First post after long lurk..questions!

[zookeeper]

Hello , I have been lurking here and learning for a few weeks now . Very nice forum! I participate on a few about various topics , and this one is particularly helpful and friendly.

So , I do not know if I have a male or a female. I will go with "she" for now. She was given to me by a coworker because his son bought one at Petsmart without permission , and his wife had a canary . As in a phobia freak out , not as in the bird. As in it is me or the snake. AND it turned out constrictors are banned in their town anyway. The contraband snake was not discovered by the evil stepmom for a few months , so it was too late for the kid to return to Petsmart ( good!). In any event , she was not housed properly . HUGE glass tank ( the kind that is actually furniture , maybe 6 feet long ..it was definitely a fish aquarium as it had the split glass top) one UTH on one side , no thermostat , a HEAT ROCK , some kind of shavings , one sad log hide. One thermometer stuck to the glass which was reading 70 degrees . Not cool. Well , too cool actually . Dry as a bone in there I am sure .She was only eating two pinkies a week .

She had been with me 4 weeks. Today will be her 4th feed with me.

Basic info :

Weighed this morning - 252.31 grams ( 8.9 oz) ..a little more than 2 feet long ....about 30 " .She has noticeably grown since I have had her. Age and sex unknown. Explores when handled , not nervous at all. Happily went into new enclosure. She is in her warm side hide all the time ..occasionally comes out to poke around in the wee hours of the night. Briefly though..

We had one shed ..head portion came off complete , portion of body shed retained for two days ( mid way to the back) . Gave her a warm soak , held her gently with a warm wet washcloth , and she crawled right out of it . No problem. She is going into another shed already I think. Eyes were hazy for 2 days , today they are clear again. Skin looks dull. Upped humidity to 68 to 70% . Previous shed did not affect her appetite. Nor did any handling. She gets handled for cleaning , and for about 15 minutes a night while I watch TV. Explores , lots of tongue flicking. Then chills out cupped in my hands.

She was reputed to eat every Friday. So first Friday I gave her an adult ( but on the smaller size ) pre killed mouse. BAM ! Struck , constricted , dragged into hide , *burp* no issues. No poop.

Following Friday larger mouse ..same pattern. Pooped 2 days after eating 2nd mouse .

Last Friday ..biggest mouse I could find ..no issues.Pooped 2 days later ..white hard stuff too ( urates??) and something that looked like a blob of mango?

Today is her 4th feeding day and I have a small rat awaiting pick up . I am not sure what you would call the size that is *just* bigger than an adult mouse..a juvenile? A pup?

She is in :

24 " neodesha plastic enclosure that I found used for 26 bucks ..it was not so much that it was a bargain , but that I wanted an enclosure fast. I pretty much overnighted everything else and worked my Amazon Prime to death

There is 4" inch heat tape along the back regulated by Herpstat 1 set to 93 degrees ..probe is on the floor of the enclosure and covered by one sheet of butcher paper as substrate.

One Luke's infrared dome light on a dimmer hooked up to a Big Apple thermostat on cool side of cage. I did not make the lit side the hot side because I was afraid the heat from the lamp over the hot side hide would be too much heat in addition to the heat tape underneath. I have the Big Apple probe in the middle of the cage halfway up the wall since the light is meant to boost ambient temps only . I put the wood log she had on top of the cool side hide to insulate it /prevent it from being directly shined on by the infrared. So I hope the cool side hide that is well away from the heat tape but under the infrared light and covered by a log still stays cool side worthy?? If you think it is ok for the hot side hide on top of heat tape to also be under the infrared covered by the log , let me know. This is only an issue for another week anyway , explanation at end

2 hides are medium black hides from Reptile Basics.

Ambient temps :
Hot Side ambient temps outside of hide 81 -83
Cool Side ambient temps outside of hide 83 to 84

Hot Side Hide floor temp under butcher paper substrate- 92.3

Humidity runs about 40 to 60% . I mist once or twice a day to bring it up a bit for periods of the day. Highest humidity has been 70%

And of course a nice ceramic water bowl that is just big enough for her to soak if she wants to ( she has not wanted to) .

So , please feel free to tell me to tweak anything that needs tweaking. Aside from that , my noob questions are:

1)How often should she shed?

2)Is the size rat I am describing good for now? She is almost 253 grams. I know the mice were too small..wanted to build her up slowly . What size rat should I be asking for , and up until when?

3) If she does not get skittish when being handled , is ok to handle her daily as I described? I know not to handle her at least in the 24 hours after she eats . She eats Friday night and I do not handle her until Sunday night. So , Sunday night through Thursday night she watches max 20 minutes of tv with us lol

And - after all that detail I gave about her present enclosure , I want to mention I have an AP T8 on its way . With a divider . And I bought two radiant heat panels and 12 inch heat tape. And two more black hides and one more water bowl. I think my husband knows I am nesting ...and want another BP ! I believe in having at least two of everything

Thanks for reading my lengthy intro , and thanks in advance for the help. I knew nothing before I got this BP..I made all my decisions on gear and husbandry based on what I learned from lurking over here. So thanks