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[Reptimom]

Hello all!
I do not currently have a BP, but I'm hoping in the near future I will get to welcome one home! But I am slightly confused, and want to hear from the experts. So here are my questions:
Heat: Lights or untertank heater?
UVB: I'm reading so far that I don't need one?
Tank Size: Full grown adult would need aprox what size?
Substrate: Would paper towels work, or do they like to dig? If so what is a safe bedding?
Temps: I've read 82-84 and 89-91 hot side, and night temps 74-76.
Hide: What all accessories? Hide on the warm side and large water bowl, but do they like basking branches or plants?

I think that's all I have for now, thank you all in advance!!

P.S. I hope I posted this in the right place.

[Ax01]

if you're gonna set-up a tank/vivarium, here's a helpful stickie thread on how to set one up and a lsit of stuff u need: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-With-Pictures!

Substrate is based on preference. u just have to do u make sure temps and humidity is appropriate for whatever u decide to use. want a natural looking set-up? if so, get shredded aspen, mulch or coco fiber. if basic, paper towel or newspaper will do.

tank size for an adult? a 40 gallon tank minimum. u can go larger if u plan to add alotta hides and decorations.

good luck, have fun, post pix.

[LittleTreeGuy]

Hello all!
I do not currently have a BP, but I'm hoping in the near future I will get to welcome one home! But I am slightly confused, and want to hear from the experts. So here are my questions:
Heat: Lights or untertank heater? Under tank heater and/or radiant heat panels (RHP) are the preferred and easiest. Heat lamps aren't real useful becuase the snakes need darkness at night, so that would mean turning off your heat source. Ceramic Heat Emitters (CHE) use a heat lamp type housing but just put off heat, no light. They get very hot and would need to be set up outside the tank like on a screen, or in a screened in enclosure inside the tank so the snake can't touch it. UTH or RHP's are much safer and simpler. Any heat source MUST be on a thermostat. The thermostat may be the single-most important part of your setup. You can get some for around $40... a good one will be around $100, but it's well worth the money. Thermostat is a must.

UVB: I'm reading so far that I don't need one? Nope

Tank Size: Full grown adult would need aprox what size? I reada while back, and adult bp needs 400-600 square inches of floor space. Males are a tad smaller, so they can get by with a slightly smaller or closer to the 400 sq inches. Females get larger, so would be on the opposite end. If you're talking tubs, a male adult can live in a 32quart, while a female may be better suited for a 41qt size. A 2'x2'x12" enclosure would be okay for a male and probably a female as well. 36"x24"x12" would be better, if possible for a female, in my opinion.

Substrate: Would paper towels work, or do they like to dig? If so what is a safe bedding? Paper towels are common, cheap, and easy. Some BP's may go under the paper towel, some won't. Some peole use Kraft indented paper which you can buy pre-cut or in rolls. Other people use repti-bark, aspen, and a variety of other things. Pine and Cedar are not safe. Some pine, if it's treated correctly is okay, but unless you know what to look for, it's easier to just say, stay away from Pine. Personally, I think paper towels are easy and a good starting substrate.

Temps: I've read 82-84 and 89-91 hot side, and night temps 74-76. Hot spot should be the 89-92 degrees. Cool side of the tank can be down to 80 or even mid 70's. Your ambient air temperatues should range from mid to upper 80's on the warm side to the low 80's or high 70's cooler side of the tank

Hide: What all accessories? Hide on the warm side and large water bowl, but do they like basking branches or plants? Two identical hides are preferred. One on the warm side, one on the cool side. If you keep two of the same kind of hides, the snake doesn't have to choose it's favorite hide over thermoregulating it's body temp. So, two identical hides, a waterbowl, and maybe some plastic plants/vines. make sure there are no protruding wires or rings on the stems/vines that could cut or harm your snake or that it could get stuck in. For hides, use reptile hides with open bottoms. Stay away from closed bottom stuff like you see for aquariums. Snakes can get stuck in those, then you have to break them to get them apart. You can put some limbs in there if you want. The more you put in, the more you have to clean. Something to think about.

Some other suggestions:

1. infrared temp gun. They are under $20 and are great for checking temps quickly.
2. Digital kitchen scale - good for weighing your snake and prey. (Under $20 at Walmart or Amazon)
3. Tongs or hemostats - for offering prey to your snake. (again, under $20)
4. Extra hides/water bowls - not a necessity, but I find it convienent on cleaning day to just swap stuff out, then clean it for later use.


I think that's all I have for now, thank you all in advance!!

P.S. I hope I posted this in the right place.

[Ax01]

keep in mind that BP's are not exactly display snakes. they sleep during the day and may come out at dusk or at night. they basically hide all the time. but when they do, it can be pretty neat.

So my girl Elphie surprised me when he first burrowed:


and she likes to climb:


every BP has a different personality and again, they like to hide. just keep that in mind when it might seem like u have an empty tank.

[Reptimom]

Ok wow thank you guys so much! Ax01 thank you for the reminder and the pictures, I will keep that in mind.

[Reptimom]

Sorry for posting twice, but I thought of another question. Where is the best place to buy food? I am planning on starting with a baby (again, this is still a ways in the future, I just want to be really prepared), so what would the best feeding schedule be? Thanks.

[Ax01]

Sorry for posting twice, but I thought of another question. Where is the best place to buy food? I am planning on starting with a baby (again, this is still a ways in the future, I just want to be really prepared), so what would the best feeding schedule be? Thanks.

it depends if u wanna feed live or pre-killed/frozen prey. if live, u gotta buy local. research a local breeder or pet store that carries live rodents. if u wanna feed frozen and thawed prey, u can buy these local. or u can buy them in bulk from online retailers like Rodent Pro, Rodent Plus, Big Cheese Rodent, etc. and they will ship them to your door on dry ice.

IMO feeding the BP at dusk or night when it's out of it's hide (or peeking out) is best. pick a day of the week to feed and u may adjust as u get to know your snake more. i.e. like when it's most active, feeding every 5 days vs. once a week, etc.

also if you're starting with a baby BP, it's best to start it in a 10-20 gallon tank if u are going the tank/vivarium route. move them up to the next size as it grows.

[scalypasta]

Until they reach about 500 grams, you'll want to feed them 10-15% of their body weight every 5-7 days.

i.e. my 4-month-old chocolate morph, Pretzel, is 128.6 grams. If I multiply that by 0.10 (for ten hundredths or ten parts of a hundred, a.k.a 10%) I get 12.86 grams. If I multiply 128.6 by 0.15, I get 19.29 grams. So Pretzel's diet at this size is a mouse weighing 13 to 19 grams, fed every 5 days.

Most websites will have a weight chart you can look at to determine what size you should buy once you know the numbers, and most in-person buys will be labeled by weight. If necessary, take your scale for weighing your snake with you to weigh the mice before you buy them. (Kitchen scales are a good choice, just make sure you look for one that goes up to 2,000 grams or higher).

As for the best place to buy food, that depends on if you are feeding live or frozen, and mice or rats. Since you said you're starting with a baby, I'll assume mice- rats are a little bigger so most people start with mice. If you feed live, you will have to watch the snake until the mouse is dead to prevent injury, and if for any reason the snake goes on a feeding strike, you'll have to find something to do with the mice he doesn't eat. Once they are switched to frozen, frozen is generally a lot easier to deal with- you can buy frozen mice online in packs of 50 if you like, and they can last months as long as they're never allowed to thaw. They will have started to decay (which means death smell and being unable to feed them to your snake) about 12 hours after they're thawed for the first time, and can be re-frozen exactly once if you're daring. If they're re-frozen before they start to smell and then thawed again, it's a 50/50 chance as to whether or not they'll be any good.

The downside to feeding frozen is that it can be extremely hard to switch them over. Some can be easy about it, it just depends on the snake- but Pretzel, for example, has absolutely no interest in frozen/thawed mice no matter what I do. If you want to feed frozen, I've heard rodentpro is a good place to buy. If you want to feed live, you'll need to find local pet stores/mouse breeders who will sell you mice as feeders. PetSmart will not sell their mice as feeders, and Petco is supposed to have a No Ask policy, but they don't always uphold that. You could always breed your own, but for one snake, it's not very cost-effective to do so, unless you just like having mice as pets too.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Something to keep in mind.... There are many people that have made some very nice setups with tanks, however in my experience if function is more important than aesthetics tubs are cheaper and easier to deal with. There are many threads that deal with proper setups for both methods.

[scalypasta]

Oh, also, the dial thermometers and hygrometers you buy in pet stores are not reliably accurate. Digital ones (such as anything by AcuRite, I've heard) work much better and only cost a few bucks more. Here's an example that costs $12 on Amazon. You will also need an infrared heat gun like this one, as well, because thermometers only measure ambient temperatures. Heat guns measure the temperature of a surface, so they're almost the only type of temperature measurement that works with under-tank heating mats, heat tape, and/or radiated heat panels.

You also will want to buy a thermostat marketed for use with reptiles. Heating mats etc do not measure their own temperature and WILL either not heat enough or burn your animal. The reason for specifically buying one marketed for use with reptiles is that other popular brands, like this one, do NOT have the failsafe function that reptile thermostats do.