NEW BP!!! need advice!

[jc0716]

! Hi! i'm new here and i am a new snake owner as well. I got this lovely BP from a pet store just yesterday i think he is about 6 months old and 2 feet in lenght??? He is housed in a 20 gallon tank 24x12x17 with a 16watt heat pad and 100 watt lamp on the hotter side of the tank. The cooler side consists of the water dish, digital thermometer at the top of the tank and the humidty measuring thingy half way from the bottom. I'm using bark as my substrate and is looking great! Does that setup sound/look coorect or should i make some changes? i'm still planning to something for my snake to climb on, are bare old branches from a local forest okay after saoking in hotwater or bleach? or shoudl i just stick with driftwood form petstores? i want to save some money . Also should i get more thermometers to read temps of hot and cool side of cage? lastly should i reposition my humidty guage and thermometer? I had them moved from the original placement already because the light and heat gives inaccurate readings for temp and humidity. any advice would be greatly apreciated thank you!

ps. MY snake ate a live small mouse on the first day! It was very rewarding to watch![img]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Johnny/Desktop/DSC00130.JPG[/img]



http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...3/DSC00130.JPG

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...3/DSC00123.JPG

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...3/DSC00120.JPG

[tigerlily]

I know you are new to the forum, so . I just wanted to let you know that pics were a bit large, so I edited them to links. You can resize them, or leave them as links ... your preference.

Yes you want to move your thermometer. You want to measure temps on the ground, since that is where your snakes are. Those humidity gauges are terribly inaccurate. A good digital indoor/outdoor thermometer is inexpensive and a wonderful asset. I would try to get two identical hides, that are smaller and a tighter fit. I wouldn't even bother with that paper towel roll. A climbing branch is not essential as bps are terrestial, but if you'd like to offer something make sure it's sturdy.

Congrats on the new bp, and kudos for trying to make your setup better.

[TheAudOne]

Hi there and CONGRATS

Just a couple things, you can check out the sticky pages here for the care and set up of your tanks/habitats.
I can give you a quick run down but again read and re-read everything you can find on here and ask lots of questions if your doubting anything, you'll find more than enough help here
Be careful with the bark, alot of people use it..but it could also be accidently eaten along with his dinner...if you feed him in his habitat....which cold lead to mouth rot.
As far as your temp and humidity, we have about 8 diffrent readers and so far we like a cheap home one we got at Walmart, its for your house or outdoors...but honostly....how diffrent can humidity and air temp really be? So we did in the beginning not no any better and bought digital pet store ones, that read great dont get me wrong, but for 12 bucks we found ones that do the same thing. So thats your call, and I also have the same temp/probe as you do in one of my set ups.
You want to place it very low in yuor tank, after all its the temp. down low where your snake is that counts....I made this mistake to when we started out, so dont feel bad. Get a temp gun, about $25 bucks depending on where you go, we got ours for $100 at a restaraunt supply store. This will tell you exactly what your temp. is on the ground where you snake is laying, letting you know if its to hot or to cold. Also if you havent already get a thermastat, we again got the more expensive one's from the pet store and on line, until someone on here said to go to home depot and get a 4 dollar dimmer switch that you plug into your out let and then plug your heating pad or heating lamp/ ceramic heat emitter right into and it does the SAME thing, it lets you crank up the heat or turn it down as needed, if you noticed you cant do that with your light or pad, but you will be able to with the dimmer switch. This is a life saver for sure. Also provide 2 hides that are exactly the same, size color everything....not that great to look at...but your snake will be happy. Place one on the cool side and one on the warm, this way your snake will be able to hide on each side, if you get 2 diffrent hides he might love one and stay in it, even if he's to hot or cold. There are alot of tips and tricks on here, a over whelming at times it seems lol. But trust me, do alot of searching on here and your find exactly what you need to know. I think that might be about all I can think of off the top of my head. Also keep an eye on your humidity, make sure you read on here about your temps and humidity ranges and try to stay in those zones. This will insure its not to humid which could lead to scale rot, and not to dry. I also have a digital temp/humidity gauge on each end of my habitats.

Hope you have fun with your new baby.

[jc0716]

wow thats alot to learn.... but i really want to know if it's okay to collect branches from a local forest to put into my tank? if so do i need to treat it with like bleach or something first?

[tigerlily]

Some people do use branches and 'bake' them. I'd be worried about what critters were living in them though. I've heard baking at 200 for an hour or so, with constant monitoring so you don't but your house down, works but I've never tried it myself.

[jc0716]

hmm.. i think that sounds proper and i will give that a try, thank you
also what could happen if the temperature is too hot, because i notice my snake tryignto escape or staying close to the opening by hanging from my thermometre LOL. could this mean my temps are too high?

[rabernet]

hmm.. i think that sounds proper and i will give that a try, thank you
also what could happen if the temperature is too hot, because i notice my snake tryignto escape or staying close to the opening by hanging from my thermometre LOL. could this mean my temps are too high?

Sounds to me like he's getting used to his new home, and may be feeling a little stressed because it's very open in his enclosure (get him two small tight hides - they like to feel their hide touching them from all sides, including the top).

Also, you need to get a digital thermomoter/hygrometer that measures temps at the ground level so that you would know exactly what your temps are. 92-94 on the warm side, 82-84 on the cool side. Walmart sells them in their hardware department, they're basically indoor/outdoor digital thermometers - the one many of us use is made by AcuRite and takes one AAA battery.

Your stick on dial is basically measuring temps on the glass and not anywhere close to where your snake spends his time.

You asked what could happen if it gets too hot - he could get a thermal burn on his belly if it's too hot. I noticed you said you are trying to save money - and a thermal burn will cost you the cost of a vet visit plus treatment. You should invest in a good thermostat to run your Under Tank Heater.

Good luck with your new baby!

[jc0716]

today i went out and got a new thermo/hygrometer the na dimming switch and some hides for my snake. I also tried the method of baking my own wood and it works great. Now my tnak looks just perfect i have a few updated pics.
I also want to ask if i ahve the bark as substrate when the python urinates will it make a big mess i had him for two days and i ahven't see any urine at all he ate 2 days ago aswell i see no feces. How frequent will they go? lol i never seen snake urine before

[jc0716]

the wood i found in the forest and baked in the oven is pretty clean and is proabbaly free of any insects. But the problem i have now is that it has a smell to the wood and i'm afraid it mit ebe toxic to my BP. The wood should be maple and is definitly not cedar or pine could any other wood be toxic to the snake ?. The smell is a natural wet sweet smeeling aroma, i think the smell is from the breaking down /decomposing of the wood, could that be toxic to my snake?