Wondering if my cage is good enough for a BP.

[rabernet]

Ball pythons really need belly heat to aid in digestion, so you need to get a thermostat and a UTH. I'd get rid of the lamp, because that sucks humidity out of the enclosure. And get a digital thermometer/hygrometer and replace the analog. Get a second hide. The water dish doesn't need to be any bigger - it looks plenty big to allow him to get a drink of water.

For what it's worth, I do not cool my snakes for breeding season.

[vangarret2000]

Ball pythons really need belly heat to aid in digestion, so you need to get a thermostat and a UTH. I'd get rid of the lamp, because that sucks humidity out of the enclosure. And get a digital thermometer/hygrometer and replace the analog. Get a second hide. The water dish doesn't need to be any bigger - it looks plenty big to allow him to get a drink of water.

For what it's worth, I do not cool my snakes for breeding season.

I agree, you need to ditch the lamp and get a UTH with a thermostat or rheostat. Balls need to get proper belly heat whcih you will get with a UTH. Lamps provide back heat.

[DustinB]

Before you try breeding you really need to read every sticky on this site and get all the info you can. If you can't properly care for a BP you are not ready to breed for a while.

You must have constant temperatures in the low 80's on the cool side and low 90's on the warm side. If I remember correctly, the temperature drop at night is to signal the BP that it's fall/breeding season. You shouldn't be trying that unless you are fully ready to breed, you may get it wrong and run the risk of the snake getting sick.

Please don't breed any snakes until you do alot more research and know all of this by heart. Alot can go wrong, even for experienced people, but at least they have experience on how to handle those problems.

[guambomb832]

even though I don't plan on breeding my ball python, and I am probably not because my mom thinks I have too much pets(only 2), I still like to give them a day/night temp drop because thats natural. It always gets cooler at night then during the day so my snake should experience it too. It doesn't look like he has any ill effects from it though.

[Kaorte]

even though I don't plan on breeding my ball python, and I am probably not because my mom thinks I have too much pets(only 2), I still like to give them a day/night temp drop because thats natural. It always gets cooler at night then during the day so my snake should experience it too. It doesn't look like he has any ill effects from it though.

Not really. Ball pythons live in termite mounds which actually hold heat pretty well throughout the night. I am not saying there isn't any drop, but it isn't significant.

That being said, they are not in the wild so you shouldn't try to replicate what it is like for them to be in the wild. Constant temps is what they need.

To the OP: I wouldn't even consider breeding until you determine that both of your snakes are healthy and of age/size to breed. You need to get your husbandry sorted out because there are some obvious flaws. You need to learn all you can and get ready for eggs. This includes getting proper equipment, an incubator, places for the babies to live until you can (hopefully) find them new homes.

[vangarret2000]

Before you try breeding you really need to read every sticky on this site and get all the info you can. If you can't properly care for a BP you are not ready to breed for a while.

Please don't breed any snakes until you do alot more research and know all of this by heart. Alot can go wrong, even for experienced people, but at least they have experience on how to handle those problems.

From reading your posts IMHO I also feel that you are not ready to breed. If you are still learning basics like proper cage setup breeding is far from what you should be doing. I am not saying never do it but you still need more experience/knowledge before you get into it. I also ask please don't try breeding until you have done a lot more research and have more experience.

[rabernet]

even though I don't plan on breeding my ball python, and I am probably not because my mom thinks I have too much pets(only 2), I still like to give them a day/night temp drop because thats natural. It always gets cooler at night then during the day so my snake should experience it too. It doesn't look like he has any ill effects from it though.

Actually there's not really much of a change in temps deep inside the rodent burrows and termite mounds that they live in naturally. If you want to provide as close to "nature" as you can in captivity, you would keep the temps consistent.