First-Time Snake Owner, Considering A Ball Python

[Dagger311]

First of all, welcome! This is an extrmely helpful forum for me and hope it is for you too! Ok, for a lot of those things it can actually be the prefrence of your snake. The humidity and temps should all be well managed and consistent (and yes, it is important to keep humidity up around those levels regardless of weather or not your snake is shedding, and temps should be 70-85ish (although you will hear lots of variations of this, but you should have a heat gradient with a warm and cool side)) for the lamp situation just dont get a heat rock. Those can cause major burns. A UTH can as well if not properly monitored, but it could also be put on the side of the tank where it's less liekly to do that, esoecially if regulated properly. A lot of breeders will use uths/heat strips because they take up less space. But again, they need to be monitored. It can be helpful to purchase a thermo regulator with probes that can sense temperatures and adjust accordingly. I have one heat emitter and one lamp (and a UTH I dont use that often). I used to have a blacklight-type lamp but it died on me. Heat emitters are good because BPs dont really need light, but again, prefrence. I will turn on his light during the day and use the heat emitter at night to mimic days and nights passing but if you're already putting your tank in a naturally lit area thats not really necessary (its not really necessary at all, but its yet another option). As for tanks, I have a glass tank with a wire top and its a struggle to keep the humidity up (however, my humidifier is broken sooo that doesn't help). It's definitely possie to make the hot side too hot (or at least too dry), I've never had my ac kick in to regulate that so I wouldn't rely on it. If you get a glass tank you could pick up some fake moss at the pet store specifically for spraying with water to hold humidity. You could also tinfoil your tank and should mist it frequently with clean water. I also have a mist with vitamins and aloe specifically to hydrate my snake that I'll use especially when he's going to shed soon. But your snake may not like that, or you may not prefer a glass tank. Its up to you. Kudos to you for getting a snake from a real breeder and not a regular pet shop (often those reptiles are sick). Dont worry if you dont get a morph, i have a normal and hes beautiful. See which snake you connect with the best and get that one. Hope all this info helped!!!

Thanks for the welcome! I've already got one of those really nice thermometers with the probe and humidity guage (I've been buying all my snake stuff slowly as the budget comes in, saving the big stuff for until I've actually decided between a BP and a King snake), so monitoring the things won't be an issue, just figuring out what I need it to be. I'll also have to get a thermostat to actually control the UTH I get (They can supposedly reach temperatures significantly higher than what's required to crack glass).

I've also been warned about heat rocks. Apparently snakes don't have a very complex nervous system like us, and don't feel heat as a burn like we do when we touch hot things, only warmth.

The tinfoil thing would be a nice addition anyway, because I also have a cat. It would probably deter him from sitting on top/around the cage, and potentially crashing through and breaking the cage/killing the snake/getting killed by the snake.