>>Thanks for all the tips. As far as feeding I plan on placing him in a different container for 3 reasons: 1. So that he dosen't ingest the sand 2. so he dosen't associate the opening of the cage with feeding time and 3.Because I have found with my rat snakes they find the food easier in a smaller container.

When it comes to keeping the humidity up, I'm going to buy a Hydrometer (SP?) to measure the humidity and try to keep it within the right humidity and if I can't I will try other substates. (The right humidityis around 60%, right?) I will defenetly look into the reptibark and carpet.I may end up trying many different types substrates untill I find the one I like best.I don't plan on buying the snake untill I have sucssefully mantained the encloser at the correct requriments, Therefore I will have plenty room for trial and error.
>Thank you everyone for your suggestions, I greatly appreciate them.