Hello all,

I just got my first normal ball and have some questions on enclosure setup. I bought her at Petco and they said they had her for about 8 months, so I assume that she's at least 9-10 months old at this point. I was able to weigh her on a digital food scale last night and she was 179g and 22". Is this small for her age? The store had been feeding her two fuzzies once a week. Does that seem like a small meal for this age? One of the books I read said that she should be eating hoppers or larger at 9 months.

Hope this image link works..



She is currently in a 30gal enclosure. There are digital probe thermometers on both the warm and cool sides. The warm side is 89.5-94.1° at the surface of the aspen bedding and the cool side is about 71.5-78° at the level of the bedding. I also have a digital thermometer and hygrometer about an inch off the bedding on the back wall that measures the ambient temp at 74.5 and the humidity at 71%. There's another dial therm/hygro, but I'm sure the digital is much more accurate. There is a hide in the cool side and warm side, a water bowl (I'm getting a more appropriate large one today), and a tree (sterilizing this in bleach solution then dishwasher). The sides and back are covered in a black plastic sheet made for fish tanks. Half of the top is covered with this also on the cool side, and I've taken clear packaging tape over the top of the warm side and left a hole over the mesh screen about 3"x3". This seems to achieve the appropriate temps and humidity levels. I have the largest Zoo-"something" heating pad under the enclosure on the warm side. I use a halogen "daylight" bulb and a night bulb on timers. The daylight is on for 14 hours and the night is on for 10 hours. Neither put off much heat.

Is a 30gal too large for a 179g ball? She's eating fine and appears to be healthy. 99% of her time is spent inside the hide on the warm side. Does this seem like normal behavior? I guess I anticipated more active thermoregulation by going back-and-forth, from cool to warm hides. Of course the 70's might be a little cool, or it could be stress related to the large enclosure.

I'm sure I've missed things, so any constructive criticism would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Toby