husbandry help, soon

hey everyone, i am taking home a ball python who is currently on a hunger strike and need to comfirm some husbandry issues.

1) I have an 8" w, 9"h, 14"l glass tank
this will be sufficient for a 12"-16" hatchling ball python?

2) humidity should be 50%-60%?

3)temperature: 80-84 F on cool side and 88-94 F on warmer/basking side?

4) Should I be using a red/night heat bulb instead of a bright spot bulb?

5) currently the snake is on reptibark substrate, would it be better to keep him on reptibark when I bring him home? or could I switch him to paper towel?
And also, which would help to keep humidity up?

Thanks in advance and if anyone has anything else they think I should know, or that they want to add feel free.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jrosen123

hey everyone, i am taking home a ball python who is currently on a hunger strike and need to comfirm some husbandry issues.

1) I have an 8" w, 9"h, 14"l glass tank
this will be sufficient for a 12"-16" hatchling ball python?

2) humidity should be 50%-60%?

3)temperature: 80-84 F on cool side and 88-94 F on warmer/basking side?

4) Should I be using a red/night heat bulb instead of a bright spot bulb?

5) currently the snake is on reptibark substrate, would it be better to keep him on reptibark when I bring him home? or could I switch him to paper towel?
And also, which would help to keep humidity up?

Thanks in advance and if anyone has anything else they think I should know, or that they want to add feel free.

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With a stubborn eater I would start with a small shoebox sized rubbermaid/sterilite. 82-84 on the cool side, 92-94 on the hot side. Small hide that allows the snake to touch all sides when coiled up in it. I would use undertank heat rather than a bright bulb. Reptibark is fine but you could just as easily use newspaper or paper towel. After you have had the snake for a week and left it completely alone (quiet room), put a hopper mouse in with the snake overnight and leave it alone. Best of luck!

Jamie

P.S. For stubborn eaters I like to use as dark of a room as possible. I keep my incubator turned on all year long and find that I can get any snake to eat after a week in the warm, dark incubator.

thanks alot, unfortunetly at the moment I cant get any sterilite or any other plastic tubs/enclosures. I am hoping that I can keep the humidity up, so should I be using any type of heat bulb aswell as the UTH?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jrosen123

thanks alot, unfortunetly at the moment I cant get any sterilite or any other plastic tubs/enclosures. I am hoping that I can keep the humidity up, so should I be using any type of heat bulb aswell as the UTH?

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Heat bulbs suck the humidity out of the air. What is the temp of the room where the snake will be?

I had the tank, covered with a towel, with the UTH and it only reached around 80 F on the warmer/basking side. The room isnt very warm, but the tank is near( not close) to the heating vent, which makes that side of the room the warmest, unfortunetly though I think I will have to use a heat lamp.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jrosen123

I had the tank, covered with a towel, with the UTH and it only reached around 80 F on the warmer/basking side. The room isnt very warm, but the tank is near( not close) to the heating vent, which makes that side of the room the warmest, unfortunetly though I think I will have to use a heat lamp.

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You could use 2 UTHs on 2 separate thermostats.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jrosen123

I had the tank, covered with a towel, with the UTH and it only reached around 80 F on the warmer/basking side. The room isnt very warm, but the tank is near( not close) to the heating vent, which makes that side of the room the warmest, unfortunetly though I think I will have to use a heat lamp.

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You could also use insulation on the back and sides of the tank to help hold in the heat :)

Hatchling BP? Hunger strike? Has this snake ever eaten? Are you thinking about assist feeding?

To Slim: I have tried EVERYTHING, this is me in desperation trying to make the husbandry conditions absolutely perfect. I've had to "assist" feed him 3 times because he was losing weight. I work at a pet store, and my boss refuses to feed live. (which he was eating at the supplier) I am taking him home to the proper sized tank, and to give him better, more specific care than he was getting.

to everyone else: i got the temp up on the warm side up to 90 F (too hot?) with a heat lamp and a towel over the tank. i think i have another UTH of the same size, but i dont have any thermestats because this setup is temporary until I can get him eating. It is just the basic: one hide on each side, water bowl, paper towel on the ground.

PS. The UTH are 8 watts each, 6"x8", and I DO NOT have the snake yet, I am waiting to get the temp and humidity perfect before I bring it in

90F is not too warm, though I would try to get it warmer so as to increase the feeding response. If you insulate the sides and back it would help to accomplish a ~94F heat temp.

o thats good to know, I can get 92-94 F easily, i was just worried it was too warm. Is it completely necessary to have thermostats? I wasn't planning on getting one until I actually buy this python, currently I am just giving it more specific care until It will eat.

It is completely necessary to have a thermostat controlling your heat source in order to prevent possible thermal burns.

You could purchase a Herpstat II (spyderrobotics.com) which would control both heat sources :)

what do you mean by thermal burns?

A thermal burn is a burn on their skin caused by too high temps from a heat source.

are you talking about contact from a UTH directly? or if I have paper towel over it will he be fine

also can heat/basking lamps cause burns just from exposure(not contact to the bulb)

UTH's (and all other heat sources) are known for getting way too hot when allowed to run full throttle. It will burn the snake's belly because the surface of the tank will get too hot :O A paper towel, or any other substrate, will not prevent the heat from getting through. Also, snakes have a tendency to burrow under.

how much do thermostats run for? because the thing is that I do not own this snake yet. I am taking care of it for the pet store I work at.

Also where can I buy thermostats?

For Herpstat's: http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/index.html
For all others: http://www.reptilebasics.com/Thermostats-p-1-c-250.html

If you don't want to spend too much money as you're not sure if you wanna keep the snake, I'd go with a Ranco or Johnson. If you're planning on keeping it I'd say go for Herpstat!





...or Helix.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DutchHerp

If you don't want to spend too much money as you're not sure if you wanna keep the snake, I'd go with a Ranco or Johnson. If you're planning on keeping it I'd say go for Herpstat!





...or Helix.

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Agreed! :D

ok, so for the last couple of days I have been testing out trying to get the temperatures in the tank right (before the snake got here) and I can get the warm side to around 90-94, but the cool side, unless I have another heat source the cooler side doesn't go over 70-72, but with another heat source makes the warm side easily in to 100+.

Any ideas on how I could solve this problem.

thanks

PS. I won't be bringing the snake into this tank until the husbandry issues are solved

Hi,

Sounds like you need some way of controling your heat sources - I recomend a thermostat over a dimmer if your room has variable temperatures.

You can use one thermostat to control both the cool side and the warm side if you use a dimmer (rheostat) between the coold side heater and the thermostat and adjust it correctly.

If you are using incandecent bulbs for heat then you really should buy a proportional thermostat but if you are using only CHE's and UTH's then you can use an on/ off type.


dr del

hey i would keep the day temp at 82-85 on the hot side and ten degrees less on the cool side with under tank heater and 50 watt red bulb if its not in shed keep humidity at 50-60 if in shed like 70 try feeding a slightly smaller live mouse

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Originally Posted by bobby729

hey i would keep the day temp at 82-85 on the hot side and ten degrees less on the cool side with under tank heater and 50 watt red bulb if its not in shed keep humidity at 50-60 if in shed like 70 try feeding a slightly smaller live mouse

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I strongly believe that the temps you are suggesting are waaaay too low. It is common practice to keep temps between 90-94F on the warm side and 80-84 on the cool side with an ambient temp of about 82F.

Of course, if one is preparing a breeding female, the temps would then gradually be dropped to cooler temps, but then be brought back up to the above stated temps once the breeding was finished :)

Hi,

Actually we recomend the hot side hide be around 90-94f and the cool end hide to be 80-82f (approx).

There are many ways to keep these animals but we find that range works well with the setups we normally recomend. :)


dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

It is completely necessary to have a thermostat controlling your heat source in order to prevent possible thermal burns.

You could purchase a Herpstat II (spyderrobotics.com) which would control both heat sources :)

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I disagree. I think it is bad advice to a newcomer to say a thermostat is absolutely required. I think a dimmer switch is just as effective, so long as the keeper is willing to keep in mind that fluctuations in the room will affect the tubs, and that it may require tweaking several times a day. The fact is, a lot of keepers, especially the beginner keepers, just dont have the money to drop a couple hundred on a thermostat. I think a 10 dollar dimmer switch is a much better option if and only if the keeper is willing to go the extra mile for tweaking it to save them the hard hit on the wallet.