Okay, I will buy a thermostat very soon. I am trying to bump up the humidity and will buy a better gauge as well. About the feeding, i fed him every 12 days because i thought that was the right thing, but i guess I've been starving the poor thing as well. I don't have a scale that would be accurate to grams. How often would you feed a snake about two feet long? Also, i had no idea there was a nutritional difference between rats and mice so i will try to switch over. To thaw the mice i leave them in the bag in room temperature water for a while, then i soak them in hot, but not boiling water for ten minutes out of the bag. Ill do some more research on the feeding.