My first snake

[serpent fan]

So its been done. The snake is a county over, literally waiting for me to be prepared. I have a sterilite 28qt, will this be big enough for a baby ball for a month or so? He would be able to stretch from end to end, so i figure it is.
Ive got a repti therm 10 to 20 gal sized UTH. Can this go under a sterilite (like rubber maid) or will it melt?
Have thermometer and hygrometer on the way.
Mice provided by the guy
The 30th is feeding day, and im going to watch a demo (his idea, i liked that) and see for myself hes healthy, eating well, and all that.
Colors looked beautiful, and incredibly bright for a ball.
He was captive laid and captive his whole 1 1/2 year life, and apparently he redily eats both frozen and live, but the demo is frozen, at my request. (Im not doubting a snakes ability to eat live food lol)
So worst case, my thermostate and hygrometer stuff isnt in on time, the guy will keep the snake housed till im ready.
Should i watch the feeding, and then come back a few days later, or eat n dip? We could feed him in the new cage, and transport in new cage, would that be too stressful.
Im stoked you guys hope i remembered everything...
Hide boxes! Oh yeah, got em!

[ExotixTowing]

I wouldn`t feed then transport..

My Lesser had a 1 hour drive in a Coleman Cooler Warmed of course.

He was to eat the day before but we held him off..

I had initially thought to hold him off for a few days, but the little bugger went into hunt mode 4 hours after getting here..

As for the UTH I am not an expert so someone will likely chime in

Oh and Congrats

[RetiredJedi]

The UTH could melt the tub so I would wait until the thermostat comes in before hooking that up.

[serpent fan]

Ok, sounds reasonable. Im so excited i wana like plug it all in and see it do nothing! Lol
Maybe ill just tell him no feeding and take my chances??
Im mostly worried about a stress induced regurge, because it could really hurt the bugger.
He said for a baby hes crazy tame, only bit once, but he was "finger feeding" instead of tongs, thats silly...
Ok so with this rubermaid mess, how many holes should i do, is there a good rule of thumb.

[loganhub]

sounds like you covered your bases lol!
how long is the drive??
i'd take him home in whatever i mean a shoebox will work balls are relativly hardy.
wait and attemt to feed the next day after you bring him home, use frozen.
and make sure you have a large box or something to use for "feeding time" never
feed in his reg tank, just remember any q's you have are online, DO YOUR RESEARCH sounds like youre going to do great tho

[RetiredJedi]

...Ok so with this rubermaid mess, how many holes should i do, is there a good rule of thumb.

Not really. You really have to hook everything up and just start adding holes as needed. I started with like a row along the top of the back of the tub (since mine are in a rack) and just went from there. Every time I needed to add holes I would do about four or five at a time. I use a soldering iron to make the holes since a drill can crack the tub.

[serpent fan]

I was told buy my local fish store employee that i wasted my money with the heat pad, and that for balls i really should just use a heat lamp only, wont that dry my tank out, and arent balls better with belly heat? Just got confused

[RetiredJedi]

I was told buy my local fish store employee that i wasted my money with the heat pad, and that for balls i really should just use a heat lamp only, wont that dry my tank out, and arent balls better with belly heat? Just got confused

Yes, heat lamps can suck the humidity big time and belly heat does better for BPs.

[The Serpent Merchant]

sounds like you covered your bases lol!
how long is the drive??
i'd take him home in whatever i mean a shoebox will work balls are relativly hardy.
wait and attemt to feed the next day after you bring him home, use frozen.
and make sure you have a large box or something to use for "feeding time" never
feed in his reg tank, just remember any q's you have are online, DO YOUR RESEARCH sounds like youre going to do great tho

There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding in the snakes cage, cage aggression is an Internet myth. Most people on this site including myself feed in the snakes cage with 0 issues.

Once you get your thermostat you can get things rolling but until then you have no way to heat the snake safely so everything should be on hold until then.

As far as number of holes in the tub this varies greatly. The holes allow you to adjust the humidity in the tub. Someone who lives in Florida like me where the average humidity is just past unbearable will have to put more holes in their tub than someone who lives in Nevada will.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I was told buy my local fish store employee that i wasted my money with the heat pad, and that for balls i really should just use a heat lamp only, wont that dry my tank out, and arent balls better with belly heat? Just got confused

Heat pads are the best way to heat BP's