HELP - I'm confused!!

[TanyaL]

I am not a snake person, never have been and probably never will be. But, my son has wanted a snake for some time. So, for his 13th birthday, we got him a small ball. Honestly, we probably should have spent more time learning about them before jumping in, especially since we heard different things from different people about the care of a bp. I hope you guys don't mind me asking a few questions to help clear a few things up.

After spending a few hours on this site learning all kinds of new things, I feel a little better but still pretty uneasy about it all. I know there are several things I need to take care of ASAP. I just hope the poor girl (or boy) isn't too stressed because of our lack of knowledge or care.

We have her in a 20L tank with repti-bark as a substrate. Right now she only has one large hide on the side with the UTH. The large water bowl is located in the middle and a tree limb on the other side. The lights (when in use) sit atop the locking screen top above the hide. She is about 1 1/2' long and I'm guessing (from the pics I've seen here) she is a 'normal' bp. She HAD some greenery in her cage until a little mishap the other day which I'll explain in a moment.


Here it goes the questions....

Is a light source necessary? We were told to have a light (heat source) on for 12 hours and off for 12 hours. We have both a white light and a red light, both of which are 60w if I'm not mistaken. Only one is used at a time. If it is necessary, does it matter if we use the red or white bulb?

UTH - We were told to adhere the UTH to the bottom of the tank and that adhesive strips would be included....but they were not. According to the caresheet I found on this site, this bit of info is wrong. What is the proper thing to do?

Feeding - She was being fed small mice once every two weeks but the majority of the people we spoke with suggested to feed her fuzzies (?) once a week. Does this sound right for her size? Also, would you suggest feeding her in her enclosure or in a seperate enclosure? Keep in mind, my 13 yo son will be handling her. We do have an extra 10 gal tank available.

She is pretty darn active compared to the other balls that we've seen. When we had the greenery in her tank, she would totally re-arrange it by morning. Since taking it out, she hangs out on the tree limb and climbs and explores everything!! Is this normal? Do you think that maybe she is not comfortable in her surroundings, still hungry or what? Any suggestions?

The greenery that we bought at the pet store came with two rubber suctions cups with hooks to hang the greenery from. The other day I went to check on her and I noticed that she was hanging from the hook which was located in the very top corner of the tank. I freaked out because it looked as if it has penetrated her belly and she seemed to struggle to get down. Since I'm too afraid of her and since she seems to hate me I couldn't do much. I ran to grab something to pry the suction cup from the glass but by the time I got back (was out of the room for less than a minute) she was already free from it. As far as I could tell at the time, she wasn't injured (no evidence of blood and the suction cup was still attached to the glass. Later, I was able to see her underside while she was hanging and climbing on the limb and thankfully, I didn't see anything unusual. However, since then she seems pretty upset. Is it possible that she could have hurt herself or maybe just scared her? The suction cup was removed right away so there is no concern about her hurting herself again. My son is away visiting his cousins so she has not been handled the past few days and not since this has happened. I'm afraid of how she might react when he gets her out the next time. Any suggestions?

Tank background - do you suggest it? I've found some really cool dimensional backgrounds on Ebay that could be made to fit her tank size. Right now, she's got a great view of the motocross border that's on my son's wall. LOL

I have a bunch of other questions but I think I'll wait until later to ask more! LOL I can be very long winded as you can tell and I certainly don't want to wear out my welcome. I feel like I should dedicate my first book (post) to somebody! LOL

Any and all information you can give me would be greatly appreciated (links, book titles, your own experience, etc.). I want to be a responsible pet owner and only do what's best for the snake. Even though I'm scared to death of her, she deserves the same care that I give my dogs and horse!!

Thanks a bunch!!
Tanya

[Reptilian]

First off, Welcome!

Is a light source necessary? We were told to have a light (heat source) on for 12 hours and off for 12 hours. We have both a white light and a red light, both of which are 60w if I'm not mistaken. Only one is used at a time. If it is necessary, does it matter if we use the red or white bulb?

If you have a UTH you may not need the bulbs. The UTH ideally should reach the optimal temps of 90-94 (for the warm side) then give a temp gradient of 80-84 on the cool side. If you aren't reaching these temps with the UTH alone, then you may need to use a low wattage bulb. The white light or red one is acceptable as long as the white one is turned off at night. To much "daylight" (constant white light) will stress out the little guy. Also if you're not reaching the proper temp gradient, you may need to buy a second UTH (if you want to go the UTH way). I personally have two lights (no UTH) and with some tweaking have gotten the right temps. Whatever heat source you use must be controled by a dimmer/thermostat/rheostat.

UTH - We were told to adhere the UTH to the bottom of the tank and that adhesive strips would be included....but they were not.

Most pet store brands (zoomed, etc.) heat pads have a peal off backing, just like a sticker. I don't suggest pealing it off, instead use aluminium tape to adheare it.

Feeding - She was being fed small mice once every two weeks but the majority of the people we spoke with suggested to feed her fuzzies (?) once a week. Does this sound right for her size?

I think for her size a med. mouse maybe in order once every 7 days would be good. But we'll wait to hear from others on that.

Also, would you suggest feeding her in her enclosure or in a seperate enclosure?

Some suggest it, others don't. I personally don't. With balls being rather shy creatures I want mine to feel secure in his habitat and to hunt that way.

She is pretty darn active compared to the other balls that we've seen. When we had the greenery in her tank, she would totally re-arrange it by morning. Since taking it out, she hangs out on the tree limb and climbs and explores everything!! Is this normal?

It sounds like she's getting to know her new home, that's all.

My son is away visiting his cousins so she has not been handled the past few days and not since this has happened. I'm afraid of how she might react when he gets her out the next time. Any suggestions?

It's suggested to let the settle in a week before handling. I'd take this time to let her get used to her surroundings and then have her handled once your son gets home.

Tank background - do you suggest it?

Up to you entirely.

Best of luck with the new purchase. Feel free to ask away if you have more questions. And once again, welcome.

[ama1997]

One thing I would add is if you do use some kind of tank background. If its a 3d one that goes inside the tank. Make sure its in there good enough so he/she cant get behind it and get stuck. Also with the background if its one for inside the tank. Make sure you dont use anykind of tape to hold it in place. If the tape gets stuck on the snake. It can hurt them peeling it tape off can take scales off. Even if you think that the tape is on good enogh or that the snake cant get to it. They will find away they can be kind of sneaky.

[rabernet]

Hi Tanya and welcome!

We have her in a 20L tank with repti-bark as a substrate. Right now she only has one large hide on the side with the UTH. The large water bowl is located in the middle and a tree limb on the other side. The lights (when in use) sit atop the locking screen top above the hide. She is about 1 1/2' long and I'm guessing (from the pics I've seen here) she is a 'normal' bp. She HAD some greenery in her cage until a little mishap the other day which I'll explain in a moment.

You want to offer him/her two small, snug hides if you can. Even something as simple as small plastic cereal bowls from Dollar Tree with entrances soldered out of them work very well. They choose security over thermoregulating, so ideally you want identical hides on each side, so that they don't have a favorite hide that they'll stay in rather than moving back and forth.

Is a light source necessary? We were told to have a light (heat source) on for 12 hours and off for 12 hours. We have both a white light and a red light, both of which are 60w if I'm not mistaken. Only one is used at a time. If it is necessary, does it matter if we use the red or white bulb?

No, light is not necessary, unless you need it for supplemental heat. Light is challenging, because it tends to take all the humidity out of the air, while you're trying to maintain a consistent 50% humidity. If you need to use one, I'd choose red over white, because white is just like a snake having a spotlight on them, and being nocturnal shy creatures, that can be a bit disconcerting.

UTH - We were told to adhere the UTH to the bottom of the tank and that adhesive strips would be included....but they were not. According to the caresheet I found on this site, this bit of info is wrong. What is the proper thing to do?

Be sure that this UTH wasn't peeled from another enclosure before being given to you as the process of removing the standard pet store UTH's can damage the wires inside, creating hot spots.

You can use aluminum plumber's tape (you can find it at home depot in the plumbing section) to attach your UTH to the bottom of the enclosure. Are you using a thermostat or dimmer to control the UTH? UTH's can reach levels that will burn the snake if they aren't controlled.

You also should pick up a good digital thermometer/hygrometer. The one that I use comes from Walmart in the hardware department for about $12. Takes a AAA battery. And I attach mine inside the enclosure on the cool side with velcro (so the snake isn't always knocking it over) and run the probe to lay inside the warm side hide on the surface. This is what it looks like:

Feeding - She was being fed small mice once every two weeks but the majority of the people we spoke with suggested to feed her fuzzies (?) once a week. Does this sound right for her size? Also, would you suggest feeding her in her enclosure or in a seperate enclosure? Keep in mind, my 13 yo son will be handling her. We do have an extra 10 gal tank available.

I feed in the enclosure with all of mine and I do not have any problems handling any of them. They know what day is feeding day and I'm in their enclosures almost daily, so they don't make any association with my being in the enclosure with feeding. I also make sure that if I've handled any rodents, that my hands are washed and the scent of rodent isn't on me when I work with the snakes.

Even hatchling ball pythons can feed on hopper mice for their first meals, so unless you're talking about an older fuzzy rat, a fuzzy mouse is much too small.

I feed babies about every five days and juvies to adults once every seven days. A small mouse once a week for now should be plenty.

She is pretty darn active compared to the other balls that we've seen. When we had the greenery in her tank, she would totally re-arrange it by morning. Since taking it out, she hangs out on the tree limb and climbs and explores everything!! Is this normal? Do you think that maybe she is not comfortable in her surroundings, still hungry or what? Any suggestions?

She could be a little stressed, a glass tank doesn't offer a lot of security for them, and the hide is likely much too large for her right now. One option would be to set her up in the smaller 10 gallon for now and use small snug hides, the other is to really clutter up the larger enclosure. Two snug hides and although not pretty - fill up the enclosure with loosely crumpled newspaper to give her more cover and help her to settle. You can start weaning her off the newspaper a piece or two every few days.

My son is away visiting his cousins so she has not been handled the past few days and not since this has happened. I'm afraid of how she might react when he gets her out the next time. Any suggestions?

Most ball pythons are pretty laid back animals, so she should be fine. He just needs to keep handling sessions brief and positive as they get to know each other.

I think in time, because you care so much that she gets the best possible care, that she's going to really grow on you. We've had so many member join here that were terrified of snakes, until they got their first ball python, and now adore them. We have another mom here who's daughter went to college and left her snake with Mom to care for, who's been working through her fear of the snake to work up to her first handling, and now feels that she's really going to miss this snake when her daughter has a place where she can keep her, herself.

Some excellent books - I'd start with Kevin McCurley's The Complete Ball Python (click the title to go to where to order it) would be perfect for you starting out. After that, and you are hungry for me, you can pick up Dave and Tracy Barker's Pythons of the World, Vol II: Ball Pythons

And if Kevin's book is more than you anticipated spending, he does have a more condensed version called: Ball Pythons in Captivity

[TanyaL]

WOW!! Lots of great information in a very short time! I think I'll find myself spending lots of time here! THANKS!!

I know that we need to make some changes and it will be done ASAP, now that I am better informed! It really ticks me off that the people I talked to gave me such bad information. The store that I got her from had the opportunity to sell me anything and everything since we told them to give us everything we needed but instead, they didn't get us enough or the right stuff. UGH!!

I don't know if I will ever warm up to her enough to hold her! Many moons ago, my ex-husband had a 5' bermese. I was ok with it until I woke up at 5am with the darn thing in my bed! I told he that by the time I got home from work, either the snake goes, or I go! I should have let him keep the snake! LOL

Thanks for the book suggestions. I'll order them as soon as I can but first I need to make sure she has everything she needs.

Thanks again for the great information and I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions to come. It's nice to know I have somewhere to turn to get some straight answers!!


Tanya

[frankykeno]

Welcome to BPNet Tanya. You've received some excellent and common sense advise so there's nothing for me to add other than to advise you to look at lots of options and be creative when it comes to purchasing things for the snake.

The Acu-Rite for instance is a very cost effective idea that works, compared to the more expensive analgo things that mostly don't work that the pet stores sell. Same with hides, you can spend a lot on a fancy one or not much on a dollar store plastic bowl. The snake will care less as long as it's hide is small and dark. Personally I find the plastic bowls easier to clean but then I'm cleaning up after multiple snakes.

Please enjoy the site, there's tons of excellent threads here, stickies to read over, a caresheet, etc.