I need advice on my terrarium

[sur3fir3]

I suppose I will wait a couple of days before I change anything else in the terrarium for heat management. That way smoothskin will calm down a bit and my heat gun will be in my possession by then.

I'm curious if my guy is stressed though. He hides during the day with his head looking out of the hide, and during the evening he goes for a stroll in the tank.
Is he stressed, hungry, or chillin'?

And thank you all for your help thus far. I am glad I joined the forum. You are all very helpful and polite.
My girlfriend joined some Facebook group and asked the same things I did in the beginning and every single reply she got was very rude and not helpful at all.
Thanks again.

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With the thermostat probe you are not taking the temps of the inside. you do that with a Temp gun. If your probe is inside TAKE IT OUT NOW! It is very dangerous to have the probe inside. if the water bowl spills or he pisses on it you are out of luck as temps will rise above the accepted range and could possibly hort/burn your snake. If you dont follow any other directions please follow this one. I do not want your snake to get hurt.

[Smoothskin805]

Thanks again for all the helpful information.
I'm going to take the probe out right now,but I have two questions.
A) The thermostat is a Zilla thermostat, I think the probe might be plastic. Will it melt if I put it between the heat pad and the glass?
B) I'm using a Zoo Med heat pad, the directions on the back say that if i remove it from the glass it will damage the internal wires. Thoughts? Should I go buy another heat pad?

[Moose84]

Thanks again for all the helpful information.
I'm going to take the probe out right now,but I have two questions.
A) The thermostat is a Zilla thermostat, I think the probe might be plastic. Will it melt if I put it between the heat pad and the glass?
B) I'm using a Zoo Med heat pad, the directions on the back say that if i remove it from the glass it will damage the internal wires. Thoughts? Should I go buy another heat pad?

It should not hurt the thermostat.. All of my racks have it right against the heat tape and when I had kept snakes in tanks it was never an issue.

As far as removing the pad.. If you are careful and peel it back just far enough to place the probe you should have no issues. I did it multiple times without a problem..

[Smoothskin805]

It should not hurt the thermostat.. All of my racks have it right against the heat tape and when I had kept snakes in tanks it was never an issue.

As far as removing the pad.. If you are careful and peel it back just far enough to place the probe you should have no issues. I did it multiple times without a problem..

I put the probe under the pad, but because of the probe the pad is awkwardly bent. Almost propped up like a tent. is that ok?

[Moose84]

yes... It will be tented slightly. The pads are too thick to conform around it like a piece of tin foil..

[Smoothskin805]

Sorry in advance, I know a few of you told me to wait a week after getting him before feeding.
But he seemed to be searching for food, and I was also worried if he was stressed and thought if he ate that would mean he is chillin.
So I thawed a hopper for 20min, the pet shop said that is what they were feeding him so I did the same. Bought the hopper from them actually.

ANYWAYS
I dangled the hopper in front of Smoothskin, not 20 seconds later he grabbed it and ate it.
I imagine that is a good sign?
Here's a terrible quality picture. I didnt want to disturb him.

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[Snakemom85]

I fed mine the day after I got him because it was the day he was used to being fed on and I knew he must be starving because they were way under feeding him. He ate like a champ and has not refused a meal since I've had him.

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[ballpythonsrock2]

Sorry in advance, I know a few of you told me to wait a week after getting him before feeding.
But he seemed to be searching for food, and I was also worried if he was stressed and thought if he ate that would mean he is chillin.
So I thawed a hopper for 20 minutes.....


If it was feeding day I don't see a problem feeding. Don't see why you would have to wait a week. I think feeding would help acclamation. I didn't wait a week with mine I did like you did, fed on feeding day. I don't know who came up with that idea (hasn't started till recently) . But I do believe in not handling till 3 meals in a row.

But a 20 minute thaw? How are you thawing? Did you use hot water? You don't want ice crystals deep inside the feeder. Did you use a temp. gun to see what the temp of the feeder was? You want it in the 90's at minimum. If you use water to thaw it is best to use room temp or cool faucet water. Make sure the feeder is real soft inside then heat it up (a hair dryer works best IMO.) You can also air thaw but it takes about 2 hrs with a hopper then use hair dryer.

In cool water it would take at least a half hour to 45 minutes I would think.
If you put it in water (cool temp is best) you want to (after thawed) use a hair dryer to warm and DRY it good (or at least lay something down to keep the feeder out of the substrate) or it will cling like a coat. I let a wet feeder drop (1 or 2 times) onto the substrate I won't do it again. The last time that happened it looked like it was wearing an aspen coat. So I usually air thaw. Or I put it into cool water to thaw then use the hair dryer to gently dry the fur completely, by holding the dryer a pretty good distance away from the feeder.

Never tried laying something down, that might work with a wet feeder, but the snake IMO might pull it off what ever you laid down and still get into the substrate.
Some people (and I have done this a few times) put the feeder in a bag and into water, and if you can keep the water(and air) out you might want to try thawing it that way.

But to me the easiest by far and best way is with carefully monitored and timed air thaw on top of the enclosure, then heating it up till in the 90's and putting it in the enclosure. Haven't had a refusal with this snake yet (that I remember.) But she's still young (only a year and half old.) IMO a 2 to 2 1/2 hour thaw doesn't hurt a thing. And during that 2 to 2 and half hours believe me if your snake had arms it would be looking for a fork and napkins.

PS not saying your feeder was wet.

[Valyndris]

Glad he's eating for you, that's a good sign, it means your snake is happy and not stressed out. I remember when I got my little guy he took a few weeks before eating.

[Smoothskin805]

Sorry in advance, I know a few of you told me to wait a week after getting him before feeding.
But he seemed to be searching for food, and I was also worried if he was stressed and thought if he ate that would mean he is chillin.
So I thawed a hopper for 20 minutes.....


If it was feeding day I don't see a problem feeding. Don't see why you would have to wait a week. I think feeding would help acclamation. I didn't wait a week with mine I did like you did, fed on feeding day. I don't know who came up with that idea (hasn't started till recently) . But I do believe in not handling till 3 meals in a row.

But a 20 minute thaw? How are you thawing? Did you use hot water? You don't want ice crystals deep inside the feeder. Did you use a temp. gun to see what the temp of the feeder was? You want it in the 90's at minimum. If you use water to thaw it is best to use room temp or cool faucet water. Make sure the feeder is real soft inside then heat it up (a hair dryer works best IMO.) You can also air thaw but it takes about 2 hrs with a hopper then use hair dryer.

In cool water it would take at least a half hour to 45 minutes I would think.
If you put it in water (cool temp is best) you want to (after thawed) use a hair dryer to warm and DRY it good (or at least lay something down to keep the feeder out of the substrate) or it will cling like a coat. I let a wet feeder drop (1 or 2 times) onto the substrate I won't do it again. The last time that happened it looked like it was wearing an aspen coat. So I usually air thaw. Or I put it into cool water to thaw then use the hair dryer to gently dry the fur completely, by holding the dryer a pretty good distance away from the feeder.

Never tried laying something down, that might work with a wet feeder, but the snake IMO might pull it off what ever you laid down and still get into the substrate.
Some people (and I have done this a few times) put the feeder in a bag and into water, and if you can keep the water(and air) out you might want to try thawing it that way.

But to me the easiest by far and best way is with carefully monitored and timed air thaw on top of the enclosure, then heating it up till in the 90's and putting it in the enclosure. Haven't had a refusal with this snake yet (that I remember.) But she's still young (only a year and half old.) IMO a 2 to 2 1/2 hour thaw doesn't hurt a thing. And during that 2 to 2 and half hours believe me if your snake had arms it would be looking for a fork and napkins.

PS not saying your feeder was wet.

I put the feeder in a plastic bag last night. A few sources told me to put it in warm water for 10 minutes to thaw it out. I wanted to make sure it was good, so I waited 20 min. I then let the feeder cool down a bit afterwards.
When I fed smoothskin the feeder was dry and had a wee bit of blood coming out of its nose.
I then held the feeder in front of him with a pair of tongs. When he struck it and coiled around it I tried to mimic a mouse struggling, then dieing. That seemed to work out good.

Today my temp gun is arriving so I will be able to monitor everything.

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