Hey everyone,

I'll be picking up my first BP when the NARBC show comes to town at the beginning of September. I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row right now as far as housing and heating goes so the snake has a nice home immediately rather than trying to fidget around with stuff after the snake is already in there. Anyway, a couple questions...

1. I read the thread about keeping a ball in the same enclosure for life. It seems there's a split decision between the 20g and 30g long tanks. For a male, people seem to think the 20g is fine. I plan to get a male and I came across this enclosure here, http://reptilebasics.com/Mini-Cage-p-16232.html. The surface area of the cage is actually a little bigger than a 20g, but not quite that of a 30g tank. Do you think this cage would be fine for a baby? I'd like to pick up a 2009 hatchling at the show. I know a lot of you just keep babies in tiny tubs, but for me that's out of the question unfortunately.

2. I live in Southern California. Although it doesn't really get cold here, even during the heart of winter, it does get colder than the recommended cool side for a BP. We don't run our heater very often during winter and my room definitely drops below the low 80s during these months. Would you all recommend that I get a 2nd heat source for the cool side of this cage? It comes with belly heat on one side according to the site, but I'm worried come winter that won't be enough. I figured I could pick up a UTH for the cool side and set the T-Stat to 82. Opinions?

Btw, sorry for having such a long first post!