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  1. #1
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    I figured I would put together a tutorial of sorts for those who have questions regarding how to house thier BP's. This is just a little thing I came up with and by no means is it infallable or Holy Scripture. I do things simply and to the point. This is just a tool to help others......

    Well, to start off with, you need an enclosure for your BP. My enclosure of choice is the Rubbermaid/Sterilite container, modified to have air holes by either a small drill or soldering iron. These hold humidity well and are inexpensive to obtain or get rid of when your BP gets bigger. Below is a 16 quart snap-top rubbermaid:


    Then we need to figure out how to go about heating this enclosure. I find that human heating pads are the best way to go. They do not dry out the air in the cage and are inexpensive ($10-15). They are also safe to leave on 24/7 and do not put out light that may stress out your BP. I always keep it set on the lowest setting which should keep the warm side around 88-90F. Below is a pic of the box of the kind that I prefer to use:


    Now that we have the cage and heat source, we need to get the stuff to put in the cage. I house my BPs with 2 hides.....one on each end of the cage to allow for proper thermoregulation. For the hides, I just use either the plastic plant bases you can find at any garden center or Wal-Mart or terra cotta pot bases of similar size with an entry hole. Then a water bowl. For the substrate I use either paper towels or newspaper because it is easy to clean, cheap, and I do not have to worry about my snake ingesting any loose bits. Here is a pic of what my BP cages look like:


    Now that you have your cage ready, you need to monitor the envronment your snake is in. The bet way to measure temperature is with a good digital thermometer with a probe, or a temp-gun, seen below:


    I know I probably left some stuff out, but hey I'm not perfect, lol. I hope this helps someone and feel free to ask questions and/or make comments, suggestions, etc. Thanks for reading!

  2. #2
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    looks good David. thanks for sharing.
    -Will

    Photo Album: http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....ndex&cat=10072
    Currently Keeping - 4 ball pythons, a redtail boa, and a cali king. Now look, admit it. You know you want to give me an albino ball python.

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    That will help alot of people out that come in here needing to know exactly that. But trust me, we will still get questions, LOL. You should make that sticky or ask the prez to put it in a permanant section somewhere. That's quite a time consuming post to be left on the bottom of the pile when people post new threads in this forum. Great job.

    Thanks for sharing.
    Jennifer

  4. #4
    BPnet Veteran Marla's Avatar
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    Images: 47

    New pics...

    And for what it's worth, a digital thermometer/hygrometer combo with 10' probe was $14.88 at Wal-Mart today. Not exactly prohibitively expensive. It was with the outdoor thermometers rather than pet supplies, garden, or other possible merchandise areas.
    3.1.1 BP (Snyder, Hanover, Bo Peep, Sir NAITF, Eve), 1.2.3 Rhacodactylus ciliatus (Sandiego, Carmen, Scooby, Camo, BABIES ), 1.0 Chow (Buddha), 0.2 cats (Jezebel, PCBH "Nanners"), 0.3 humans
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  5. #5
    BPnet Veteran green_man's Avatar
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    very nice,
    thanks for the info. Ive been waiting for some one to put a specific, step by step, easy to understand tutorial for enclosures.
    Can you give us an idea of what this would cost?
    1.0 Green tree python


  6. #6
    BPnet Veteran Marla's Avatar
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    Depends on choices you make, but the enclosure itself should run anywhere from $3 to $20, ~$15 for the digital thermometer/hygrometer, ~$10 to $20 for the heat pad, $1 for a roll of paper towels, free to $20 per hide, free to $10 for the water dish, pennies for water and electricity daily, ~$10 for a soldering iron if you don't have one. Going cheap, that works out to $5+$10+$15+$4 ($1 ea. for hides, water dish, substrate) = $34.
    3.1.1 BP (Snyder, Hanover, Bo Peep, Sir NAITF, Eve), 1.2.3 Rhacodactylus ciliatus (Sandiego, Carmen, Scooby, Camo, BABIES ), 1.0 Chow (Buddha), 0.2 cats (Jezebel, PCBH "Nanners"), 0.3 humans
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  7. #7
    BPnet Veteran green_man's Avatar
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    Thats great! I would like to bread ball pythons eventually and that would be a cost effective way to manage them.
    One more question: How many air holes do you recommend for adiquate ventilation/humidity?
    1.0 Green tree python


  8. #8
    BPnet Veteran green_man's Avatar
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    ok I lied, heres another question:
    Do you set the enclosure directly on the heating pad or do you raise it?
    1.0 Green tree python


  9. #9
    BPnet Veteran Marla's Avatar
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    Ventilation will be adequate with just a few holes opposite each other and optimal humidity management will vary greatly depending on your ambient humidity. I generally put holes about 2.5" apart and make a second row if needed. I also read a tip that suggested putting your holes near the bottom on your warm side and near the top on your cool side to help maintain your heat gradient (since heat rises).

    Basically, the best thing to do is find a container you like that works for the size snakes you have, set one up as you would (with heat pad, water in water dish, etc.), and monitor temps and humidity, adding holes as needed or making thicker or thinner layers of substrate, until you have it right and then just copy that setup for the other containers (and of course check temps and humidity in them, too, as even the same brand and model heat pad can vary in the heat it puts out or can be wired backward as one of our members dicovered).
    3.1.1 BP (Snyder, Hanover, Bo Peep, Sir NAITF, Eve), 1.2.3 Rhacodactylus ciliatus (Sandiego, Carmen, Scooby, Camo, BABIES ), 1.0 Chow (Buddha), 0.2 cats (Jezebel, PCBH "Nanners"), 0.3 humans
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  10. #10
    BPnet Veteran green_man's Avatar
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    I also read a tip that suggested putting your holes near the bottom on your warm side and near the top on your cool side to help maintain your heat gradient (since heat rises).

    That sounds like a good idea.
    Thanks for the info, Ill have to expeiriment (Ive been looking to get jaggy out of glass and into sterilite for a while now anyway)
    1.0 Green tree python


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