Hello and a little first python help

[Kim and Donna]

Hi everyone, my name is Kim and Donna is my daughter and the snake owner (mostly). I have wanted one for years, but never was able to talk the hubby into it. How Donna managed is still some what of a mystery. It went really fast, her talking the other parent into it, finding a tank for it and having it be on sale all at the same time. We jumped the gun a little maybe, but we are a zoo here and I am sure w/ a little guidance we can make this a proper home for our friend.

y main focus is saltwater reef and I have a lot of experience w/ lighting, but it does not carry over well. I am missing something in the translation as we talk spectrum's and par. Keeping proper humidity should not be a problem, but from what I have read they don't need excessive humidity anyway.

The care sheets here state that temp is more important than bulb color? and that they prefer nocturnal lighting? I guess the first thing I need incite on would be proper lighting and temp requirements.

So last a pic of the new family member

[The Serpent Merchant]

Lighting is actually not even necessary, BP's are nocturnal animals, and do just as well with or without supplemental lighting. What is important is temperatures and humidity. Your cage needs to have a hot side that is between 88-92 degrees F and a cool side between 78-82 degrees F. No part of the cage should ever get above 95 or below 75. Cage humidity needs to be between 40% and 60% normally, and between 60% and 80% when the snake is in shed.

Here is a thread on how to set up a cage for a BP, step by step with pictures:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...With-Pictures!

After cage temperatures/humidity the next most important thing is proper hides for the snake. In the wild BP's hide in rodent burrows all day, and only come out at night to hunt. Your cage needs 2 identical hides. One on the hot side, and one on the cool side.

From the picture your little guy looks pretty thin, and dry. You need to boost the cage humidity.

Here is a thread covers cage heating in detail:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

[Kim and Donna]

Thx those are very helpful. We are using a night black heat bulb 75 watts and it seems to be keeping the tank nice and warm. My house is really humid all year round as we run over 100gals of reef tank in an apartment (my landlord hates me, I'm sure) and if I were to guess I'd say the humidity is 60% on any given day. What can I do to produce a little extra in his tank? The pic is an hour or so after coming home from petco...I know tomorrow would be the day they normally feed, not sure if that might have anything to do w/ the skinniness as he is our first so we are still learning what to look for as far as a healthy snake goes. W/ petco normally feeding on Tuesdays should I offer a meal tomorrow?

[led-zep]

you could mist the enclosure to get the humidity up. But I wouldn't guess on the percentage I would get a good digital meter. As far as feeding the normal procedure is leave them be for a week to settle in before handling or offering food.

[The Serpent Merchant]

What if anything are you using to measure temperatures/humidity?

Coming from petco, your snake has very likely been underfed it's entire life. You can try offering a mouse hopper, or rat pup tomorrow (mouse pinkies and in most cases mouse fuzzies are way too small for any BP) but don't be too surprised if your snake doesn't eat. many times a BP will need some time to settle into a new home before thy will start to eat. Keep to the weekly feeding schedule. If your snake refuses a meal they don't get food offered until the next weeks feeding day. Offering food too often can actually stress out a BP and result in more refusals.

[Kim and Donna]

Like I said my whole house is above average humidity wise, but I agree that guessing is not in his long term interest and will pick up the proper meters tomorrow. I'm not expecting that he will eat tomorrow, but feel it should at least be offered, you never know. Petco has a bad rep in general so I am not surprised Okay so if he doesn't eat tomorrow though I should wait till the following Tuesday to offer....got it. to hear that his condition needs a little love. As far as handling we are bad, but will try to behave. We have not handled him a lot, but have held him a little bit today. We are very excited to have him and will do our very best, thanks for the help in getting us there.

[led-zep]

I just picked up a spider ball from Petco on friday for $99. Let him settle over the weekend. Came home from work this evening and he was acting like he was hungry. All I had in the freezer was fuzzys (wasnt really thinking he would eat til this weekend) so I trawed him a couple out and he just finished them both up and is back in his hide. There all different, this one settled in fast. Not all do.

As far as the humidity goes some say to much is bad, some say not enough is bad .The common seems to be 50-60% normal or 70-80% during shed. Thats why a gauge is needed.

It's understandable to want to hold and handle. but resisting will sure make the settling process go a lot quicker. good luck

[The Serpent Merchant]

I just picked up a spider ball from Petco on friday for $99. Let him settle over the weekend. Came home from work this evening and he was acting like he was hungry. All I had in the freezer was fuzzys (wasnt really thinking he would eat til this weekend) so I trawed him a couple out and he just finished them both up and is back in his hide. There all different, this one settled in fast. Not all do.

As far as the humidity goes some say to much is bad, some say not enough is bad .The common seems to be 50-60% normal or 70-80% during shed. Thats why a gauge is needed.

It's understandable to want to hold and handle. but resisting will sure make the settling process go a lot quicker. good luck

Just want to clear up the too-low vs too high issue with humidity.

Too low humidity is bad, anything under 40% is too low.

High humidity on it's own is fine. The parts of Africa that BP's come from have very high humidity practically year round, much higher than most people keep their cages. The issue with high humidity is that it is often achieved by drastically reducing air-flow in the cage, and can cause condensation on everything inside the cage. A cage that has low air flow and is damp all the time can grow some nasty stuff in it. That said as long as a cage has good airflow, and there isn't any condensation forming on the inner walls of the cage high humidity (above 60% RH) is fine.

Here is a chart showing the average low and high % humidity in Ghana (where BP's come from)

[led-zep]

Thanks for clearing that up merchant.

[Kim and Donna]

Cool I think we are good, I will still get the meter to watch and see where the humidity goes, but my home is 60-70% easy. His tank is a 65gal acrylic tank that was drilled for good air flow, and set up for use w/ reptiles. Are there any tell signs that he is not happy? He has been active, checking out his cage a good part of the day.