New snake feeding help

[Kyra_bp]

Hi everyone. So I have a few questions. I just got a 2 month old female phantom ball python. She has been eating frozen fuzzys. I bought her last weekend and the breeder said she had eaten the previous Sunday. So I fed her a fuzzy this weekend and she gobbled it right up! Question is I don't know her weight at all so when should I try to feed again? She's been curled up in her hide for the most part and I haven't seen any sign of poop yet. Shes come out a few times but I'm not seeing her looking for food. Also she's in a glass tank with a lamp on top and a heat pad on the side...i can keep that area of the tank around 80-83 degrees but am having trouble keeping the humidity above %30. As a new owner I've been told the tank should be between 80-90 degrees and humidity should be at least 70%!! I can't get it there at all! She spends most of her time on the cool side. I've put a damp towel over half the grate on top and mist regularly but I cant get the humidity up!!

[jbzapanda]

You should post a pic of your setup just so everyone can see and help you better!

[Kyra_bp]

You should post a pic of your setup just so everyone can see and help you better!

Ok I'll do that!! Thx

[Neal]

Hi everyone. So I have a few questions. I just got a 2 month old female phantom ball python. She has been eating frozen fuzzys. I bought her last weekend and the breeder said she had eaten the previous Sunday. So I fed her a fuzzy this weekend and she gobbled it right up! Question is I don't know her weight at all so when should I try to feed again? She's been curled up in her hide for the most part and I haven't seen any sign of poop yet. Shes come out a few times but I'm not seeing her looking for food. Also she's in a glass tank with a lamp on top and a heat pad on the side...i can keep that area of the tank around 80-83 degrees but am having trouble keeping the humidity above %30. As a new owner I've been told the tank should be between 80-90 degrees and humidity should be at least 70%!! I can't get it there at all! She spends most of her time on the cool side. I've put a damp towel over half the grate on top and mist regularly but I cant get the humidity up!!

Who said the humidity should be at least 70%?

You don't want it to drop below 50% for sure, and 50% would be the minimum, 60% is more than fine. There are several things you can do to raise the humidity, but you've left out key information.

Tank size, bedding, water dish/size, what kind of bulb are you using the lamp?

Different substrate can hold moisture better making it easier to maintain higher humidity, Putting a larger water dish can help raise humidity slightly, but that will depend on how big of a tank you're using as to what size bowl you can fit. Heat lamps suck up humidity, and depending on if you're using an actual bulb or a CHE, that may not be the ideal setup.

Also why is your UTH on the side of the tank?

[fireflii]

Juveniles should eat about every 5-7 days, sub-adults about every 7-10 days, and adults 10-14 days (generally speaking, some feed more/less based on preference, individual snake, feeder size, etc.). I personally like to feed every week since it's easier to remember. You should ideally wait about 48hrs before handling her after eating as well so she can digest. But otherwise, feeding once a week with an appropriately sized feeder is fine. Humidity ideally should be about 55-65% normally, and then 65%+ when in shed.

As for your enclosure, are you using an analog thermometer? Analogs are known to be inaccurate, so if you can, I'd recommend a digital thermometer as soon as you can. Otherwise, you can probably cover about 3/4 of the top with the towel instead of half. You can also get a bigger water bowl (big enough to soak in) and put it over the hot spot. You can buy some sphagnum moss, get it moist (wet but not dripping), and put some around the enclosure or inside a hide to create a humid hide. Some substrates are better at holding moisture than others. The heat lamp will suck a lot of it out, though, so it's not necessary unless your ambient temps aren't getting high enough. There are some other tips around the forum if you google search a bit, but those are the ones off the top of my head.

If you don't mind paying extra and have the resources to do so (and, well, you WANT to, obviously you don't have to), a tub would be great, though. They're cheaper than tanks, lighter (so they're easier to clean), and much easier to retain heat and humidity in. You can get some transparent or opaque ones if you're worried about visibility (although it can stress a snake if it's not hidden enough), and you can get tubs with latches so they're more secure.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Also why is your UTH on the side of the tank?

Probably because the packaging says it an be mounted that way and then they can get away without a thermostat.
basically the same idea as back heat.