substrate to keep things from being dragged around.