Ekko

[SeeTheCityLights]

Meet Ekko, my new ball python. He's the first one I've ever had, and I've wanted one since I was like 5 years old, so I am extremely excited and happy!
Not actually sure if it's a he or a she, but I am calling it a he
Sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures. I will get more with my camera once he's settled in more, I don't want to bother him.



The tank setup. I will add more plastic plants and probably move things around once he moves to my house. He's living at my boyfriends house until saturday so that he can keep an eye on him since he knows a lot about reptiles.

[Skittles1101]

Very cute, but that sure is a lot of substrate. Do you use an under tank heater?

Oh, and welcome to the forum

[SeeTheCityLights]

Thank you!
Yes, I have an under tank heater. We wanted to be more safe than sorry, because we didn't know if the UTH would burn the snake, so we put in more substrate. I am buying a thermostat thing within the next 2 days, so I won't have to worry about that anymore. How deep should the substrate be?

[Skittles1101]

It can burn the snake, but the snake can also burrow under all that substrate and get burned anyways. I'm glad to hear you're getting a thermostat. When I used cocofiber and aspen I only had about 1/2 of substrate so the snake didn't have to burrow to get to the heat Remember, the hot spot of 90 degrees should be read under the substrate, not on top of it, since she may end up burrowing anyways

[SeeTheCityLights]

Thank you for the info, I'll be sure to take some substrate out and check the temps

[sookieball]

That's eco earth correct?
Its totally OK to use and he won't (at least none of mine ever did when I used tanks.) Burrow.
But if its that much of a worry. Try putting a cut out of card board right above the heat pad to the glass and place the substrate over that. Warmth will get thru and no burn. :-)
That's what I did.

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[SlitherinSisters]

Or you could put a thermostat or dimmer on the heat mat to avoid burns, it's a lot safer than trying to rig something up to attempt to avoid a burn.

Looks like you have some great advice so far. If you have troubles getting him to eat I would get him a new hid. Log hides aren't great for ball pythons since they have two openings and are pretty spacious. Ball pythons like to feel squished in their hide, and it's better to only have one small opening in the hide.