My first vivarium questions

[grantlapaz]

Hi everyone. I'm getting my first snake (bp) within the next couple days, and the man that was helping me with all that I need for my setup reccomended two different beddings:





I have a 40 gal tank, and for the life of me dont know why I/he thought only these two would be enough. Am I missing something? will this work for a 40 gal? and how should I mix these two? Thanks for reading

[anicatgirl]

Is it an adult? Cause a 40 is huuuuge for a baby. And the bedding does not need to be horribly deep. If I may ask, just to double check, what all did he have you get for this setup?

[Jhill001]

Just a reminder to an obvious newcomer. You will hear many different people with many different opinions on how to best raise ball pythons. There are many obviously incorrect ways (IE letting them roam your home and other things). And then there is some wiggle room in terms of personal preference.

Just some things I could see you having issues with:

This is a rather large tank. With a larger tank you are going to want to make sure that you purchase the appropriate heating elements in order to maintain a proper temperature within the tank. You want ambient to be around 80-84 degrees if I'm not mistaken.

You'll want a thermostat so that the heating element doesn't get too hot and burn your snake.

If you are going to be keeping a baby snake in a large aquarium like this you are going to need to make a trip to the local pet store. Two small hides and a water bowl isn't going to cut it in terms of the snakes need for security in a large open space like that.
You are going to want something like this: http://www.petsmart.com/reptile/habi...ar_id=36-15116 to spread all over the cage so that the snake rarely has to come out of hiding when moving around the vivarium. This ensures that the snake won't be too scared to go drink water and things like that. I'd also place hides (cork bark, little half logs, those fake rock ones) all over the cage.

You are going to need clips to keep the lid on unless its a sliding screen lid specifically made for snakes. I'd suggest getting 4 sets of two. So you can have two clips per side of the terrarium.

The depth of the substrate is going to effect what kind of heating that you'll likely need. If you have a rather large heat pad that will cover half off the bottom of the tank I would think that you could have 2 inches or so of that type of substrate. If you are able to fenangle a way to heat the aquarium from the back to raise temperatures of the whole enclosure than it wouldn't matter what depth your substrate is at but this is a bit advanced at the moment.

Some people will say your snake needs to be on paper towels or whatever because of impaction risks (snake eats a bunch of substrate and it blocks their gut). However if you feed your ball python on top of a flat rock or something and your snake is well hydrated I'd say you are OK. Thinking about it, if it doesn't raise your humidity too much I wouldn't be against placing multiple water dishes in the enclosure as well. You want humidity around 50-70%. So decently humid and most likely more humid than your home.

Finally, if you notice your snake isn't eating or seems unhealthy its probably because it feels too insecure in its new home. I would have a small tub ready with a hide, paper towels and water dish ready to keep your python in. You can then figure out how to position the small tub WITHIN the terrarium so that the conditions within the tub are optimal that way you can move the snake to the tub if any sort of issues arise.

Most importantly you have to have your temps stable and constant by the time your snake gets to you.

When your snake arrives keep handling to a minimum. I usually don't try and handle new reptiles other than moving them to their new digs until they've taken two feeds in my care at least.

Always change the water at least daily, at worst every other day.

[The Golem]

I use coconut husk chip so suggest the coco soft. Put down about 1-2" of the stuff, it will compress a bit when it dries out.
If you're going to use both, just pour some of each in the terrarium and mix them by hand.

Recently cleaned the enclosure and took a pic:



Warm side hide on left with UTH controlled by VE-300 thermostat, 'cool' side hide and water bowl on right, some foliage and wood at back and sides. Plastic 'background' on outside of the tank.



On top there's a couple of lamps (regular + red) because my place gets cold in winter, and Reflectix bubble wrap; plain old aluminum foil can also be used to keep in humidity.

[KMG]

If you are making a true vivarium You may need more than what you have but that will depend on your desired look. There is a difference between a vivarium and a cage. Are you really making a vivarium?

Im more of a natural keeper and have real plants in a few of my cages. Because of this I need a deep substrate to keep them in place. Everywhere in the cages is deep expect right over the uth it takes a good dive and is thin as it should be.

I used to use cypress by itself but I didn't really like that look. I started mixing cypress, Eco Earth, and ReptiBark together for a more natural look. I have a large tub that I pour a bit of each in and mix. I then add what I need to it until I have my desired look.

As for the 40gal it is large but it can be a great home especially if you are making a true vivarium and not just a cage. Having plants, logs, hides, moss, water, etc will create plenty of cover and concealment for the snake. This is how I raised my BP so I know it can work. I have never had an issue with mine and she rarely refuses a meal.