General Advice for a New Owner

[Furry Dragon]

Pretty new to this site and to having my baby ball python. Been reading some stuff on here about people having problems that i'm having with my little Monty and figured starting a new thread here would be my best option for help. I'm pretty new to keeping a snake and am looking for any help I can get.

I have my Monty in a 30 Gal tank right now with a mesh top. I've also just added more new aspen bedding and moved a lot of his hides after I had him out for this weeks' feeding and bath. I'm thinking he's going to be shedding soon cause he's had dry flaky belly scales for a few days now, and I was worried he was dehydrated. I read up that he's probably just starting his shedding cycle, and I'm going to be starting to soak him about 15-30 mins every 3 days. His eyes havven't clouded over yet so i think I still have time to get him up to good moisture levels.

I'm heating the tank currently with what was his red night time light because the blue daytime one burned out and I haven't had the money to get new bulbs. Both bulbs are 60W, again, not sure if that is too low or too high, but it does keep his hot side in the 80's. As for it being open, I'll see what I can do about getting some outer covver to hide the walls of his tank, save the front, and see how that goes.

I know the tank has got to have low humidity and i'm curious about how I can help that since it's a mesh top (not sure if the pet store has glass / plastic tops, but this is how they have them in the store). I have the first hide on the warm side of his tank that i try to keep between 80F - 85F (wich, after reading this, makes me think it's too cold and I read wrong information from same pet store). On his cool side of the tank I have it setting at room temp of 75F most all day long. I keep his water dish here, and am thinking of getting him a new dish that's about 4 times that size, like the one the OP has in his tank so that Monty can soak on his own if he wants, not sure if that's nesecary though.

As for humidity, my entire room is probably very dry since my main function of heat is a window air conditioner with a heat option. As I said I keep my room at a comfortable 75-77 all day and night for Monty. But I'm sure the constantly flowing air and his open top tank don't allow any moisture to build. And i've only just started misting his tank because I assumed the humidity was right, but have been misting since I noticed his belly getting flaky. But, I'm scared to mist it too much since I know damp wood rots and makes mold and such. I wanted to knwo if there was some autimatic way to keep his tank at a nice humidity or if a daily misting would be enough. I know they havve automatic humidity drippers and things like that at my pet store, but I think those things are more for frogs and stuff.

Just asking for any advice you guys have on how I can better care for my little Monty and how better I can set his habitat up. if I need to move things etc etc. Monty is only about a year old, I'm just guessing at how long he was at the pet store and all, i've only had him about 3 months... long enough for him to shed 1 time after I got him. He's just a baby and I want to take care of him, and this was where I knew I'd get lots of help. Thanks everyone.

Whole Tank
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3...1NoeURtR1VmTXc

Hot Side (rock hide has since been moved to middle back of the tank under center thermometer and Monty seems to be using it now. He was refusing to enter when I had it here.)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3...UJ1TFBKX19hVnc

Cool Side
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3...HZ4aHQ3SVowaVE

[SKO]

First things first, stop soaking him and giving him baths. The only time you should do that is AFTER a bad shed. The only thing you are doing by giving him a bath prior to that is stressing him out and removing essential oils he naturally produces to help him shed.

His hot side should be more towards 89-92 degrees and the cool side should be 80. If you can not create a hotspot of 92 degrees, you should have an under tank heater controlled by a thermostat attached to the underside of the tank. There are stickies and plenty of threads that demonstrate this. To keep more humidity in with a mesh top, put a damp towel over 3/4 of the top and mist the towels and enclosure often.

You also need to get some digital thermometers/hygrometers, which I can post a pic of soon. They should be placed on or right above the substrate, preferably on both the hot and cold sides.

Both hides should be identical, and be very snug when the snake is in it. This makes them feel secure, and not have to choose between security and thermoregulating. Also, cover three sides of the tank with either a fish tank wrap with a cool design on it (I had amazon trees and whatever when I had tanks) or just plain black construction paper.

Cyrpress mulch holds humidity better too by the way. You can also move the water dish under the light to create more humidity, but you'll have to add water very often. I'll put up pics of when I had tanks and what my set up is like, if I still have them.

[SKO]

You can also clutter up the tank with some fake plants or whatever to help him feel less out in the open

[blue roses]

First, you need to get an under tank heater and a thermostat to control it. i use cypress mulch as bedding, because it is very dry in my house in winter, and the cypress mulch holds the humidity better. I use 2 hides, one hot side and one cold side hides. Under the hide on the hot side i add a layer of spagnum moss. Just wet the moss and wring it out and spread it out under the hot hide, you have now created a humid hide. When he gos into shed just keep the moss slightly damp, and after the shed just let it dry out. Since it is abattle to keep humidity up in my house because of our wood stove, i also use a reptifogger set on a 6 hour timer when he is in shed. Hope this helps.