New to the world of BPs & need some advice!

[aaront126]

I have a somewhat cold house in the winter and on the cool side I use a Zilla Mini Halogen heat light, they have 25 and 50 w day and night bulbs, I'd suggest the 25w red night bulb and just keep it on all the time that should get you into the 70's unless your house is really cold, I also use a UTH and ceramic heat emitter on the warm side with a thermostat, seems to work out well for me but with all the heaters it takes a little more to get the humidity up but I can get it right at 40-45% with just a damp towel covering 2/3 of the top (with a hole cut for my heat light) and then I mist during sheds to get it higher.

[Naom9Anne]

If he won't eat frozen you should try live if that's what he was eating and try to transfer him onto frozen after a few feeds.

You can of course try frozen and he might take it, but it's there to let you know why he may not eat. BP's can be fussy eaters at the best of times. Some will eat anything, at any time. Others can easily go off food by the slightest change.

Hope he takes F/T for you

[jclaiborne]

Welcome to the site!

If you haven't already check out these threads:

Care: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet

Cage Setup: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...With-Pictures!

Cage Heating: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...t-Thermometers

Cage temps are going to be your first priority, no part of the cage should ever get below 75 F. Ideally the cool side of the cage should be between 78-82 F and the hot side should be between 88-92 F.

It sounds like you are on the right track. If you setup your cue the way it is shown in the cage setup thread I linked to you should be able to get the right temperatures without too much trouble.

As always great advice!

you shouldnt worry too much about heat as in the wild it is unpratictible, as long as it stays between 24 and 30 degrees C (75-86) roughly and prefrebly a bit colder in the night. If your snake feels cold or hot than just change it but if he seems ok then don't worry about it.

I understand what you are trying to say, however please don't give misleading information. Temps are vital to having a healthy reptile. If your temps are off it can throw your humidity off leading to bad sheds, going off feed, etc.

[Dandelioness]

In a 20g long that I have, I keep my lamp in the middle to make sure my ambient temperature stays where it needs to be. As others have said, a separate under-tank heater with another thermostat set to a lower temperature may be a good option if your lamp just won't do it for the cool side temp. Another thing to try is adding either aluminum foil or a towel to the top of your tank. This can help to keep both heat and humidity in.

Something good to note is that you shouldn't ever run a heater without a thermostat. This is because they'll just turn on and keep heating, and they can reach really high temperatures that may burn your snake. A thermostat will tell it to turn off when it reaches a certain temperature, then turn back on when it gets too cold.

[Crazymonkee]

He was eating live, but I told the guy at the pet store that I wanted to do frozen, so he sent me home with a couple. But I should feed him the live for awhile first? Ugh

Yes you should try live first, after a couple feedings then try to switch

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[thejenius77]

Here are some pics of Monty. Does he appear to be 6-9 months old? How does his size look? Does he look well fed?

Also, how can you tell when they are agitated and about to get pissed? This is my first encounter with any type of snake. I used to be terrified of them, so I'm clueless. He seems to be very easy going, but I really don't know.

[thejenius77]

[Crazymonkee]

It's almost impossible to determine age by size, I can't zoom the pics in enough to clearly tell body condition, I don't think it's quite as round as it could be... but a couple good feedings will cure that easy!
What was he being fed and how often?

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[thejenius77]

It's almost impossible to determine age by size, I can't zoom the pics in enough to clearly tell body condition, I don't think it's quite as round as it could be... but a couple good feedings will cure that easy!
What was he being fed and how often?

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He was being fed live,fairly small mice, once a week. I didn't think he looked round enough either. More triangle. I wish I knew how old we was.

[Crazymonkee]

I would feed him 2 mice, see if he'll take the second.. after a few successful feedings with you (at least one mouse is successful) then try to get him on small rats, go by the widest part of your snake, you want the prey the same size or just a lil bigger.

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