New member - Hello all!

[Expensive hobby]

Hello everyone! I'm a new member and just thought I'd post up a few pictures of my current setup and my new baby girl.

Here she is on top of her hide


Inside her hide


Always curious of the camera


Showing some fogging in the tank


Fogger outlet:


What creates all that fog(2.2g reservoir)


Cheap hygrometer & thermometer


My pacman frog shares the same fogger


Even in shed she's hungry(every4-5 days she eats) - still neck constricting because she was fed FT.


And that's about it. I handle her about 30 mins a day minimum(unless she blue or in shed or a day after meals. I am going to build a more suitable enclosure soon, with a clean filtered water feature, a hot and cold side hide, some vines and terrestrial plants to help comfort her while she's small, and more consistent heat sources/control.

This is my 3rd snake and first BP(other two were ribbon snakes) and I'm already enjoying it very much. Hope I learn as much as possible about care and proper husbandry as I have with my fish lol.

Have a good day!

[Neal]

Welcome to the forums.

Now I'm sure some other members will step in and help you out with your setup and a few other things that I've noticed.

EDIT:
Just in case nobody does, you'll want to change the thermometer & hydrometer. I can pretty much guarantee you that both of those are inaccurate. Acurite at walmart has great thermometers and they're pretty accurate, but always good to have a temp gun($10-15 off ebay). The best type of hydrometer to get is one that you can calibrate that has a screw and all, that way you know it's accurate(more people are familiar with this then myself). If you're going to run overhead heating, I'd say you're better off with a ceramic heat emitter that way it doesn't generate light as BP's are nocturnal. You honestly need to get different hides, something with only one way in so that way the BP can feel more secure. The waterbowl is too big, you can get better ones that won't tip over(can't think of the name but will post what I'm talking about in a bit). Your cage may be okay for now but you'll want to quickly get another size tank, and just put stuff in it to give the BP places to hide and so it's not so open. I'm not even sure about the fogger but with that tank like that I can almost guarantee you that your humidity gauge is very off because just by looking I can tell you that it should read 100% if not very very close.

You want your snake to shed in one complete piece and yours is broken off and I couldn't tell you exactly why because I don't know if those pictures are from different dates or were they all taken today, or were some taken prior to the fogger?

[Expensive hobby]

The pics were taken prior to the fogger. One reason I noticed I needed more consistent and controllable humidity. It isn't normally THAT humid in there(no precipitation on the glass/surfaces of the enclosure. I have it on a timer to only go on for 5 mins on, 20 mins off, and less at night.

I do check temps with a digital heat gun. Hot side on top of hide stays about 92, inside about 86, and cold side about 82.

Just out of curiosity, why is the water bowl to big? Is there an issue with a larger water bowl? Oh and it's heavy! Without water the thing is like 8lbs. It's a stone bowl not that hollow plastic stuff, she can't knock this one over at least not at this age/size.

Plans for a larger, home built plywood/Formica/silicone sealed/sliding glass front enclosure with water feature, under tank heating, built in basking light and fluorescent viewing light are in the works... I've been researching a lot, and know what I have isn't perfect, and what I will have will nearly be...

Thank you for the input.

Edit: almost forgot you mentioned the hide having 2 ways in... It does but I have the one side against the glass with an opaque back ground...

[Neal]

The pics were taken prior to the fogger. One reason I noticed I needed more consistent and controllable humidity. It isn't normally THAT humid in there(no precipitation on the glass/surfaces of the enclosure. I have it on a timer to only go on for 5 mins on, 20 mins off, and less at night.

I do check temps with a digital heat gun. Hot side on top of hide stays about 92, inside about 86, and cold side about 82.

Just out of curiosity, why is the water bowl to big? Is there an issue with a larger water bowl? Oh and it's heavy! Without water the thing is like 8lbs. It's a stone bowl not that hollow plastic stuff, she can't knock this one over at least not at this age/size.

Plans for a larger, home built plywood/Formica/silicone sealed/sliding glass front enclosure with water feature, under tank heating, built in basking light and fluorescent viewing light are in the works... I've been researching a lot, and know what I have isn't perfect, and what I will have will nearly be...

Thank you for the input.

Edit: almost forgot you mentioned the hide having 2 ways in... It does but I have the one side against the glass with an opaque back ground...

Well it takes up a lot of space and that only adds to your humidity with the fogger. I use these water bowls:

They're not heavy but they don't tip over easy and they don't take up a ton of floor space. I don't know the actual name of them. With a BP you don't need a basking light or anything fluorescent. You can use a ceramic heat emitter to give her a basking spot and if you want to put a fluorescent light in, then you can but I wouldn't leave it on, it's much easier just to flip it on if you wanted to show your snake off. I wasn't knocking your setup, as I know not everybody holds the same knowledge, but when it comes to the hobby I put my snakes before anything. I just feel as pet owners it's our responsibility to try to make them as happy as possible or as content as possible. I've never used a fogger or anything so I'll let somebody else chime in on that, but as long as you don't have bacteria and mold growing then I'd imagine you're okay, just do thorough cleaning so you don't run into any issues. The reason I say two hides is so that way the snake can choose whether it wants to hide at the cool side or the warm side, so having identical hides is always a plus.

[Neal]

I found the post about the hydrometer.

I'd actually say it is not critical at all. Temps are, humidity not so much. I don't like seeing below 30% or over 70%. I have perfect sheds as long as the RH is not below 53%. Hygrometers are temperamental products. Digital ones should be kept perfect clean and away from dirt and dust they usually do not stay accurate (if they started that way) long typically they start to read high.

I prefer analogue ones. Hair ones are very fragile they should be avoided. The things to look for are METAL face cards (NO paper or card) and a calibration screw. The ability to calibrate the hygrometer means it can accurately be checked and corrected as needed. Something like this,


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...032649&sr=8-18

[Expensive hobby]

What do you use for calibration? What is your control RH to set it up?

And yes I see many people use those kinds of water bowls, along with newspaper or aspen bedding as substrate, obviously for ease of cleaning, but I don't mind the extra work to keep clean of it has the naturalistic look...

What I'm after is a good lookin enclosure that keeps her happy, heathy and comfortable.

My new enclosure will be light year ahead of this one don't worry

[Neal]

What do you use for calibration? What is your control RH to set it up?

And yes I see many people use those kinds of water bowls, along with newspaper or aspen bedding as substrate, obviously for ease of cleaning, but I don't mind the extra work to keep clean of it has the naturalistic look...

What I'm after is a good lookin enclosure that keeps her happy, heathy and comfortable.

My new enclosure will be light year ahead of this one don't worry

That water bowl isn't use for ease of cleaning or anything though. It's a good circle, doesn't take up a lot of space and snakes normally don't tip them over. The newspaper is normally because it's cheap and easy, Aspen is good bedding, not that it's expensive or ease of cleaning, I just like it. If you want to keep a naturalistic look then you can do so, I'm only giving you some tips to free up more room.

When you say RH, I'm assuming you mean relative humidity? If so then it's going to be different because I live in Louisiana where it's very humid to begin with and I don't keep any Balls at the moment right now. I've just returned to the hobby and I'm focusing on my favorite species of snake(the ones in my sig). I may get back into Balls later this year but if I do I'll only end up getting two or three and they're going to be in a rack setup due to space. When I used to keep my BP's, I would keep the humidity in the high 50's-mid 60's. It varied whether it was morning day or night. I used a thermometer/hydrometer that had two separate probes when I used to keep my ball pythons in a tank, it was a small company which I don't recall the brand, but I also had one that monitored the room temp/humidity as well, an accurite one.

In my post above, that hydrometer is an analog one that has a calibration screw on it that you can re-calibrate yearly. I've honestly never re-calibrated mine so I don't want to tell you how and give you the wrong advice, though I'm sure somebody else will chime in on this.

[Expensive hobby]

That water bowl isn't use for ease of cleaning or anything though. It's a good circle, doesn't take up a lot of space and snakes normally don't tip them over. The newspaper is normally because it's cheap and easy, Aspen is good bedding, not that it's expensive or ease of cleaning, I just like it. If you want to keep a naturalistic look then you can do so, I'm only giving you some tips to free up more room.

When you say RH, I'm assuming you mean relative humidity? If so then it's going to be different because I live in Louisiana where it's very humid to begin with and I don't keep any Balls at the moment right now. I've just returned to the hobby and I'm focusing on my favorite species of snake(the ones in my sig). I may get back into Balls later this year but if I do I'll only end up getting two or three and they're going to be in a rack setup due to space. When I used to keep my BP's, I would keep the humidity in the high 50's-mid 60's. It varied whether it was morning day or night. I used a thermometer/hydrometer that had two separate probes when I used to keep my ball pythons in a tank, it was a small company which I don't recall the brand, but I also had one that monitored the room temp/humidity as well, an accurite one.

In my post above, that hydrometer is an analog one that has a calibration screw on it that you can re-calibrate yearly. I've honestly never re-calibrated mine so I don't want to tell you how and give you the wrong advice, though I'm sure somebody else will chime in on this.

Ya I meant relative humidity, which where I live in CA is only 50% on the high side, usually around 30-40%.

I will most certainly find a better thermometer and hydrometer.

And look forward to my new habitat!

[Anya]

Welcome!! Neal's said pretty much everything I would have said, but I really want to tell you something, honestly- the fogger is not necessary. Maybe if she were a Rainbow Boa or something, but she's just a ball python. 40% humidity is perfectly fine for a bp not in shed, and the fogger can still be useful, when she goes into shed. Other than that, that just seems to me to be too much humidity.

All that aside, though, please make yourself at home here! Always happy to have new people who are willing to learn.

And I wanna see that Pacman frog!

[Mephibosheth1]

Where in Cali are you from??

cool snake setup; she looks like a well-loved snake