New snake owner

[Boomerang]

Howdy, wanted a Ball since I was about 16; I'm 34 now and picked up my first snake yesterday.
I was carousing Craigslist and when I saw her (I've seen hundreds,) I knew something was just right and I went and bought her from CK Reptiles in Woodinville, WA for $100.00

2 month old Spider Ball. I bought the cage a few hours before looking at her, got it set up and picked her up.

[Albert Clark]

Welcome to the bp club. That spider looks hot, congrats. I see you have the uth on the side of the enclosure. Do you also have one on the bottom of the tank also? Make sure they are regulated by a thermostat. Which side is the cool side? Watch your temperatures! That set up does look very clean but you will have to tweak a few things. Humidity? Peace.

[Boomerang]

The heat pad, per instructions recommended size mounting if you don't have a stand to allow full airflow underneath. I wasn't sure, but it's keeping the cool side of the tank at about 78 degrees and the hot side runs about 90 degrees.
The pad is heating the glass and the glass is keeping a steady temp. I do not have one on the bottom.

Yes, i need to go grab a humidity gauge today. In Seattle, especially in winter humidity is up so I'm not overly worried, but I will get the gauge of course to be sire. a misting bottle will be helpful.

I also plan to toss more branches for climbing. She took well to the new cage, I watched her last night exploring. Head wobble is very minimal.

What other recommendations do you have? Is a bottom pad heater a must?

Also I have the daylight lamp on a timer. How do I go about setting up the heaters on a thermostat?

[Lizardlicks]

Welcome fellow Washingtonian! To answer a couple questions:

Bottom heat isn't 100% necessary, but ball pythons do benefit from it more than side or top heat. They're ground/borrow dwelling in nature, and they like to sit on the heat after a big meal to help boost their metabolism and digest faster. When you go to get a hygrometer, get a digital one rather than one of those stick on dial ones. They're known for being terribly inaccurate. An Accurite digital thermometer/hygrometer combo like the ones they sell at Walmart work well and are pretty inexpensive.

The "how to set up a tank" thread is sticked in the bp husbandry section, and can give you a step-by-step set up process for glass tanks, including where to put the heat pad and how to hook it up to a thermostat (they're plug and play so no worries). One that thing you might want to consider is ditching the log hide (they're open ended and some snakes don't find they offer enough security) and get two plastic ones, one for the cool side and one for the warm.

[Reinz]

Welcome to the forum Boomerang.

That was smart how you covered up the end of the hide and made the entrance smaller as well as blocking off the other end.

[shaneswife828]

I use a log hide but what I did was put moist sphagnum moss on the back side against the glass to give it a nice secure feeling. So that's always an idea if you don't want to ditch the log hides.

[Boomerang]

Thanks, yeah I used industrial staples and extra reptile felt I had left over from cutting the bottom out. Staples a chunk and then cut around it; cut a hole about her size.
She came out last night and it was awesome, I finally got to see her whole body, both sides and she looks very healthy.

Humidity - I bought one of the "analog" type and it says about 55%. I'll get a digital and see how close it is.

Our power went out today about 4PM.
Big rain storm and some wind.
I jumped in the car and went the 3 blocks tot he grocery store. Closed.
Went next city over and got a bunch of hand warmers for camping and a water bottle for heated water.
got Home and power was back on

[Lizardlicks]

Thanks, yeah I used industrial staples and extra reptile felt I had left over from cutting the bottom out. Staples a chunk and then cut around it; cut a hole about her size.
She came out last night and it was awesome, I finally got to see her whole body, both sides and she looks very healthy.

Humidity - I bought one of the "analog" type and it says about 55%. I'll get a digital and see how close it is.

Our power went out today about 4PM.
Big rain storm and some wind.
I jumped in the car and went the 3 blocks tot he grocery store. Closed.
Went next city over and got a bunch of hand warmers for camping and a water bottle for heated water.
got Home and power was back on

Careful with the hand warmers, they get much warmer than the shipping warmers they use to keep reptiles warm in transit. If power outages in cold weather are a thing in your area, then def order a good supply of shipping warmers.

[KMG]

UTHs do nothing to heat the air so how you have it mounted is not serving any purpose at the moment. I would unplug it. Get a good tstat and then move it to the bottom where your ball can really use it.

Your tank looks pretty good but I would recommend lowering the gauges a bit since you want to know the temps near the snake. I would remount them about an inch from the tank floor.

Also it is best to have two hides, one cool, and one warm. Its good you made the half log more suited for the needs of a ball, just make another.

One last thing. Its a pretty safe bet that you are going to have low humidity with how the tank is set up now. Get some moss and add it to both hides. This will add more security to the hides and provide the snake with the humidity it needs.



If/when you remove the uth from the side do it slow and with as little bending as possible. If you break the heating elements inside it will not work correctly. Once you have it off stick foil to the stick side. This will allow you to remove it easily when moving the tank, upgrading, or cleaning. You can use any good tape to secure it to the tank bottom once the foil has been added.

[Boomerang]

I moved the UTH from the side to the bottom and my internal tank temp went down about 3 degrees.

It was warming the glass and thus providing a little heat convection inside.

Anyways.. tonight i'm stopping into the pet shop to see about a frozen rat fuzzy. I hope she takes it, breeder said she's slower to strike dead animals, but eats live pretty well. We'll see!

humidity was between 50 and 60% by looking at the cheap zoomed analog gauge... i got rid of the reptile carpet and put in Aspen shavings and it went down to 40%. I've been misting, but yep, not adequate so i'll try the moss idea.