Swimming BP?

[Flyheight]

OK cool. So males tend to be more active, good to know. I do understand that "more" is a relative term and I shouldn't expect much necessarily.

I don't think I'd rearrange the cage often, but yeah I did read I need to leave the cage be until the snake is comfortable and eating.
Speaking of comfortable and eating. When should a separate feeding enclosure be introduced if I'm going to use one? I don't want to make my ball nervous, but I also don't want it to think that every time I open the cage door is feeding time. Or is it ok to just make sure I'm opening the cage enough times (once or twice a week at least?) to just handle the snake that I should be ok?

Kcl would you mind pointing me to pictures of this/these enclosure/s you're talking about? It/they sounds quite nice to me.

Also, another subject change, for the temperature probe(s) that go inside the cage, does it need to be secured down in anyway or should it be fine just going under the substrate?

[JodanOrNoDan]

Feeding aggression caused by feeding in the enclosure is a myth. Almost everyone, especially those with large collections feed in the enclosure and ball pythons seem to do well like this. There are special case scenarios when feeding in another location works for the animal but it is not the norm.

[redshepherd]

Ball pythons don't need a separate feeding area, so no worries about that. Moving them to feed could even potentially cause issues and cause them not to eat.

The thermometer probe (not the thermostat probe) is fine just under the substrate. The thermostat probe should be UNDERNEATH the cage, between the UTH and bottom of the cage.

Ball pythons will burrow under substrate and lay against the bottom of the cage, so you should be measuring the temp there.

[Kcl]

[QUOTE=Flyheight;2533586]OK cool.
Kcl would you mind pointing me to pictures of this/these enclosure/s you're talking about? It/they sounds quite nice to me. [
QUOTE]

If you're just looking for a picture of the basking shelf you can check out Sauzo's thread for Caesar - the link below takes you to a page where there's a couple of pictures where it's visible. I just really like looking at his pictures of his retic - he's very cute - so that's who happened to come to mind for who happened to have used a basking shelf in an animal plastics cage with a bp who liked it. It's a pretty cheap add on option to all of the cages if you check out the animal plastics website. The shelf itself is removable while the supports are screwed in.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ighlight=sauzo

[Zincubus]

Oh, Ok. Since you all have properly deduced that I'm looking to provide enrichment for my ball python what are your thoughts on climbing in a cage (thanks for bringing that up kcl and oxylepy)? Is a T8 too short to have a log to crawl around on? Should I be looking into a T10/11/12 or is that too much space for a baby ball? I do plan to cut the space in half until it grows bigger, I just don't have a clue how much vertical space is enough vs too much. Any other ideas for enrichment would be welcome as well. Being a first time owner I only plan to get one snake.

If they have branches in the Viv / rub ..... they WILL climb - simple as that really - only evenings though , of course .


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[Zincubus]

OK cool. So males tend to be more active, good to know. I do understand that "more" is a relative term and I shouldn't expect much necessarily.

I don't think I'd rearrange the cage often, but yeah I did read I need to leave the cage be until the snake is comfortable and eating.
Speaking of comfortable and eating. When should a separate feeding enclosure be introduced if I'm going to use one? I don't want to make my ball nervous, but I also don't want it to think that every time I open the cage door is feeding time. Or is it ok to just make sure I'm opening the cage enough times (once or twice a week at least?) to just handle the snake that I should be ok?

Kcl would you mind pointing me to pictures of this/these enclosure/s you're talking about? It/they sounds quite nice to me.

Also, another subject change, for the temperature probe(s) that go inside the cage, does it need to be secured down in anyway or should it be fine just going under the substrate?

I use hot guns to glue thermometer probes in place wherever they're required .


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[Flyheight]

Wow, thank you for dispelling that myth for me.

Oh right, I said temperature and didn't specify. Yep, thermometer probe under the substrate, thermostat probe under the enclosure between the UTH and the bottom of the box. Got it.

OMG Caeser looks soooo cuuuuuuute! The basking shelf I get, I am actually more curious what you mean by suction cup plants and how you have those set up. You said your bp seems to like them so I figure it might be something to look into. Also anything else you use as an example for me to consider would be helpful too.

And a hot glue gun for the thermometer probe. Sounds dandy.

That's all for now I think. If I have any more questions later should I start a new thread or just keep posting in this one? You all have been very helpful in answering my questions and concerns and are making me more comfortable with taking care of a live animal, thank you.

[Kcl]

Oohhh- those are just the plastic leafy plants with a suction cup on one end that are available at any pet store. You just stick them to the side and they provide nice extra cover. All of my snakes climb on top of them. Shockingly the ball python only knocks them down doing this sometimes. I built him a climb with a dowel rod and two eyelet hooks that he's since grown out of, a lot of people have made some very nice pvc jungle gyms. All of my snakes like to put their heads on things while chilling and use them as a pillow- the bp has a nice log for this.

[Flyheight]

Ah. I haven't been in a pet store much recently. Didn't realize those were a thing.

I was thinking of using both a UTH and an RHP (Radiant Heat Panel, the heat source that goes on the inside of the ceiling of the enclosure). UTH for the hot spot/side, RHP for ambient temp control. Is that overkill? I live in the Washington DC area so it can certainly get cold here in winters.

If I use an RHP is it ok to put a log in? I just don't know what the typical temperature gradient is in a T8 between the top and bottom of the box and if the snake could burn itself on the RHP I'd like to know how much clearance I should leave. Or is the snake just smart enough to self regulate that sort of thing?

For hides, does it make much difference if the entrance is on top of the hide vs the side? The book I was reading said BPs might prefer top entrance hides, but I don't know if I've seen any of that variety in the posts on this forum. Not that I've looked extensively.

In your signature what's with the 1.0, 3.0, 0.1 in front of describing your snakes (at least I presume they're your snakes)? I would sort of understand a count of a whole number of snakes being 1 or 3, but the 0.1 confuses me.

[MissterDog]

I think I mentioned this on another thread before, but the one thing to keep in mind is the interior cage dimensions are slightly shorter, by about 2 inches.

For example a T8's interior is 10 inches tall instead of 12 and the doors are 8 if I recall correctly. So it also depends how much space do you want to work/have for ease of cleaning and access.