Show us your BP's cage setup

[Kaorte]

I noticed since I've moved the water bowl to the middle he's grown fond of laying in it. It's the first night I've seen it do this. Does that mean anything?

Might just be because you moved it.

I would really think about getting different hides, and two identical ones. Those exo terra rock caves work really well.

I would also ditch the cage liner and replace it with paper towels, newspaper, or aspen.

[Zach]

Here's my 20 gallon and its occupant.







-Andrea

::edit:: doh, please excuse the extra "scenery" in that one pic XD

love the "scenery"..... if its what i think it is LOL

[adam_degel]

as soon as i learn to post pictures!

[vjb]

Hi, second post here. I just posted on the Intro thread. Long story short, I'm new to BP's and have a 20 month old male I just brought home a few days ago.

I took a picture of my setup to see if anyone had any suggestions. The 30 wide tank, a water bowl, a log hide were included with the BP. I also bought a bunch of other things for his cage, including a ZooMed UTH (installed to the left in the picture under a "cave" hide).
Its a 30 wide tank. The bottom of the cage is lined with Eco Carpet and Forest Bark on top.
I added the Eco Carpet because the UTH was waayyyyy too hot, like 120 degrees, even on a Rheostat turned all the way down.
I searched high and low and found a Zila thermostat locally so the hot hide is now mid 90's.
The hide on the right side is the cool hide and is mid to upper 70's. The tank light was included in the package deal with the snake but I haven't been using it.
I have a towel over the mesh top to help with the humidity and its about 50-60 rH now, with misting.
To the far right out of the photo is a thermometer with the lead going under the cold hide. It reads 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Kaorte]

I would get another cave hide and get rid of hte log hide. If you are using a thermostat you shouldn't need the carpet lining.

Other then that it looks pretty good!

[thegoalie22]

Ok vjb, the first thing is get rid of the half log hide ASAP. They are really not good for BP's. Thats odd about the rhetostat. I bought mine for like 10 bucks at Walmart and at about one third power under newspaper substrate, it keeps it about 91-94 degrees. The best thing to use for hides in my opinions are colored plastic bowls you find at the dollar store. Actually on I think page 3 of this thread, someone uses the exact ones I use. They are blue 44 ounce bowls. You will need to modify what size you get to how big your bp is though. For example, I would reccomend those bowls as hides for a 1000-1500 gram snake, but mine is 800-900 and growing FAST, so I decided they would work because the next size down of bowl would be way to small. I would get 3 of those hides, one for over the heat pad, one for the opposite side of the tank, and one moist hide filled with schpagnum moss( it should look like moss, NOT dirt) that goes somewhere in the middle. You probably will want to use the heat lamp to keep the cool side temp and the ambient temp in the 80-85 degree range. Use a 75 or 100 watt, depending on your house temp, NIGHT bulb so it can be kept on all the time. Humidity will be a concern, so cover about half of the screen top with plastic wrap and mist as needed. Misters can be aquired from Home depot or lowes for a few bucks. Finally, you should get an Accurite Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer Hygrometer. They are about 10-15 dollars at Walmart. You apparently already have a thermometer, but if it was made by any reptile company(Zoo Med, Zilla, Exo Terra, etc.) it is junk

Wew Long post!

[vjb]

I would get another cave hide and get rid of hte log hide. If you are using a thermostat you shouldn't need the carpet lining.

Other then that it looks pretty good!

Why are log hides not desirable? Is there not enough "privacy"?

[SnakeGirl3]

Why are log hides not desirable? Is there not enough "privacy"?

Exactly. They are too open for most BPs to use them. Ball pythons like small, tight, enclosed hides, and the 2 open ends on the log generally aren't private enough for them.

[Denial]

I keep all my Balls in racks now. I choose not to give my balls hides. The only snakes I have that get hides are my venomous. When Mine want to hide they go under there paper.

Here is a pic of what my balls use to be housed in

[vjb]

Exactly. They are too open for most BPs to use them. Ball pythons like small, tight, enclosed hides, and the 2 open ends on the log generally aren't private enough for them.

Thanks. Nice website you have BTW.