New owner, a few questions.

[syrcaid]

I just got a ball python yesterday, it's young--though I don't have an exact age(probably 4-6 months) or gender(from petsmart). I had a california kingsnake many years ago and it was great--though I understand ball pythons are a bit different.

It's 2.5 feet long. I have it in a 20 gallon L aquarium. I have a light on during the day which gets the temp to about 95 degrees F directly under the light. I know that they like humidity and to be able to sit in their water dish so I have a very large water dish in the tank. Should I also have one of those blue or red lights on at night for heat or is it ok to let the temp fall to room temp(maybe 70 F).

When should I offer it a dead mouse? I have a seperate enclosure ready for when I'm going to feed it. I don't know when it last ate, so I'm not sure.

[tina_t]

congratulations on your new snake!

first, i would say look into getting an under tank heater, heat bulbs are a disaster for ball pythons usually--they suck the humidity out of the air in a big way-- usually resulting in bad sheds and other issues because of the lack of humidity.

maybe you could post pictures of your setup too, as that helps others to identify your areas where you might have difficulty. have you checked out the links at the top of the general husbandry page for setting up a glass tank?

as far as feeding, most people have better success getting ball pythons to eat by feeding in their enclosures... this won't make your snake 'cage aggressive', but you will likely have an easier time getting them to eat if they are in familiar and safe surroundings.

let the snake settle in for a week without handling or bugging him, (this is the hardest part-- but it pays off) and then try offering a thawed out mouse, fully thawed and nice and warm.

[Kaorte]

:Welcome:!!! You have come to the right place for everything you need to know about keeping ball pythons

Ditch the heat lamp. It will only make your life miserable when it comes to keeping humidity up. What are you using to measure temps? If you are using those stick on dial gauges, then you are not getting an accurate reading. You need a digital thermometer with a probe to get a correct temperature reading.

Instead of a lamp, Use a UTH. The catch with a UTH is that you need to use it with a reptile thermostat. The reptitemp 500r is a great inexpensive thermostat that is pretty reliable and won't cause temp spikes. You probably won't be able to find one in a store so you will have to order it online.

You didn't mention anything about hides but these are the most important things in a ball pythons tank. You need two identical tight fitting hides. One for the cool side and one for the hot side. The half log hides won't cut it. Look into the "rock cave" hides or something similar. I use opaque plastic bowls with a hole cut out. Works perfectly.

Ball pythons aren't the soaking type, therefore a huge water dish is really not necessary. If the snake is soaking that probably means there is a husbandry issue.

As the person above said, feeding in a separate enclosure is really unnecessary. Wait a week from the day you got the snake before handling it or offering food. When the snake eats, do not handle it for 2 days so it can digest its food properly.

Hope this helps!

[syrcaid]

Ok, I got the undertank heater and the digital thermometer w/probe. Where should the probe be? Near the substrate or the top?

[McRiddalin]

I Have a new ball python and I have a heat lamp and with a humidity box I find it works pretty well and I ahve a hide it rarely uses it just burrows under the dish being a new owner I can not give a lot of advice and if there are any other tips to improve my care I am really open to hearing them

[seeya205]

I Have a new ball python and I have a heat lamp and with a humidity box I find it works pretty well and I ahve a hide it rarely uses it just burrows under the dish being a new owner I can not give a lot of advice and if there are any other tips to improve my care I am really open to hearing them

You need two hides one on the cool side (80-84 degrees) and one on the warm side (90-94 degrees). You should also go with a under tank heater controled by a thermostat or dimmer. The temp should never go below 75 degrees! Digital thermometers and hydgrometers should only be used for accurite readings. Also the sides and back should be covered so the ball python feels more secure! You should feed live for the first few feedings to get it to eat for you then you can feed frozen. Make sure with frozen that they are thawed and heated properly! Good luck!

[Kaorte]

Ok, I got the undertank heater and the digital thermometer w/probe. Where should the probe be? Near the substrate or the top?

Stick the probe under the substrate right over the undertank heater. You want to measure the hottest point the snake can get to so you can keep it from going above 95*F.

I Have a new ball python and I have a heat lamp and with a humidity box I find it works pretty well and I ahve a hide it rarely uses it just burrows under the dish being a new owner I can not give a lot of advice and if there are any other tips to improve my care I am really open to hearing them

If you want help with your husbandry, you will get a lot more replies if you make your own thread