14 yo newbie here with a shopping list and some questions :))

[Neal]

hey!! i'm a newbie to snake owning and this forum but i've read a lot of threads here and everyone seems so informed and nice! anyways my parents agreed to getting me a baby ball python (not sure what morph yet) for my 15th birthday which is super exciting since i've been wanting one for so long. i'm getting him/her in 2 months!! i've been doing a lot of research and shopping to prepare and i was wondering if you guys could help look through the products i want to buy and answer a few questions? *i apologize for the length of this in advance lolol


Shopping List
$40.99 - 10 gal. Grreat Choice Terrarium - 20x10x12 in.
$13.99 - 24 QT Zoo Med Aspen Bedding$19.99 - 11 x 11 In. Ultratherm UTH
$10.98 - 2 Exo Terra Reptile Caves - Medium - 9x6x2.5 in.
$11.32 - 2? Exo Terra Water Dishes - Medium - 3.75x5x1.5 in.
$28.23 - Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat
~$20 - 2 AcuRite Digital Humidity and Temperature Monitors
$9.99 - Exo Terra Reptile Terrarium Background
$7.99 - Underground Reptiles Frozen Hopper Mice - 10 Pack


Possible/Future Things to Buy:
$6.99 - 50 Watt Exo Terra Heat Glo Infrared Spot Lamp, 120 Volt
$12.20 - Zilla Premium Reflector Dome
$2.45 - 2 cu. ft. Cypress Mulch


^^ does this seem okay?


Questions:
I really don't wanna mess up my first time owning a snake so I have a lot of questions sorry! ^^;
- i read on a stickied post that i should feed hoppers for the first 3-5 meals. 10 frozen hoppers is the lowest bulk quantity i can find so would it be okay to feed my snake hoppers for 10 meals? i just don't want to waste them...
- should i get a 2nd water bowl? i see some people have one on the warm side and one on the cool side, but other people just have one.
- could i just have 2 temp/humidity monitors in the tank or should i have probes?
- so i know that my bp needs privacy so i plan on covering the back of the tank with the exo terra background and covering the 2 adjacent sides with like black paper or something. is that sufficient enough for it?
- how long would i be able to use the 10 gallon until i upgrade? and when i upgrade, should i just dive into a 30-40 gallon?
- do i need a heat lamp for a 10 gallon tank?
- approx what length is a 100 gram bp?
- once i do get a heat lamp, should i get day/night bulbs? is a day/night cycle necessary?
- how often will i need to clean the hides? how often will i need to fully clean the tank and replace substrate and stuff?
- after waiting a week after my snake arrives, how often/much would be advised to handle it? i want to handle it as much as possible as a baby to get it used to it but i don't want to stress them :/


lol those are the only questions i can think up right now
if anyone could help answer a few at least that would be really appreciated! thanks so much

-I'm not familiar with that cage, but if you're using a glass I always preferred an exo terra one.
-1 water bowl is fine, you can get a cheap ceramic one for $3-4 if you look, otherwise the crock dishes work well and you can get them off amazon.
-1 acurite thermometer is fine, but get an IR thermometer from amazon. Way more useful for temps.
-2 hides, yes but I wouldn't get exo terra as they won't last that long. If anything get the Reptile Basics ABS plastic hide. They have offset openings so the BP can be a bit more reclusive if it wants to, so in theory it'll work longer.
-Hydrofarm thermostat is okay as a starter, but I would get a better one soon, either a herpstat or vivarium electronics. They have a fail safe if something happens it shuts off power, where as the hydrofarm can get stuck wide open.
-No background needed, wouldn't waste the money. Get some black construction paper and cover the back and sides. Way more useful.
-Regarding feeders, when you find a snake you want, do your research, look at breeders or figure out what you want and then you can either order one online and have it shipped or pick up one from a show. You want to get one that's had a few meals in it, so at that point you shouldn't need hoppers, unless they haven't switched it to rats. Instead you can do rat fuzzies. The reason why some of the breeders use hopper mice is because they're more active than anything else so it helps trigger the feeding response. Some will take rat pinkies or fuzzies right away though, just each is different. Also make sure you have access to live feeders in case you can't get yours to eat f/t. However they're tricks you can do with f/t to get the best possible chance to get them to eat.

Now regarding your future list:
-Bedding Aspen works fine, cypress mulch is good, so is reptichip/coco husk. Depending on where you live you may or may not have humidity issues, so I can't tell you this as I've only lived in Louisiana all my life. There are things you can do to help raise the humidity if you need, but overall the bedding will play the main part in that. Also if you're buying cypress mulch you need to make sure it's 100% cypress mulch and not a mulch mixture which includes other woods.
-The zilla dome that you're referring to is good, I've used them and some are still working flawlessly since 2013. I've never actually had one fail on me, but my oldest is from 2013.
-The IR heat lamp is okay, 50w should be fine for a 10gal, now if you plan on moving up, I would say try to find one that's close to 75 without going over it. You can run an ceramic heat emitter but either or, they all kill humidity, the only difference is it generates no light.

Now to answer some of your other questions while I have a few minutes:
No you don't have to do a day/night cycle. You can, but it's not necessary. I personally give all my animals 12 hour day/night cycle regardless of being nocturnal or not and I even see them come out sometimes during the day, especially when I have the UVB light on, which isn't required, but I've noticed a change in behavior by going as naturalistic as possible. You can use a larger tank now if you want, when people say the enclosure is too large, they're usually trying to simplify it for people, but technically there is no too large of a cage. The actual issue is the cage being wide open which makes the snake stressed, and that can lead to non-feeding. In their natural environment they have leaf litter, bushes, plants, logs etc... to hide behind or in. So as long as the cage is properly furnished you won't have an issue, but then you may have to go through much more to find your BP, and that makes cage maintenance more time consuming. I would say clean the hides when you do a tank clean, I would generally do spot clean every weeek, and every two weeks I did a full clean.

I'd answer more, but I'm currently at work and don't have a ton of time, I'll read the thread and see if anybody else hasn't answered the other questions.

Please make sure to get a thermostat too, not just a thermometer. Thermostats control the UTH and make sure it doesn't get too hot. An unregulated UTH can reach well over 100 degrees which can burn a snake. I recommend the Jumpstart thermostat. You can get it on Amazon! It's pretty easy to use: plug it into the UTH, plug it into the wall, and the set what temperature you want. For example, if you set the thermostat to 90 degrees, it will turn off the heat mat when it reaches over 91 degrees and turn it back on when the heat mat gets under 89 degrees.

One water bowl is plenty. I have mine right in the middle of the enclosure. Try to get one that is somewhat heavy so it can't be knocked over easily.

Day/night lights are not needed. A ceramic heat emitter (CHE) is what I recommend using. It's a bulb that only produces heat and no light. Some light bulbs can be too harsh for ball pythons so it's better to just use one that only puts off heat.

Your plan for covering the enclosure sounds great! I used some leftover black fabric for my enclosure (it's taped to the outside of the glass).

I'm glad to hear that you plan on letting your ball python settle in for a week before handling it. After that about 3 times per week is sufficient. Just be sure to wait at least 48 hours after your snake eats before handling it. Otherwise it may regurgitate its meal.

You seem very responsible and I think that you are going to do great with your ball python. I love to see people ask a lot of questions before buying one!

Oh and like Zincubus said, definitely get your ball from a breeder. Often times ball pythons at pet stores aren't very well taken care of so many of them are sick or don't eat or have mites. It's better to spend a bit more for a high quality python that doesn't have eating issues.

Just FYI, she actually did list a thermostat:
$28.23 - Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat