My first snake

[Vinny 4]

I was told buy my local fish store employee that i wasted my money with the heat pad, and that for balls i really should just use a heat lamp only, wont that dry my tank out, and arent balls better with belly heat? Just got confused

The employees at local pet stores rarely know anything. I went into a petco last week and saw a baby BP in basically an arboreal snake setup in a high glass tank w a heat lamp and no hides at all just a branch. I asked if it had belly heat and he said no, we put the lamp and after a while he only likes to stay on the branch under the lamp. I then suggested to the worker that they should add a hide so he's not so stressed out and maybe a UTH. He just said "oh, nah, he's good he likes it setup like that".. It pissed me off so much, I was going to just rescue it and buy it, but they wanted $100 for a normal BP

[serpent fan]

How is he 1 1/2 yrs old, and a baby? Seems pretty small for that old... that would be my first question to the seller.

Maybei misunderstood him. How long should he be at 1 1/2years old? Also he is for sure a male

[serpent fan]

My hygrometer is in, and humidity is reading 66 and rising.
I still have a my therm. Humidity guage coming, but figured doubling up on humidity readings as well as temp. Would be a good safe guard against the nicer ones messn up.
Now im literally just waiting...the worst part of it all lol

[serpent fan]

So weve leveled off at about 85 ish
Im currently running the zoomed uth with no therm/rheostat.
The reason is simple
Making sure it works, getting a feel of its ability, wanted to see what the humidity would//be like
And its leveld off at 98f after 45 min. (Ill deff be using ther/ and rheostat for temp control, so dont worry guys, just wanted to see somthing happen, as im giddy like a school girl right now...

[The Serpent Merchant]

Maybei misunderstood him. How long should he be at 1 1/2years old? Also he is for sure a male

Well most are about 15" when that hatch. by 6-8 months they are around 3 feet (but they all grow at their own rate. I am just going by what I have seen with mine)

It is possible for a BP to be 22" at 1 1/2 years age but there usually are feeding issues (past or present) that have slowed growth down. I would ask for clarification on his age.

[serpent fan]

The age is just under a year actually, and he was "eyeing it out" lol
Hes guna get home and measure for me

[serpent fan]

Well he just did the measure, 22in., just under a year old. Should i be concerned? He said the snake eats well and sheds well...
Now im nervous

[serpent fan]

Hmm apparently he "will" eat frozen, but hes currently on live :/
Oh well, the store down the street has feeders for 2bucks, so i guess ill have to do a supervised feeding. Maybe ill try to switch him over after a couple feedings and him becoming used to new home.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Nothing to be concerned about. some will readily switch to Frozen so at least give it a shot first.

You might have a slow grower on you hands no big deal. As long as he looks healthy (which from the picture he doesn't look blatantly unhealthy but hard to tell from that shot) You will be fine. Your still much better off than getting one from the pet store that has been neglected.

[warlord]

if hes gonna do a feeding demo 4 you and your thermostat isnt in on time just go ahead and have him show you the snake eating...if u get the thermostat in time i would go there acting like you still want the guy to feed him and when you get there you can just tell him to skip it and take him home than if u want

if hes willing to do it thinking you still want him to hes probably not lying to yah