Hello everyone! My name is Brandy and I just acquired a normal male ball that is about a year old on the 5th of this month. The previous Owner was feeding him a fuzzy mouse every 7 days. I immediately went to small mouse and have been feeding every 5 days.... but think he probably needs even bigger as when I feed him, I can't see anything after it gets to where it is suppose to be going. He was pretty thin as well.... When I got him, he still had part of his old shed on him. He just shed in the last week and it all came off perfect. He is a great eater, eating f/t without any difficulty. Did strike at me a couple times at first, but I then checked out this board and decided to leave him be for a few days. He is in an Exo Terra 18x18x18, has 3 different hides a climbing log and a water bowl. I have a 10-20 gallon UTH currently but think I probably need to get a bigger one. If I do purchase a bigger one, I would definitely need a thermostat but have no idea where to buy one from (suggestions?)..As far as I have seen they only come 10-20 and 30-40...but this tank is aprox 25 gallons..?? I am happy we got him, everyone keeps telling me that he will hurt my kids and I am getting tired of trying to educate them on size of these pythons. I will continue to visit this site regularly. And please forgive me now if I have some pretty stupid questions!