Help With Tub For Blood Python

I have a young blood python and she's in a 10 gal currently, I plan to move her into a 15qt tub. How should I go about setting it up for her?

I know everyone always says the smaller the better, but myself, I have started all of my young snakes in 20 qt. tubs with a couple sheets of newspaper on the bottom and i've never had any problems. But, I consume a lot of the space with a hide, a large water dish (for Bloods/Short Tails) and I wad up a bunch of sheets of newspaper to consume a lot of the other excess space. I also lay a single sheet of newspaper over everything. I mist the newspaper down real good with room temperature water once every couple of days to help with humidity, but it's very important that you have plenty of airflow in the tub to prevent respiratory infections. I leave a ceiling fan running on low 24/7 in my snake room to help circulate the air. I think a good general rule of thumb is, if the sides of the tub steam up there isn't enough air flow/ventilation in the tubs. Basically, when I mist my tubs down the newspaper will be dry within a few hours and the sides never steam up. I also try to maintain 50% - 60% humidity and 75 degree temperature in the room. You will of course also need heat tape (I recommend THG) under about 1/3 of the tub and a thermostat...

This is just how i've been doing things and everyone is happy, healthy and eating regularly and i've never had to deal with any respiratory infections. I hope this helps...

Pretty much everything stated aboveby aedryan, except i use aspen or cypress mulch (cypress if you need the extra humidity, which you shouldnt really in the tub) because my guy would dump his water alot and it worked out better than newspaper. Also he was pretty nervous when he was small, so the aspen/cypress let him burrow enough to feel secure, whereas when i used newspaper he would just hide under it. Bloods are so awesome, easily one of my favorite species. Keep us updated with pics!

https://i.imgur.com/lEChQga.jpg
A little update. I got a 15qt yesterday, currently messing around with it to see what keeps humidity best. It's wet because I wanted to see how long it would take to dissipate. I made the hole in the front too small ( i plan to run the thermometer/ hydrometer ) through it so I'll have to make it bigger when I get home.
https://i.imgur.com/YcwrrqC.jpg

Personally I like the coconut husk chips like Prococo or Reptichip. Keeps the humidity up without having condensation on the inside of the tub.

Not sure if you know about the size potential of blood pythons but they can get HUGE! Check out this video, scroll to 6:00 minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLPfIzHsyK0

I have a 60 qt can I use that if I cluttered it up? Seems really big for a snake of my bloods size. But she'd be able to stay in it much longer. What do you guys think?

take a look at my thread about rambo, ive got logs of how quickly he grew/is growing. He grew out of his original tub and into a 60 qt pretty
fast
but to answer yes a 60 qt will work just make sure you have plennty of hides and clutter to help her feel secure

https://i.imgur.com/0hv35Ro.jpg

A little update. I moved her into the 15qt Monday. She hasn't eaten in a while so I thought the more stable environment of the tub might help. She still hasn't taken food and I think it could be a couple things. Maybe there's too much open space in it? I could buy some fake plants and get some rocks to clutter it up. Or maybe I just need to leave her in longer, she's been out and moving around so I didn't think that was an issue. She's eaten for me before in the tank so may be i could move to feed her? I don't like doing that but it might do something. I've tried live and f/t and she's shown no interest. So help would be appreciated, thanks.

Oh, and before I forget. The hot side is about 81-82 and I've been getting 60% ish humidity. I've bumped up the hot side to 85 so maybe that might help

You could certainly clutter it up more to help her feel more secure, but it's not necessary to buy additional accessories like plants or rocks to do so quite yet. In my experience, layers of paper, such as kraft or newspaper, make a good substrate in this sort of situation, as you can easily fold and arrange multiple layers for your snake to hide under. Sitting between/beneath layers of paper mimics their natural behavior of hiding beneath leaf litter.

As an alternative, you could also use a particulate substrate such as the prococo chip-and-fiber mix, or even long-fiber sphagnum moss (Chilean or New Zealand are popular and easy to find on Amazon). By doing so, you could provide a thick layer of substrate for your snake to burrow into that will also double as a hide, and allow your python to feel secure regardless of where it is in the enclosure. If you do so, keep in mind you'll want to have extra on hand to replace when it becomes soiled to avoid ammonia buildup in the enclosure. As I'm sure you're aware, these snakes can pee a LOT! :P

At this point I would advise against feeding outside of the cage. It really isn't a necessary practice, and can stress the animal by all the additional activity of moving to and from a separate tub/location. I'd make a few tweaks to your enclosure as described above, let the snake settle in for another week or so, and then offer prey at night after the lights go out.

Have you been offering live, pre-killed or F/T?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MD_Pythons

https://i.imgur.com/0hv35Ro.jpg

A little update. I moved her into the 15qt Monday. She hasn't eaten in a while so I thought the more stable environment of the tub might help. She still hasn't taken food and I think it could be a couple things. Maybe there's too much open space in it? I could buy some fake plants and get some rocks to clutter it up. Or maybe I just need to leave her in longer, she's been out and moving around so I didn't think that was an issue. She's eaten for me before in the tank so may be i could move to feed her? I don't like doing that but it might do something. I've tried live and f/t and she's shown no interest. So help would be appreciated, thanks.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by MD_Pythons

Oh, and before I forget. The hot side is about 81-82 and I've been getting 60% ish humidity. I've bumped up the hot side to 85 so maybe that might help

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