Quote Originally Posted by bcr229 View Post
A UTH provides a hot spot. Did you have a thermostat regulating it and one regulating the heat lamp so your snake wouldn't overheat?

Mouse pinkies would be way too small, ball python hatchlings typically start on hoppers and by six or seven months old should be up to rat weanlings. That's likely the reason he wasn't defecating, he was way underfed.

Heat lamp + tank + no cover = crappy humidity and a dehydrated snake. You either need to make a cover for the tank or toss it and use a tub + UTH.

Bubbles sounds like an upper respiratory infection which can take hold when the environment is too dry.
No I only had a thermostat for the heat lamp. I only turned the UTH on a night to keep it warm when the heat lamp was off.
sorry for not being educated on this stuff, but what is a hopper? So if I were to get another, just get a frozen rat?
So getting something other than the "screen" lid that I have?