Planning on a new BCI. General questions?

[RedRabbit]

What do you guys use for regular substrate? I work up this morning and humidity is 89%. I'm going have to do something after work. I wonder if thay forest mulch holds too much humidity. Maybe drill more holes. I have 6 down each side.

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I use plastic tub enclosures for all my boas and ball pythons, so maybe I can chime in. You'll definitely want to drill more holes; I default to 20 holes (two rows of 10) on the top lid, and 20 holes (also two rows of 10) on both of the long sides of the tub. I also second dakski's recommendation about starting off with just plain white paper towels as your substrate. You'll be less likely to overshoot your humidity, your hotspot will be a closer match to your thermostat setting (since the paper towel layer is so thin), and you can easily monitor to make sure your snake's pee/poop looks normal and that there are no mites infesting your snake. You can always play around with switching to a different substrate a few months down the line, after your snake has had time to settle in.

[yankeeslover]

Any negatives with papertowls? How would I manage humidity with papertowls? Wouldnt it get wet when I mist the tank? My house is lower humidity, about 30%

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[RedRabbit]

Any negatives with papertowls? How would I manage humidity with papertowls? Wouldnt it get wet when I mist the tank? My house is lower humidity, about 30%

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The humidity in my house is around 35%. Despite that, I have no problem maintaining humidity in the enclosures (all of them are currently at least 70% humidity), just because the plastic tubs really hold it in. In fact, even with paper towel substrate and only a single water bowl in each enclosure, I actually have to make sure the hides and decor have time to dry after washing, otherwise they bump the humidity up past 80%. I do not have to mist the enclosures at all.

As for downsides to paper towels, these are the only ones that come to mind for me:
- They're not very aesthetically appealing, haha. I might give other substrates a try in a few years, once the snakes are fully grown and have moved into nicer, adult-sized cages as their "forever homes."
- If they get soiled with pee/poop, you have to toss them out, wipe things down, and replace them with fresh paper towels each time, rather than "spot-cleaning" which you can get away with for a while when using thicker and more odor-absorbing substrates. With that said, my boas only pee every 1-2 weeks, and poop even less frequently than that, so it's pretty manageable.

[yankeeslover]

Sorry about all these questions. But I do have one more. 1st I decided to switch to newspaper for substrate. Anyways the ambient temperature. What's the best way to raise it in a tub? My tub is 25Lx18Hx13W. Seems good size as he grows some. But I'm having trouble with my ambient temps. The surface temp on hot side is 90. The temp on cool side is around 77 but that's because I have a oil heater next to the tub to raise the temp, if not it would only be 70 or so since that's the temperature in my bedroom. The UTH doesnt raise the ambient temperature. Am I stuck using a space heater next to the tub all year long to keep ambient up? How do you guys with the plastic tubs do it without a heatlamp?

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[jmcrook]

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ight=Macguyver



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[RedRabbit]

It's great that you're asking questions! I wish I had a better answer for you on this one. I'm in southern California and live in a top-floor apartment that stays pretty warm (plus I get cold stupidly easily, so my comfort zone of 75-78 F is actually pretty close to what my snakes prefer anyway), so I've never needed anything other than the UTH for the hotspot. In the summer, the A/C has to work constantly just to keep indoor temps from cresting above 80 F anyway, and in winter, I bust out a small space heater if I need a particular room to be a little warmer.

[dakski]

Sorry about all these questions. But I do have one more. 1st I decided to switch to newspaper for substrate. Anyways the ambient temperature. What's the best way to raise it in a tub? My tub is 25Lx18Hx13W. Seems good size as he grows some. But I'm having trouble with my ambient temps. The surface temp on hot side is 90. The temp on cool side is around 77 but that's because I have a oil heater next to the tub to raise the temp, if not it would only be 70 or so since that's the temperature in my bedroom. The UTH doesnt raise the ambient temperature. Am I stuck using a space heater next to the tub all year long to keep ambient up? How do you guys with the plastic tubs do it without a heatlamp?

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Printless newsprint is fine, as are paper towels. Newspaper with ink on it is not ideal.

[yankeeslover]

Guess they are ferocious eaters. 1st time I fed him and 1st time he ate F/T. He didnt think twice about. I have raised many snakes but this my 1st boa. Had multiple ball pythons, king snakes, hognose and corns, and I have never before seen a snake strike a dead mouse as fast as this baby boa just did. I assume 1 hour later he is still in feed mode. Now I know why this group recommends hook training. Lol

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[Zincubus]

So I decided to purchase this male today. I'm very exited. I thaught the guy he was a het albino but might have mentioned jungle also. Of course I have no idea what any of this means. Any idea what he may be?

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Stunning !!

He’d look soooo much better on dark coloured substrate though !!




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