Hello all!

I'll start off by saying I'm relatively new when it comes to herps, the only reptiles I've owned were leopard geckos back when I was much too young to know how to care for them properly, and my parents at the time even less so (and due to misinformation from the employee who sold them to us-- "leave the enclosure outside in the sunlight"??) so they died relatively quickly and I've always felt bad about it. Fast forward several years and I've recently been educating myself on snakes as pets and I've become quite interested in owning a ball python. I don't want to make the same mistakes I did as a child, however, so I definitely put in the time for research. I've bought a few books on their care and read them cover to cover and have dozens of sites and information bookmarked, so I feel like I'm ready to own one. My mother is a bit terrified of snakes, but I've been helping her get over them and she is coming around, so the day where I can bring one home is fast approaching!

All that said, I definitely respect the opinions and advice of the experienced owners here; I've been lurking for a long time and finally decided to register and post! I'd like to run some of the supplies I have by you guys and see if I've missed anything. I'm probably going to contact Garrick DeMeyer to see when he will have new mojaves or lessers hatching soon, but it's probably going to be a while before I actually receive one. Naturally I want to make sure it's perfectly set up before the bp gets here. Nothing is set up right now, but I've been following the "how to set up a glass tank" guide in the Hubandry forum in terms of getting the right items.

I have a 20 gallon critter cage, I bought a small lock to place on the top lid to make absolutely certain it won't get out, a Kintrex temp gun, cypress mulch bedding, sphagnum moss, a mist bottle, feeding tongs, a large grapevine branch, two hides (one's a bit too big and one's a bit too small though-- I will probably buy more), corner water dish, a UTH, a thermostat, a lamp stand for a light fixture in which I will place in a CHE of 100W, and a LOT of decorative fake plants (because I've read how baby BP's can get insecure in large enclosures so I want to give him as much cover as possible). I also have two small yellow zoomed digital thermometers with probes, as well as a cheap stick-on one that I'll really only use to check ambient temperatures.

I still need to get a background for the tank, as well as a terrarium hood to place either an LED or a flourescent or full spectrum light in it, mostly for display purposes since I know bps don't require it and are nocturnal, and put that on an automatic day/night timer...does anyone have good recommendations for these items? I also still need a hygrometer.. I plan to get one from the accurite website, but not sure which one is decent and which one isn't, is there a model that any of you recommend? Also, about my decoration supplies, it's probably best for me to disinfect them before placing them into the enclosure, right? Such as putting the grapevine branch into the oven and/or using a bleach solution for the other things? And one last thing, I'm trying to find an aquarium stand to put the terrarium on, but most of them seem to be pretty short, even counting the height of the terrarium. I'm 5'11" so I'd rather avoid hunching down too much every time I try to clean or change the water.

Anyways, sorry this is so long;; I just want to be really thorough and careful to make sure the bp is as secure and healthy as possible whenever it arrives!