First time BP owner...

Hey everyone.

I recently bought my first BP over the weekend and for the sake of making sure it receives the best care possible, I wanted to get your guys' input as to how its terrarium and area looks (below is an image).

I have a hide for it, some simple fake leaves, a 75-watt heat lamp, thermometer, and a dish for water. Obviously, though, suggestions for how I could make things better would be greatly appreciated.

About the snake: it has been underneath the hide mostly since I purchased it, which I hear is normal. I have yet to feed it after being told to wait, and I have barely handled it for the sake of allowing it to get used to its new surroundings and home.

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...krd/18v002.jpg

Hmm...

1) That substrate looks wet, make sure it's dry

2) Those thermometers are quite unreliable. You can buy very cheap thermo/hygrometers with a probe at Wal-Mart (brand Acu-Rite). If you place the unit on the cool side, it will measure the ambient temperature and humidity on the cool side. The probe will measure the hot side.

3) Temps should be 78-82* on the cool side and 88-94* on the warm side. Avoid temperature fluctuation.

4) That heat lamp will suck out humidity, which should be about 50-60%. You'll do best with an under tank heater (UTH) on a specific reptile thermostat.

5) Two hides are best... one on the cool side and one on the hot side.

6) About the hide, those half logs don't provide any security at all. Your best bet is a small, dark container with a hole cut out on the side.

Read this. ;)

http://ball-pythons.net/modules/Sect...warticle&id=59

Dutchy is right but I can think of some more things
1) Consider covering the top to regulate heat and humidity more easily
2) Cover up the back and sides for an added sense of security
3) Consider changing the water bowl cause your Ball might be able to knock it over which isn't fun cleaning
4) Remember humidity 50-60% normally, 60-70% during shed

Hi,

We have quite a good caresheet that should help a bit.

There are a few things I can see that could be done to make the snake feel more secure ( that's the main reason we see that stops them eating ).

The good news is it doesn't need to cost a lot of money.

If you cover the back and both sides of the outside of the tank with aquarium background (mainly because it looks nicer than card ;) ) and change the hide for something a little smaller and darker (they love to smooth themselves in tight dark places ) and put identicle hides at both ends then that will help a lot.

Now for the bit that might get a little expensive. But it depends on the answers to a few questions.

How are you heating the enclosure for him and what are you using to control the heat sources?

It would be areally good idea to replace that dial thermometer as they are notoriously inaccurate and it is measuring the temp in the wrong place anyway. :(

We recomend the digital acurite weatherstation with probe that you can find at wallmart for around $10 - the base unit of that reads temp and humidity and the probe reads temp.

We generally put the base unit on the cool end of the tank at ground level to get a rough ambient and humidity reading and use the probe to doublecheck the temps inside the hides (both hot and cool ) where the snake will be spending most of its time.

It makes life a lot easier when you can feel confident in the temps you are measuring when setting up the tank. :)

Once we know the temps and heating details we can hopefully help you get everything spot on in no time.

**edit**

Yup, it's official - I'm so slow I may have invented time travel. I also managed to spell my own name wrong. Now where did I leave that bed?

**end edit**


dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

We have quite a good caresheet that should help a bit.

There are a few things I can see that could be done to make the snake feel more secure ( that's the main reason we see that stops them eating ).

The good news is it doesn't need to cost a lot of money.

If you cover the back and both sides of the outside of the tank with aquarium background (mainly because it looks nicer than card ;) ) and change the hide for something a little smaller and darker (they love to smooth themselves in tight dark places ) and put identicle hides at both ends then that will help a lot.

Now for the bit that might get a little expensive. But it depends on the answers to a few questions.

How are you heating the enclosure for him and what are you using to control the heat sources?

It would be areally good idea to replace that dial thermometer as they are notoriously inaccurate and it is measuring the temp in the wrong place anyway. :(

We recomend the digital acurite weatherstation with probe that you can find at wallmart for around $10 - the base unit of that reads temp and humidity and the probe reads temp.

We generally put the base unit on the cool end of the tank at ground level to get a rough ambient and humidity reading and use the probe to doublecheck the temps inside the hides (both hot and cool ) where the snake will be spending most of its time.

It makes life a lot easier when you can feel confident in the temps you are measuring when setting up the tank. :)

Once we know the temps and heating details we can hopefully help you get everything spot on in no time.


dr dle

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Hehehe Dutchy and I beat you :banana:

I really appreciate the tips guys.

I have a few questions, if you don't mind.

Reading the setup tutorial, everything looks great, but what do I do about the heat at night? He mentioned that he was able to dial it to 95-degrees for the daytime temp; would I be able to dial it down during the night as well? Also, does this mean I'd be able to ditch the heat-lamp altogether if I have a heating pad like that?

And since I have an aquarium and not a terrarium, do I just place the heat pad underneath the tank, with aluminum foil taped to the bottom and whatnot?

I'll probably have more questions later! Thanks again for all of your help! :D

Also, what would be the easiest way to divide up the bedding temperature? I read, from the stickied care sheet and FAQ, that one side needs to be 90+ degrees and the other needs to be between 82-85 degrees; there also needs to be an ambient temperature that is in the seventies.

Right now, I have a heat lamp. However, I plan on removing it in favor of a heating pad. However, if the heating pad is going to warm the entire floor of the bedding, does that mean I should get two heating pads? Or...

You get a heating source (probably UTH) under only 1/3 of the tank. This way your snake can choose between the cool and warm side.

What are the temps in your house? This can really destroy your temperatures.

What I always recommend is this: You get a thermostat, and plug the hot side heat source into that and set it so that the hot side temp is ~90*. In the same power strip, you put a piggy back dimmer switch, and into that you stick the cool side heating source -- only necessary if your house temps are too cool -- which should cover the remaining 2/3 of the bottom of the tank. You dial the dimmer down till that side is ~80*.

Hope that helps!

In the title you said first time BP owner, so I am curious as to what other snakes have you kept and for how long did you keep them?

+1 on the accurite or any other good digital temp/hygro.

Make sure to place the sensing devices close to the substrate, where the snake will spend most (if not all) of his/her time to get the most accurate readings.

Oh yeah, what kind of BP is he/she anyways?

Cardboard can be use to help control humidity, just make sure the air does not become stagnant, this will facilitate the growth of mold and parasites :(

Two heating pads with temperature controls could get pricey :O best to be creative with what you can afford, its more fun :D

I am a first time snake owner in general.

Once again, thank you for the tips.

So I will do just fine with 2 UTH sources (depending on what my apartment temperature tends to be) and I can do without the heat lamp, correct?

You can do two uth or a uth and a lamp. The lamp is really only needed to get the ambient temp up if you need to.

I figured I'd give everyone a little bit of an update.

But first, I'd like to say thank you once again for all of the words of advice and suggestions. They have been ridiculously helpful.

Last weekend was the first time I fed him and it was a very successful feeding. I was initially skeptical that he would eat at all due to being in a new environment, even more so, an environment that is still being modified. But my worries were put to rest within two minutes of exposing the mouse to him. :)

Since buying him, I've added a second hide but only just recently. He seems to be slightly hesitant about it considering he has been underneath the wood-tunnel I bought for him from the get-go. But hopefully, he'll adapt to it seeing as how it's more secure and less open.

Thus far, the heat lamp has been holding up and hasn't been a problem yet in terms of heating his enclosure. However, I have full intentions of buying a heating pad this weekend in order to feel better about making sure he is getting enough warmth!

EDIT: Is a second hide necessary if it starts to become more about comfortability/familiarity? Regardless of how open the wood-tunnel has been, it seems as if he finds the most comfort being underneath it all of the time. Albeit, I've only had him for just over a week and shouldn't assume he'll never use his second hide, but I wanted to ask anyway.

Yes, a second hide is always a very good idea :) Sometimes they do seem to prefer one over the other, but they do need to thermo-regulate and when he does feel like being warmer or cooler he will need a place to feel secure. He probably just needs to get used to the new hide OR wherever the hide is that he's using more is what temperature he wants to be at the moment. So again, yes, you should definitely keep that other hide in there :)

Congrats on your new baby by the way and I'm glad he's doing well for ya :D

Two identical hides are ideal, one on the hot side and one on the cool side. When he goes into Blue, you may even want to put a third hide in, with moss or a sponge in it to help through the shedding process. Congratulations and good luck :gj: