newby needs advice

Howdy all, Found this site while doing a research on my Ball. I was wanting to ask a few questions. I am on my second ball python. The first one died and the shop I bought it from told me the whole shipment had died. They told me they had some sort of virus that caused them not to eat. but mine was eating fine. then one day he was gone. they replaced the one I had with one about twice the size. I'm getting a little nervous because he hasn't eaten in the 10 days I have had him and I don't want him to die.

First off my enclosure is a 20 gal screen toped glass tank
I cleaned the tank , hide and the water dish with 5% bleach and water. I waited a week after that before I went to pick up the new Ball and this time I'm using news paper for the bottom not the substrate they sold me the first time. I have a 60 watt heat lamp. I also have a under tank heater which I have not installed yet because I am using news paper and I don't want him to get burned. The water dish is a plastic container that is large enough to soak in and I have one hide

I know I need a second hide and plan on buying a thermostat for the uth. also I cant seem to keep the humidity any higher than 45%

Please feel free to flame away I'm looking for any advice I can get. I'm feeling pretty bad about the death of my first ball and don't want it to happen again.

sorry for the long winded post but I'm trying to offer all the info I have on my situation.

Use the UTH with a thermostat or rheostat. Lots of people have bad luck with rheostats, but my snake room stays a constant temp, so it works well for me. Cover most of the top of the tank with aluminum foil and see if that helps raise the humidity. Also, if you can heat solely with the UTH and get rid of the lamp, the humidity will go way up.

Lots of folks here use glass tanks, but I thought it was a total pain. I switched over to using tubs, and will never even think about going back to a tank.

Welcome to the forum. I think most of the responses you will receive will be helpful...not flaming posts, unless you refuse to take the advice that's given :D

Last 10 days is no big deal. How often are you feeding? Once a week should be sufficient.

How big of a rodent are you offering? and are you offering mice or rats? Have you tried both?

To raise your humidity, try a damp towel on top of the enclosure each day. Or mist with a spray bottle.

Do you have a digital thermometer? or those analog stick ons that you get from petco? Those are complete junk. You can get a good Acu-rite at Wal-mart (in the section usually near light bulbs and stuff...usually the outdoor home stuff) The Acu-Rites have a probe for "outdoor temps", but you put it on the warm side, so the unit will read the cool side and the probe will read the warm side...

For your under tank heater, I would suggest you look into Spyder Robotics and get one of their thermostats. A cheaper alternative would be a Ranco

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

A cheaper alternative would be a Ranco

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What young Nate MEANT to say was a "more affordable" alternative! :P (don't mind me, simply ragging on Nate, because he knows how much I hate the word cheap) :P

Hello and welcome to the site. Glad you found us! Nate has given some great advice. One thing to know is we don't bite so please ask ask ask..We love to help new keeper succeed when it come to reptile keeping. :D

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Originally Posted by Phin

Please feel free to flame away I'm looking for any advice I can get. I'm feeling pretty bad about the death of my first ball and don't want it to happen again.

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We don't flame people with good intentions that are here to learn and to share what they've learned. :)

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sorry for the long winded post but I'm trying to offer all the info I have on my situation.

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No need to apologize. You'll get far better, more concise answers when you do give us a lot of information. It's far harder to answer a question like "my snake won't eat" when the poster gives us nothing to go on but that. Keep posting, keep asking, keep learning - it's all good.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

What young Nate MEANT to say was a "more affordable" alternative! :P (don't mind me, simply ragging on Nate, because he knows how much I hate the word cheap) :P

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hehe yes of course, when it comes to living animals i know you hate "cheap"...but cheaper is as cheaper does..

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Originally Posted by Phin

First off my enclosure is a 20 gal screen toped glass tank
I cleaned the tank , hide and the water dish with 5% bleach and water. I waited a week after that before I went to pick up the new Ball and this time I'm using news paper for the bottom not the substrate they sold me the first time. I have a 60 watt heat lamp. I also have a under tank heater which I have not installed yet because I am using news paper and I don't want him to get burned. The water dish is a plastic container that is large enough to soak in and I have one hide

I know I need a second hide and plan on buying a thermostat for the uth. also I cant seem to keep the humidity any higher than 45%

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I have heard so many things that you might need for your snakes enclosure. Mine like yours was not eating for several factors. One my enclosure was too cold. Once I got my uth my bp was so much happier. I know your using newspaper and if you want to continue using it you might want to try to get reptile carpet to go on the bottom of your tank. That way it creates a barrier between your uth and the newspaper. I agree that it might be a little too hot if you just put newspaper down, I haven't tried it so maybe someone else can guide you better. I right now in my 20 gal. I have the reptile carpet and some substrate on the bottom. I too was very concern of the heat hurting my snake, but hes sooo much happier.

When I first got him I was very concerned because he was simply not eating. I was guided by a few members on the board as well as my vets. The end result was me buying a small plastic container drill a few holes in the top. Not too huge but just enough to put one of his hides in there as well as him being able to move around fine. (Granted that this was after I got his tank regulated for about a couple of days) I then put the plastic container in his tank for heat, comfortability, and protection (i have cats). I left him in there for about an hour or two. I then put the mouse in and he ate. I was very proud. I hope all works out of your.

Question why did you take another snake from the guy even though it was an exchange? Alot of store will at least give you store credit, I would have took that instead of getting a possibly another sick snake. I'm in a situation right now where I'm fighting with one of the reptile stores that sold me a sick snake and they want to exchange me for another snake. I'd rather have store credit since in my mind ppl shouldn't be selling any animal sick unless indicated at the time of the sale.

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I really want to do this right. I love my Ball and don't want anything to happen to him.

Today I replaced the temp and humidity gauges with a digital one. From what I see now the humidity is around 50% but the temp was way off only 78 deg. I need to do something about that fast. I'm going to go the the pet store in the morning to see what they have for the bottom of the tank in the form of carpet or something so I can use the uth. The only problem is I don't think I have enough cash to buy a thermostat for the uth. So I guess I'm going to have to make sure it wont over heat the tank without a thermostat for now.

I'm using a kinda large rubbermaid container for a water dish. I thought it would help with humidity and thought the BP needed to get it's whole body in the water. It's about four or five inches deep but I only put about an inch of water in it.I change the water daily. Is it too deep? should I get something a little smaller?

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Originally Posted by Evilme5229

Question why did you take another snake from the guy even though it was an exchange?

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mostly because thats where I buy most of my saltwater aquarium supplies. They have always treated me right.

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Originally Posted by Phin

The only problem is I don't think I have enough cash to buy a thermostat for the uth. So I guess I'm going to have to make sure it wont over heat the tank without a thermostat for now.

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I got a "rheostat" (a Lutron lamp dimmer like the one in the baby BP setup sticky) at home depot for $10.

ok the wate bowl sounds fine depending in the size of him but from you description it seems fine and for the humidity i have a 60 gallon glass tank and glass is verry dificulto to keep proper humidity and temp so what i do is cover the hot side of the screen top with foil and cut a hole in it for the light and just cover the cool side with a dry t shirt or thin sheet for ventilation and mist the all the plants and substrait in the mornig so the foil keeps the heat in and the shirt traps the hmidity.
also i would not recomend using a wet towel cuz it can transfer bacteria into the air of you snakes enclosure.

You can use a UTH and newspaper, as long as you use a digital themometer, and reliable THERMOSTAT to control the heat...your snake should be just fine. The reptile carpet is nice *that's what I started out with* but you'll find that it can get pretty grungy and it will trap bacteria in it...you can never REALLY get it clean and sanitary enough.

2 identical hides so he doesn't have to choose btwn security and thermoregulation. Using the AcuRite is a fantastic step in the right direction.

Yeah...if it's too cold, he won't eat. They have to have 82-84* on the cool end and 92-94* as a hot spot. (<80* and you're pushing the chance of his getting an upper respiratory infection, too. ) Too cold, and they know the food would just rot in the gut...so they don't eat. That was Baby's problem when I first got her. (My roommate looooooooved the AC, no matter what the weather and house temp was. :mad: )

Covering the screen w/plexiglass or tinfoil, or (something)---I've got GLAD Press 'N Seal on a couple, tinfoil taped down on one, and plexiglass over another---except for just a couple quarter sized spots on opposite sides, for ventilation---will REALLY help you boost your humidity. Heat lamps are notorious for drying out the air. With Flurry's, the lid's covered, except for where the small heat lamp sits on top. The UTH was the cool end (the bedroom was cold, and the heatlamp gave a 93* hot spot. But Flurry was on aspen, and I kept a bowl of water on the UTH and would occas. mist the bedding if the humidity was too low.

Now, all my snakes, but one, are in the 84* bedroom closed off, and the UTHs are the hot spots.

From what i gather...a petstore is not the best place to buy your snake....there is a difference between captive born and captive bred. And a breeder wont sell you a non eating snake...i understand yours was eating fine but a breeder is the best way to go

Heres what I do for pretty much all my set ups... 2 zilla hides(3$ a piece), water bowl from target (3$), lil climbing thing from pet depot or whatever (15$), flexwatt or some kind of heat pad (flex is like 6$ some of the others are up to 40$), thermostat(35-300$), 2-in-1 hygrometer/thermometer (13$ walmart), and a rubbermaid tub (66qt for babies and 96qt for young adults-adults 15$)... so for like 100-125$ you could be ready to rock... below is a picture of what my babies get... the girl in this pic is like 250g or so... mid summer 07

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...0112_thumb.jpg

Elvis ate today!!! and I'm very happy.

Yesterday I went to the hardware store and bought the stuff to build a rheostat. Played with it all day and found the spot where it was at 87 and 82. this way I can change it from night to day temps. I know it's not the best idea but it will work until I can buy a thermostat. Also My humidity has leveled out at about 60%.

I'm guessing the new temps and humidity change has made him happy.

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Originally Posted by mambo_chris

From what i gather...a petstore is not the best place to buy your snake....there is a difference between captive born and captive bred. And a breeder wont sell you a non eating snake...i understand yours was eating fine but a breeder is the best way to go

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After much research on the subject I have to agree totally and my next snake will be bought from a breeder.

just so you know BPs dont need night/day temps... As long as theres a warm side and cool side they will thermoregulate themselves. Glad to hear he ate for ya.

Hey, I was in your position a couple weeks ago(no dead snakes, luckily) but below is what I did on a budget to make it work.

I hooked up a UTH on the warm side and found the sweat spot for an overhead CHE(or blacklight bulb if the money isn't there for a CHE) To keep the humidity up I used aluminum foil tape on both sides of the screen except where the heater was. Spagnhum moss is also a cheap alternative and helps hold water a little better. To keep the temp regulated make srue you have a thermometer on the other side of the glass from the UTH. I would notice taht air temps would seem fine but the UTH was running over 100. If the UTH is on a dimmer/rheostat just make sure to keep it in a lower range. Dual hides is a fantastic thing to have as well. My snake is rare and will eat regardless of the conditions. Before I found the site I had it too cold and one hide, she still ate like a champ. Also Keep a close eye on your snake while it adjusts for signs of Respiratory infection, Mites, etc. If it starts weezing or has any thing bizarre in it's nostril's mouth take it to a vet asap. It should be fine, but with any new snake it's a good idea to keep an eye out. Also, I learned quickly that even the dumbest questions get no flaming. This is the only forum I've ever found that is devoid of flaming towards new people.

Second, and I'll probably be corrected on this... but My snake won't eat from tongs, or anyone else's hand but if I dangle the prey by the tail she goes for it. If you're not too worried about getting tagged, you can try it out.

Best of luck, I know a lot of this was redundant but I just thought I'd lend the advice I found that worked.

And oh yeah, once you get one BP be prepared to want another. And another... and another... Lol