first python (childrens).. suggestions possibly needed

[Marissa@MKmorphs]

I will chime in with some advice that seems to be the opposite of what everyone else is recommending!

I'm not an advocate of "natural" looking enclosures. More stuff in the enclosure means more stuff to sanitize. Typically naturalistic enclosures don't get cleaned as often or as thoroughly has they should, either.

My yearling Antaresia are currently in V-18 tubs, with small hide, paper towel tube, and water bowl. Even my "big" 300 gram female children's is not even in a 28qt/sub adult tub yet. I would also advise finding tubs with a tighter seal. Your little noodle is tiny and will very easily make his way out of that tub once he figures out how to reach the top.

Just my , everyone will have their own opinon of what works best for them. I have found that my guys do very well in their current set ups, never refuse meal, and are never defensive, even at 15-30 grams in weight.

[Clay]

i'm thinking of taking the Large hide out and putting the medium on the hot side instead.. should help free up a lot of room..
i do have a Large water dish i could use instead too, i just didn't have room..
also looking to switch out the toilet paper roll for a paper towel roll when it becomes available haha
then it sounds like all i'll have to do is figure out something for climbing, the tub fairly tall so i should be OK height wise..
i figured the little guy would probably find away out of the tub as the middle seems like he could be strong enough to wiggle the lid up and get between it to escape so i put a 2X4 board with a cement block shelf decoration on it to hold the lid down in the middle.. the rest of it is secure..
it's been 2 days since he's ate so i'm going to take him out today and check the bottom of the tank and make sure he's getting good belly heat as i have the UTH foil wrapped since i didn't want to chance any melting plus now the UTH is reusable

maybe once i take the Large hide out i'll snap another pic to show how much more space i have and i can get some suggestions for adding the larger water dish (or not) as well as figure out a climbing set up for him

i do really wanna keep the tub set up as i don't have a way of getting another glass tank nor do i really wanna do that set up as i'll have to go buy another heat bulb as well and the wife as cut me off at the moment so i'm on a budget

thanks for all the feedback so far

[Clay]

just a little update.. i removed the large hide checked the bottom of the tub (from inside) to see how the belly heat would be and it's barely anything?? i did have newspaper lining the bottom under the aspen chips in fear of the UTH getting to hot and burning him so i have removed that.. could it be the foil tape not letting the heat through?? that would be my guess why the tank temp is so low as well.. i have a thermostat hooked up to the UTH but i always thought u still had to foil tape it still??

[jclaiborne]

just a little update.. i removed the large hide checked the bottom of the tub (from inside) to see how the belly heat would be and it's barely anything?? i did have newspaper lining the bottom under the aspen chips in fear of the UTH getting to hot and burning him so i have removed that.. could it be the foil tape not letting the heat through?? that would be my guess why the tank temp is so low as well.. i have a thermostat hooked up to the UTH but i always thought u still had to foil tape it still??

The foil tape is to hold the mat to the tank. Are you using it as a barrier between the mat and the tub?

[Clay]

The foil tape is to hold the mat to the tank. Are you using it as a barrier between the mat and the tub?

yes i am lol.. i thought that's what you did to keep it from melting the tub incase the thermostat failed
i bought duct tape to hold it to the tub

now i'm not sure if i can remove it or not

[Clay]

just read 2 threads from here..

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...36-Foil-on-uth

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-the-heat-tape

looks like im going to try to get the tape off ASAP hopefully without wrecking the UTH

[jclaiborne]

yes i am lol.. i thought that's what you did to keep it from melting the tub incase the thermostat failed
i bought duct tape to hold it to the tub

now i'm not sure if i can remove it or not

The aluminum tape should peel off pretty easy. You are going to have to take everything out and make sure you get all the sticky off. before you put it back down. Then use the aluminum tape to tape the mat around the edges to the bin. When you flip it back over put some sort of spacer on the 4 corners of the tub so some air gets in under the mat. Some mats come with little rubber feet, but you can use anything that is around the same thickness, quarters, etc.

[Clay]

The aluminum tape should peel off pretty easy. You are going to have to take everything out and make sure you get all the sticky off. before you put it back down. Then use the aluminum tape to tape the mat around the edges to the bin. When you flip it back over put some sort of spacer on the 4 corners of the tub so some air gets in under the mat. Some mats come with little rubber feet, but you can use anything that is around the same thickness, quarters, etc.

ur right the foil tape is coming off easy but the UTH is a zoomed UTH so it has the sticky side already and is still pretty sticky at this point.. i did have little feet on the bottom but took them off cuz i thought the tub wasn't sitting flat so the UTH was sitting nicely on the bottom of the tub
i'll have to see if i can reuse those too
not sure how to get the sticky crap off the UTH tho?

[jclaiborne]

ur right the foil tape is coming off easy but the UTH is a zoomed UTH so it has the sticky side already and is still pretty sticky at this point.. i did have little feet on the bottom but took them off cuz i thought the tub wasn't sitting flat so the UTH was sitting nicely on the bottom of the tub
i'll have to see if i can reuse those too
not sure how to get the sticky crap off the UTH tho?

To be honest, I have never had luck re-using a zoo med mat. I know some have been able to peel it very carefully then move it to another enclosure and re-use the adhesive on the mat in conjunction with the aluminum tape. Give it a try, I always ended up damaging mine, which is why I don't use them anymore.

[Clay]

To be honest, I have never had luck re-using a zoo med mat. I know some have been able to peel it very carefully then move it to another enclosure and re-use the adhesive on the mat in conjunction with the aluminum tape. Give it a try, I always ended up damaging mine, which is why I don't use them anymore.

ya i will just go flexwatt next time and not worry about reusing it.. hopefully the t-stat will keep it from melting the tank than..
i couldn't save the rubber feet i had so i'll have to grab another pack later..

thanks for the advice.. totally makes sense now that the tub was not heating up.. going to put the UTH on now and use the foil tape to tape it to the tub this time.. should i bother with the newspaper below the aspen.. don't wanna restrict any heat but don't want the little guy to burn his self either