So I was at Petco yesterday, and got talked into a ball python (I only went in for some feeder fish for my RES). He's very active, and seems alright for a pet store snake (I don't like getting animals from big pet stores, or pet stores in general, this one kind of just stole my heart).
This is my first python, I currently have two corns, and I've worked with ribbon snakes, corns, garters, boas, and some other random species, but no pythons. So I wanted some advice, I've looked over a few care sheets, and they seem to have some differences, so I wanted to be clear.
First off he seems a bit skinny to me, like his spine sticks out, not sure if I'm right about that. Also one of his eyes looks dented, it could be a retained eye cap, but wasn't sure.
Right now he's in a 10g tank, not sure if I should move him up to a 20g long, because I've read that too large an enclosure can stress them out, he's a baby, only about 1 1/2 long, 141g, but I don't want him to be in a too small enclosure. Especially since I've read they need two hides, and there isn't enough room in the 10 for two and the water dish. Right now the hide is over the UTH.
I have one under the tank heater right now, I had a heat lamp on him, but took it off. Should I add another UTH or get a ceramic heat lamp for a basking light? I also have red night lamps, could that be used to add heat during the day instead?
He's on newspaper right now, and I've covered half the screen top with foil until I can get some plexiglass. 3 sides are covered with background.
Also how often should I feed him? One of my corns gets two medium mice every 10 days, the other gets one large mouse every 10 days, not sure if every 10 days is too long for a baby. I feed F/T only, if that matters. I gave him one medium mouse today, because they said he hadn't been fed in a while, he did take it.
I really want to make his enclosure perfect for him. Sorry if the pics are dark, I didn't want to stress him out by having him out for too long.