Hello everyone!
Tomorrow I'm getting my first ball python, well my first snake ever! I'm SUPER stoaked and cannot wait. He's a rescue, about 2 years old, super tame, almost 2 feet long and eats one rat pup a week. I just wanted to make sure my new little dude's going to be as happy as possible with the least amount of stress involved. I have a 10-15 gallon tank with a UTH with aspen substrate. I know everyones housing preferences are going to vary but my priority question is do I NEED to get a heat lamp for him if i have an UTH? I really would prefer not to get one due to the possibilities of burns and/or a fire. My second question is once I get my little man home I'm going to have to restrain myself as long as possible, however when do you think would be an appropriate time to start handling him? He's very tame but I dont want to stress him out with me handling him while he's trying to get accustom to his new situation.
More questions to come :-)
thanks everybody!