first python (childrens).. suggestions possibly needed

[jclaiborne]

curious about the "naturalistic enclosure" since i'm new what is the best way to achieve this.. glass tank or a custom built, can it be done with a tub, mine is one of the bigger tubs height wise, i could maybe look for one that's a little longer in length.. as for glass tanks i have a super hard time heating them, i know you can cover the top half and most do around the sides and back but i like to handle my pets so i don't want a lid i have to fight with to get him out.. my beardy tank has no lid and is a 110 gal glass tank and i had to change up my lighting/heating situation like 3-4 times to get it near right, the cost got pretty pricey figuring it out.. i don't wanna seem cheap but i figured if you buy the right stuff which was suprisly not much the tub would be the cheaper option to go and the snake would still be fine.. i also don't wanna look like the guy who can't afford his pet cuz i've had my beardy 7 yrs now and he's big, healthy and still going strong.. i would rather have natural set up however but i'm not super handy and don't have a ton of free money to throw into the set up plus i live in Canada so we don't have a lot of the less pricey options for DIY..

as an update after my noob mistake with the UTH my tubs ambient temps have went up to 76-77.5 from 73-74.5 but strangely after putting in the bigger water dish my humidity has dropped from 50% to 30% which makes no sense to me but it could be that lid was off for a bit today while i had him out, not really sure? will have to check again tomorrow

keep the feedback rolling, i need input input and information like Johnny 5 haha sorry

Seconding what Skip said research the snake, and its natural habitat. IMO you can achieve a naturalistic setup in either glass or "custom built", I prefer to use PVC enclosures because they hold heat better than glass. That being as you can see from the pictures in the other thread my snake is currently in a glass tank. I had it laying around and it was big enough to house him for a little bit while I finish my other builds. What I personally like about doing the naturalistic setup is that it is a constant evolution. You try different things out until you find what works, the more you learn the more little tweaks you make. While the setups may take more time to clean, since this is your only snake I doubt that would be a big deal. With my 4 lizards and 1 snake all in "natural" type setups I spend about half a day cleaning once a week, Bio-active substrate helps quite a bit with it. I have yet to actually make the substrate in my snakes enclosure Bio-Active, but plan to eventually. I know my current setup isn't perfect, but like I said the more I learn about each animal the more I can dial it in, and that is what I personally enjoy.

There is nothing wrong with Marissa's setups either, like she said her snakes are all healthy and thriving. That being said I don't have a large collection like she does and that lets me focus more time on the animals I have. Keep your tub for now. Make little tweaks here and there, find out what works for you and what doesn't, give the worm some time to grow, and in the meantime start doing some research and save up for the enclosure you want to have down the road.

I will say on my end I noticed a drastic change in all my reptiles behaviors as I started modifying their setups. They became more active, my lizards started burrowing, the python started climbing, hanging from above and drinking water, exploring more, etc. Here are a few links for just some general reading. You have gotten good advice from everyone so far so just build on it.

http://www.australianaddiction.com/C...ensPython.html (link to a good book on them)

http://www.varanustalk.com/forum/index.php?pageid=Dirt (bio-active soil)