Okay. A bit of an intro since i'm new here. So, this is only the second reptile I've ever owned.
Taken care of injured wild lizards before but this is my second snake.
First was a baby corn snake that didn't know how to swallow her pinkies, she tried to eat them sideways.
Hubby was in the military at the time so we found her a home with someone more knowledgeable at the time, and I have been researching what i can in general in between rescue.
when we were living on acreage we put ourselves into rescuing wolfdogs.
Landlord was unreasonably terrified of snakes like murdered innocent garters.
Longstory short, we're in a big city now, in an apartment.
a HS friend got a ball python for her BF aprox a month ago.

I've named her Maisie for reasons.
PO(previous owner) caught them posting on a swipswap not even a month after getting her.
so i responded "awe why are you saying goodbye already?"
PO's excuse. they're too depressed to handle her daily.
blahblahblah they agreed to payments

I now have a snake of unknown age.
is aprox 50inches or longer
And weighs 1828grams appears otherwise healthy.
Has previously been fed 1 medium rat a month LIVE,.
ONLY heat source has been a cheap halogen 50watt bulb. And in an obviously too small 20gal long.

She now has an undertank heating pad for now.
And will get an upgrade in two weeks when I get paid again.


What I need.
She's not horribly underweight but she's not round, and her sides are soft and squishy almost.
Healthy ballpythons i've handled at breeders were round and firm.
I am not going to risk feeding LIVE
So I need some methods to transition her from LIVE.

then, how necessary is a separate feeding tank? because one has NOT been used previously.
also what does the feeding area need to be made of?
does it need to be another glass tank?
or can I use a storage bin?

What is the ideal sized tank? What brand is a good but affordable option?


I'm thinking I'm going to start feeding her every other week. Maybe medium fresh dead rat?
then graduate to every week till she's healthy weight then back to every other week?

I just want her to be healthy and happy.
thank you for reading sorry it's so long.