Wondering if my cage is good enough for a BP.

I've always been curious actually. Here's a picture of my female BP's enlcosure, and my male BP's enclosure is somewhat similar to hers:
http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/t...DSCI0012-1.jpg

-1 Digital thermometer
-1 Hygrometer
-1 Hide
-1 Water dish
-Cypress Mulch for substrate
-60 watt basking bulb
-Decor plants

TEMPS:
Warm side- 88F-94F during day, 78F-80F during night
Cool side- 80F-85F during day, 75F-78F during night
Humidity- 40%-50% during day, 50%-60% during night

I clean her water dish every other day along with all of my other snakes. Am I doing a good job on her enclosure and temps?

Oh and by the way.. if you were wondering about the tape that was the day of her shed and I have all sides of her enclosure covered with towels (besides the lid) so it puts less stress on her. And this time, I got a GREAT shed:) This picture was taken about.. 3 weeks ago I think. I'll get a new picture when I go to my mom's house tomorrow. And yes.. I need a new water dish because it's a little too small at the moment.

Only thing i would change is add another hide on the cool side. Ball pythons need 2 hides when in tanks. Tubs are a different story.

The lamp i would ditch to a heating pad. I bet your using the mulch to help with humidity. If you ditch the lamp youll not need the mulch at all. And upgrade to a digital hydrometer liek the Acurite ones form Wally world for $12.

other than that its a good start.

yeah, add a heatmatt instead of a heat lamp, im sure in AZ its hot and the attemient temp would be good, i have cousions that live in pheniox and when i went there it was over 100 and here it was like low 70s, its way to hot there lol

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Originally Posted by ItsMichael805

yeah, add a heatmatt instead of a heat lamp, im sure in AZ its hot and the attemient temp would be good, i have cousions that live in pheniox and when i went there it was over 100 and here it was like low 70s, its way to hot there lol

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Haha yaa I knoww. It's really hot right now, and I'm like dying in this room lol it's too hot in here. It always gets over 100F here, but it's good because it keeps my room warm so all of my snakes in my room have their correct temps lol the only problem is humidity.

oh and try keeping the temp steedy, 88-94 all day all night on warm side, cool side 80-84 all day all night hummity 50-60 bump up to 70 durning shed.

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Originally Posted by BallPythonLOVER

Haha yaa I knoww. It's really hot right now, and I'm like dying in this room lol it's too hot in here. It always gets over 100F here, but it's good because it keeps my room warm so all of my snakes in my room have their correct temps lol the only problem is humidity.

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yeah when i got there i was like "hmm yeah i can live here, i think i might move here when im older" then it hit the after noon and i was like " i hate this place" imma stick to living in cali.

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Originally Posted by ItsMichael805

oh and try keeping the temp steedy, 88-94 all day all night on warm side, cool side 80-84 all day all night hummity 50-60 bump up to 70 durning shed.

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Ya. At night I'm not so worried, I'm trying to do a little bit of an experiment because I'm going to breed soon and I heard if you lower the temps at night that will help with the breeding somehow. I kinda forgot how it helped though lol.. whoops!

yeah im switching to tubs once my rack is finished, just got to get the money for a thermostat and heat tape

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Originally Posted by ItsMichael805

yeah im switching to tubs once my rack is finished, just got to get the money for a thermostat and heat tape

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Ya I was actually thinking of making a rack, but not till I produce my first clutch. Before my clutch hatches (well.. when I get a clutch lmao) I would make a rack for the babies.

yeah so basically thats all u need and like he said another hide

Ball pythons really need belly heat to aid in digestion, so you need to get a thermostat and a UTH. I'd get rid of the lamp, because that sucks humidity out of the enclosure. And get a digital thermometer/hygrometer and replace the analog. Get a second hide. The water dish doesn't need to be any bigger - it looks plenty big to allow him to get a drink of water.

For what it's worth, I do not cool my snakes for breeding season.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Ball pythons really need belly heat to aid in digestion, so you need to get a thermostat and a UTH. I'd get rid of the lamp, because that sucks humidity out of the enclosure. And get a digital thermometer/hygrometer and replace the analog. Get a second hide. The water dish doesn't need to be any bigger - it looks plenty big to allow him to get a drink of water.

For what it's worth, I do not cool my snakes for breeding season.

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I agree, you need to ditch the lamp and get a UTH with a thermostat or rheostat. Balls need to get proper belly heat whcih you will get with a UTH. Lamps provide back heat.

Before you try breeding you really need to read every sticky on this site and get all the info you can. If you can't properly care for a BP you are not ready to breed for a while.

You must have constant temperatures in the low 80's on the cool side and low 90's on the warm side. If I remember correctly, the temperature drop at night is to signal the BP that it's fall/breeding season. You shouldn't be trying that unless you are fully ready to breed, you may get it wrong and run the risk of the snake getting sick.

Please don't breed any snakes until you do alot more research and know all of this by heart. Alot can go wrong, even for experienced people, but at least they have experience on how to handle those problems.

even though I don't plan on breeding my ball python, and I am probably not because my mom thinks I have too much pets(only 2), I still like to give them a day/night temp drop because thats natural. It always gets cooler at night then during the day so my snake should experience it too. It doesn't look like he has any ill effects from it though.

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Originally Posted by guambomb832

even though I don't plan on breeding my ball python, and I am probably not because my mom thinks I have too much pets(only 2), I still like to give them a day/night temp drop because thats natural. It always gets cooler at night then during the day so my snake should experience it too. It doesn't look like he has any ill effects from it though.

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Not really. Ball pythons live in termite mounds which actually hold heat pretty well throughout the night. I am not saying there isn't any drop, but it isn't significant.

That being said, they are not in the wild so you shouldn't try to replicate what it is like for them to be in the wild. Constant temps is what they need.

To the OP: I wouldn't even consider breeding until you determine that both of your snakes are healthy and of age/size to breed. You need to get your husbandry sorted out because there are some obvious flaws. You need to learn all you can and get ready for eggs. This includes getting proper equipment, an incubator, places for the babies to live until you can (hopefully) find them new homes.

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Originally Posted by DustinB

Before you try breeding you really need to read every sticky on this site and get all the info you can. If you can't properly care for a BP you are not ready to breed for a while.

Please don't breed any snakes until you do alot more research and know all of this by heart. Alot can go wrong, even for experienced people, but at least they have experience on how to handle those problems.

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From reading your posts IMHO I also feel that you are not ready to breed. If you are still learning basics like proper cage setup breeding is far from what you should be doing. I am not saying never do it but you still need more experience/knowledge before you get into it. I also ask please don't try breeding until you have done a lot more research and have more experience.

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Originally Posted by guambomb832

even though I don't plan on breeding my ball python, and I am probably not because my mom thinks I have too much pets(only 2), I still like to give them a day/night temp drop because thats natural. It always gets cooler at night then during the day so my snake should experience it too. It doesn't look like he has any ill effects from it though.

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Actually there's not really much of a change in temps deep inside the rodent burrows and termite mounds that they live in naturally. If you want to provide as close to "nature" as you can in captivity, you would keep the temps consistent.