Got my 1st BP

[templarknight]

I just picked up my very first ball python. It's a lemon blast. He weighs 466 grams. Pictures will come in a week after I leave him be for a week.



There's just 1 thing. I don't know if it's my cage or what I did but for some reason my hygrometer probe is telling me it's 70% humidity in my cage. 80 degrees on the cool side and the hot hide is at 91 degrees. My BP doesn't want to use his hides either.

Thanks in advance for any advice you all will give me.

Oh the cage is Animal Plastics T13 cage.

[iCandiBallPythons]

Nice first bp

[Skittles1101]

Congrats on your new ball python

Depending on where he came from he may not know the hides are hides just yet. Leave him alone, he'll figure it out.

[mues155]

Nice choice on a first BP!

What are you using for a heat source? undertank heater? lamp?
And is it being controlled by a thermostat?

[templarknight]

Sorry I forgot to mention all that stuff. I apologize. Before I posted this thread I was up since 3:30 this morning.

He is on Aspen, I have a spyder robotics thermostat, flexwatt heat tape that came with the enclosure, BIG water bowl(which is what I assume is causing the high humidity), 4 hides(which he chooses NOT to use. I don't blame him though. 2 are too small and the other 2 I think are perfect but I don't know.) and a log and a few fake plants, and 3 fluecent(sp?) lights to light the cage.

When I woke up this afternoon/night I checked his temps. He is now on the cold side laying behind the waterbowl. I guess he's using the waterbowl as his "hide". Humidity is now 74% in there. Im thinking of taking the waterbowl out and replacing it with just a clear plastic bowl from my kitchen in hopes of taking the humidity down in there.



I would also like to thank BRB Reptiles and the wonderful staff that I talked to today. Excellent people and very nice people to talk to. They seem to love what they do and you can tell by the animals that they produce.

[templarknight]

Ok I dumped out his waterbowl and refilled it with fresh water but just half of what I had it. The humidity has gone down so Im really happy about that. I cranked up the thermostat to 96 degrees because when I touched Templar he felt cold to the touch. So, Im hoping that bumps up the ambient temps so he's less stressed.

I did get struck at already. I turned off the light that is in the back of the cage and he was sitting around it. I got away with no bite marks but I know he's stressed out because I keep opening up his cage and checking temps and touching him and all that stuff.

Any other advice for a newbie? I'll be making a trip tomorrow to my local exotic pet shop to pick up a little bigger hides and replacing all the ones I currently have and picking up a few more plants to make the enclosure feel more secure.

He has to feel somewhat secure because when you walk into my room and turn on the light, the cage Templar is in is all blacked out in the back. You have to pretty much press your face against the glass in order to see inside it if I don't turn on the lights that are in the tank.

Oh, and yes. I am a BIG Templar Knights nerd. Favorite thing in history to talk about and read about.

[xFenrir]

The first thing is to take a deep breath and relax. The more you fret over him and his tank, the more he's gonna stress out. Your temps in the beginning were perfect, you should get them back to the 90 hot/80 ambient. Sometimes Loki feels a little cool, but you have to remember that they're cold-blooded: if you have the right temps in your enclosure, he'll be fine. As for the hides, x2 on what LGrey23 said, he probably doesn't know they're hides yet. He'll figure it all out.

Congrats on your new Ball! I second the need for pics when he's settled in.

[Keyboard Warrior]

Snakes should feel cold to the touch, because relative to us, our body temps are higher then snakes. It's when they're warm to the touch, that you should likely be concerned. Just make sure your temps and humidity are fine.

To get that humidity down, you can use a heat lamp. But please buy a dimmer for it. You can get one at Lowes or home depot for $10. Those things running on full blast, make everything too hot. Plus it will kill too much humidity and it will drive you nuts. And use it as supplemental heat for ambient and cold side temps. Your UTH should be heating the hot side. What kind of bulb are you using. They can't see the black/blue/red bulbs. But the regular bulbs bother them.

[templarknight]

Im using no bulbs. I'm just using flexwatt. Problem with getting a heat lamp is - the top of my cage is solid. There are no holes/screens. So, I dunno if putting the heat lamp directly on top of the cage and pointing the bulb directly down will do anything to snag that humidity and heat the cooler side. Animal Plastics T13 cage with a solid top.

[Keyboard Warrior]

Oh ok, gotcha, must have misread.