New to the forum

[JackTar]

Hi, I'm Jeff. I've owned many reptiles over the years but nothing in the last 10 although I have missed the pleasure of owning a snake or 2. I was at a pet store the other day getting tags made for my cat and got into a conversation about the ball pythons that were for sale there. The manager told me about a bp that had been surrendered. The original purchaser was feeding this hatchling in his home container. It had gotten used to food being offered in his home and in turn started striking at it's handlers. I guess that was too much for them. I left and thought it over for a couple days. 2 days ago I returned to the pet store and asked about the surrendered baby bp. The manager brought him out and although he was a bit head shy at first, this little guy is a mellow healthy little hatchling. They offered to let me take him for half the price of their bps offered for sale and took an additional $10 off. Done deal. It's day 3 at his new home and he's not shown the slightest inclination of being a striker. I found this site to brush up on my snake keeping info and this site is great. Thanks for all of the info here.

As of right now I have him in a tub with a hide, a heavy water bowl, substrate of paper towels and an UTH. I've been closely monitering the temp of the UTH and have been unplugging it alot. I have a thermostat ordered along with a thermometer gun. I figured I'll unplug the UTH while I'm not home to monitor it (better to be slightly cooler than ideal than an injured snake or a fire) while I wait for the remaining setup supplies to arrive in the mail. His first feeding will be on sunday evening and he'll be fed in a separate feeding enclosure.

[BumbleB]

How are the ambient temperatures in your house? If they aren't super low I'd rather keep the uth off until you get the thermostat instead of risking a burned snake.

[JackTar]

It's 75 degrees

[thegamejr]

Feeding outside of the enclosure is unnecessary stress on the bp. As long as you handle and dont only open it for feeding you will be fine

[Viol8r]

Feeding outside of the enclosure is unnecessary stress on the bp. As long as you handle and dont only open it for feeding you will be fine

Yeah, it sounds like the previous owners were just feeding and not holding it. They may not have fed it enough or too small of prey also. Do right by the snake and you will be rewarded.

[rlditmars]

You can pick up a rheostat (Dimmer Switch) at Home Depot for about 10 to 15 dollars and then you could dial the UTH down to a proper temperature. I wouldn't use the setup forever, but it would be a fairly safe option until you can get a proper thermostat in place.

[JackTar]

I went with a Hydrofarm thermostat and this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151180813857...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[JackTar]

I'll be picking up a bigger tub when the thermostat and thermometer arrive. I realize that he'll outgrow the one he's in pretty quickly. I'll keep the original one as a feeding enclosure.

Getting back into owning a snake makes me miss a Red Tail Boa that I had years ago that I lost to a parasite infection. She was a sweet snake, very pale and clean coloration. Back then I was researching Bredli and Jungle Carpet Pythons too.