Newbie cage setup

[Snikt228]

Hey guys -- I'm new here and new to snakes or reptiles in general. I'm setting up a 20 gallon long tank for a ball python. I didn't want to pick up the snake until I have everything figured out and the temps dialed in.

Here are a couple pics of the setup. Does anyone see anything wrong or have any suggestions?

Heating: 2 under tank heat pads connected to 2 seperate thermostats, one for cold and one for hot. The hot side is set for about 90 degrees and the cold side is set for about 80 degrees.

Lighting: 2 8" light fixtures, day is 50W halogen zoomed - night is 75W zoomed blue night bulb. They are set on 12 hour schedules with a day/night power strip.

Temp: I've got 2 flukers digital thermo/hygrometers, one on each side. I'm also spot checking with a digital thermometer with a probe to check the ground temp.

I'm using that bed-a-beast stuff for the substrate on top of the repti-carpet. I've got 2 different hides, 2 water dishes and some branches/decorations.

Thanks

The camera phone pics aren't the best in the world.

[Chase13]

If the temps and humidity is right, then the only problem i see would be the 2 different hides. You should have the same hides so that if the snake prefers one hide over the other, it wont stress itself by staying in a temp that is too hot for itself only because he likes the hide on the hot side better than the hide on the cool side. However, if the snake ends up using both hides roughly the same, then there isnt much of a problem. It really depends on the snake but its better to be safe then sorry. And welcome do the forum BTW. Let the addiction begin.

[Shelby]

Welcome!

Congrats for setting the cage up BEFORE you get the snake.. most people are too impatient to do things the right way anymore.

A couple of things -

do your thermometers actually read 80 degrees and 90 degrees on the cool and warm sides respectively, or is that just what your t-stats are set to? Usually you have to set the t-stat a bit higher than the temp you want on the ground in the cage.

what is your humidity level? It should be 50-60%.. with those light fixtures, it might be difficult to keep the level up that high, especially with a screen lid. Snakes do not need special lighting.. you may consider removing the lighting fixtures provided you don't need them to keep your temperatures in the right range.

You really only need one water dish.. you'll want to disinfect it weekly, so it may make it easier on yourself if you get rid of the second one, but that's up to you.

While those log hides look nice, they're really not very good as hides. Ball pythons are very shy and secretive animals.. even more shy than most snakes. A good hide is going to be low, dark, and tight feeling for them. Those log hides are kind of like a person hiding by standing in the middle of a big room

Sometimes you can find nice looking tight hides at the pet store.. there's some plastic ones that are molded like rock caves that do a pretty nice job, otherwise you can get a plastic plant saucer (or even the clay ones) at any old store that has houseplant stuff. Just cut a hole in the side or top so the snake can get under it, and you're set.

I hope that helps.

[Snikt228]

The thermostats don't have actual temp readings on them, but i'm using the digital probe to set it right.

Right now I'm reading about 83F on average above the cold side pad, 75 ambient 53% humidity. On the hot side it's about 93 average above the pad and 77.7 ambient with 43% humidity.

At first I had some problems heating it up, during the winter (not really so in Florida), but the house is about 68-72 degrees usually on the cool nights.

As far as the hide, I liked the log because it functions as a rough surface for shedding also. Do you think I should try them out or just go ahead and ditch it for something else?

Thanks

[joepythons]

The only thing i can add to this is,ditch the repti-carpet stuff.It will hold more bacteria and then in turn will cause you and your snake unneeded problems(breathing the stuff in).Welcome to the group

[Christina]

yep- just make sure that the heating pads aren't under the water bowl or the hide. you don't want to heat up the water, and the heating pads can heat up the inside of the hide too much. the snake may not want to go into the hide. and as Shelby said, you really only need one hide and one water bowl. and caves a better than logs, because they provide more security for the bp. nice job otherwise! sounds like you'll be a good snake keeper!

[Chase13]

yep- just make sure that the heating pads aren't under the water bowl or the hide. you don't want to heat up the water, and the heating pads can heat up the inside of the hide too much. the snake may not want to go into the hide. and as Shelby said, you really only need one hide and one water bowl. and caves a better than logs, because they provide more security for the bp. nice job otherwise! sounds like you'll be a good snake keeper!

I'm not being mean, but i completely 100% disagree with only needing one hide, you want your snake to feel safe at all times and if it wants to get cooled down and go to the cool side, it should have a hide to be in while cooling down, he may not want to get cooled if there is no hide. So i again CAOMPLETELY disagree with only needing one hide.

[Shelby]

They don't need the log for a rough surface to shed on.. they can shed on smooth plastic.. mine do.

Joe, that's not repticarpet, it's bed-a-beast.. just looks like repticarpet.

Two hides are best for ball pythons because they are so shy.

I'd try to get the ambient temps up.. temps below 80 degrees are potentially harmful to ball pythons. Since your humidity levels seem fine, perhaps up the wattage of your bulbs?

[sweety314]

According to his description, he's using the moist husk ON TOP OF repti-carpet.

[Snikt228]

Ok I guess i'm still having problems with the ambient temp. I guess the heat in my house doesn't work all that well. This morning the left side ambient is 67 and the hot is 75. I looked a the MIN/MAX since I left the thermometers running and the min was 67 on cold and 72 on hot.

How can I kick it up a notch?

This is going to be easy during summer, but I guess it's better to get it ironed out now.