Beginner's husbandry mistakes

[CrystalRose]

Relying on advice from a local big box pet store, where I was told:
- A mouse pinkie is an adequate meal for a 100 gram BP
- All snakes have mites (well the ones in your store do!)
- You don't need a thermostat for a UTH because the snake will move if it gets too hot
- Tanks are fine for ball pythons
- The half-log wooden hides are fine for ball pythons
- Analog thermometers and hygrometers are plenty accurate
- Ball pythons can co-habitate just fine

I got told all the same things when I got my first BP back in the early 90s. I also got told that they didn't need hardly any humidity because they come from the desert in Africa. That it was normal for them to shed in pieces because of that. Oh and I also got told that play sand from the hardware store was a good substrate for them as well. Also got told they only need to be fed once every 3 weeks.

[shadowsnakes]

Oi, the memories...

1. Unregulated heat rock
2. Screen top with maybe 30% humidity max
3. Fed once a month
4. Always fed in a seperate container because BP's can get aggressive
5. No hide

All of this came from the "snake expert" at the local pet store. He also has a herp club meeting at the store every month. It lasted half a year and then he stopped because no one came back. Now I know why!

[dr del]

I think I made all of them.

Bought an assist feeder import from a store I shouldn't have. Tried aquarium gravel as a substrate with an unregulated heat mat inside the tank and a light bulb on a mesh topped tank ( guarded at least ) to provide the hot end. Housed multiple snakes in one huge viv (with a ceramic on a thermostat ) and not a thought of quarantine when I got more, knew nothing about humidity or accurate temps.

Joined here and got schooled - and it turned out to be the best thing ever for my snakes. Though I acted a bit butt-hurt at first.


dr del

[MorphMaster]

Use UTH thats unregulated! My lesser got a minor burn; you guys might remember that post. That was probably my biggest issue because I took someone's word for it. Not much of anything else yet but I'm breeding this year so Uh oh lol

[NH93]

With my corn I got a few months ago, I was only using a 50W day bulb for the warm side for about a month before getting a thermostat and UTH (luckily the tank was always hovering around 75F so she never had any regurges or anything).

[Shann]

Not a huge thing, but in my reading as I was preparing to get my boa, I kept reading on care sheets that you should always feed in a separate enclosure. So I did that for about a month. And now at over five feet there is no way I would want to move her in feeding mode. I'm definitely glad I feed in the cage now.

[CatandDiallo]

I tried cheaping out on a thermostat!

[blackonblack]

Ohh boy... I am sure I will lose a lot of respect for this one... But here goes.. When I was about 10 I had to have a green anole. In my science class we kept them and I just had to have my own. I begged my parents and they agreed and took me to a local petshop. My mother bought all the essentials. a 10 gallon lights substrate heaters all the jazz. Of course at 10 I assumed my mother was the end all expert at everything but sadly she was not... We brought 2 anoles home, my mom set up their cage. I was so proud of my very own anole terrarium! I invited my friend over to marvel at my new pets and we left for dinner shorty thereafter. When I got home I rushed in to my room to check out my kritters but they weren't too active.... A little too well done for my taste.... My mothers anole setup in hindsight was much more of an easy bake oven. Poor little guys. I had owned them for not even a few hours. I was so distraught it would take years to bring home another reptile and when I did my mother certainly did not provide husbandry advice.

[winglesshornet]

When I was 12, I caught a copperhead (I named Gary), sneaked it into my room and hid it in a plastic tub and stuck it in the closet. I didn't have a adequate heat source, or a hide, nor food (fed it fish out of my mom's aquarium). This went on for a couple weeks, and my mom spots me catching a fish out of her aquarium, follows me to my room and sees me feeding Gary....I tell you what, she was a very unhappy mommy, and them dreaded words "WAIT UNTIL YOUR DAD GETS HOME" has been spoken.

[Badgemash]

When I was 12, I caught a copperhead (I named Gary), sneaked it into my room and hid it in a plastic tub and stuck it in the closet.

Part of me says A for effort, because you clearly really wanted a snake. The other part of me is thinking, well you know...