Snake and tank pics (along with some questions)

[OhKnows]

Hey everyone, I've been reading various threads on these forums for a few days. You all seem very helpful and friendly, so I decided to sign up, post a few pics, and ask questions. I bought my very first BP about 5 days ago. It's already eatten once and pooped. I'll be feeding it again this coming Saturday, so hopefully it eats again with no problems. I'm going to try to switch to pre-killed mice, or should I hold off on that until it's more settled? Either way, here is a picture of my tank setup. It's a 55 gallon tank with a heating pad on the left hand side and a heating lamp on the right side. If you see potential problems with how I have things, please let me know.



I'm thinking of replacing the half bark with a smaller hide until it grows a bit more. Also, any recommendations on relatively inexpensive yet effecient thermometers? The one you see hiding in the middle is my humidity indicator. Should I move the water out from under the heat lamp and put it in the middle? Lastly, I've only seen the snake in the hide on the left side where the heating pad is but the temperatures are fine (95ish on the left according that thermometer on the floor, and the lower 80's on the right when I move the thermometer there). I say it stays in the hide on the left because originally I had the bark on the left, but decided it would feel more secure in the smaller hide.

Ok, finally, here are some pictures of Monkey. Yea, weird name but I like the irony ("here's my snake, Monkey..."), plus the first time it was placed in the tank it would only climb and stay on the plants at the top like a little monkey. Here's a picture of it.



Here he/she is at full length, heading to get some water.


Here he/she is drinking.


Lastly, the first meal in it's new home this past Saturday.


I don't know the exact age of the snake. I bought it at an exotic pet store, and the owner told me he bought it at a reptile convention. They said it was maybe 7-8months. It looks to be about 1.5 ft. long right now.

I hope this is isn't in the wrong section since I know it's riddled with questions. I apologize if it is.

[Shelby]

Looks like your snake has settled in well. Put the water dish in the middle, and get some better hides. Log hides suck. The tighter and darker the hide, the happier the snake. You can use things like flower pot bases, plastic trays from tv dinners, empty kleenex boxes.. etc.

Go to walmart/target/whatever and get an indoor/outdoor thermometer/hygrometer. They are pretty inexpensive, and will give you accurate readings of temperature and humidity. Humidity should be 50-60%. If you find the humidity to be very low, the culprit is your lamp. I have 22 snakes and no lamps. To keep the cool side temperatures up you may need a second heating pad. You didn't mention if you have a thermostat on the heating pad.. if you don't, you should. If you measure the temps right on the glass, you may be surprised to find readings of 120-130 degrees - a dangerous range. Go to mgreptiles.com for quality thermostats. Matt is a very helpful guy too, he can help you pick the right items.

You can try a prekilled mouse, but don't be surprised if your snake refuses it. If live rodents are easy for you to obtain, there is no reason not to continue with live.

Hope that helps.

[OhKnows]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll switch the water bowl right now, and I'm going to get a new hide for the right side either today or tomorrow (I'm thinking a small box which I'll just place inside the log). The small one on the left seems a perfect fit for it though. I'll also get right on buying the indoor/outdoor thermometer/hygrometer.

Unfortunately I don't have a thermostat, but the thermometer you see on the floor is directly above my heating pad. I check it constantly and I've never seen it go over 99 F, even when the space heater in my room is on high (my room is extremely cold w/out it). The humidity has been about 50% fairly consistently.

I think I'm going to feed it a live mouse since this will be it's 2nd feed, and from what I've read it seems the snake is fully settled in after it eats about twice. I'm just inclined towards moving to the frozen mice because I'm not particularly excited about handling live ones, plus I don't want the rats (when I get to that stage) harming the snake in self-defense. Better to get it into the habit of frozen foods earlier rather than later. If it won't eat them, then I'll just have to stick with the live ones.

PS
I have a clamp on either end of the top, but since it's such a large tank should I buy clamps for the middle as well?

[Shelby]

Honestly, those little dial thermometers are crap. Get the digital thermometer in there.. and anyway, a temp of 99 on the glass is too high. Thermostats are extremely important.

The dangers of feeding live are highly overrated. Adam here has something like 250 ball pythons that he feeds live every week.. for years and years with no problems. As long as you don't leave the mouse/rat in there with the snake for a crazy amount of time, there is nothing to worry over. However, if YOU prefer frozen, by all means go that route. I feed mine frozen thawed.. except for the select few who won't eat it.

[TheNooB]

wow, good size tank you have there, i like it!

Do many guys use the astro-turf stuff on the ground?? Can you clean it the same way you clean the rest of your tank?

[Shelby]

I know a few people use the repti-carpet stuff. Too much of a pain for me.. I gotta be able to throw it out! There's lots of nooks and crannies that would make it difficult to disinfect as well.

[TheNooB]

cool, thanks!

[MedusasOwl]

Very pretty setup! And Monkey is SUCH a cute name. *tries hard to resist Deiter quotes... can't*

"Vould you like to touch my Monkey? Touch him! Love him! Liebe meine abst-monkey. Now is the time on Sprockets vhen ve dance!"

[OhKnows]

Very pretty setup! And Monkey is SUCH a cute name. *tries hard to resist Deiter quotes... can't*

"Vould you like to touch my Monkey? Touch him! Love him! Liebe meine abst-monkey. Now is the time on Sprockets vhen ve dance!"

Haha, thanks! =)

I know, you could go a lot of places with that name... but I'll just leave my Monkey in his tank.