First BP/First Post

[Florence_Bones]

Hello BP Community! I am very happy to be here. I have been lurking for the last two months, while I was researching BP's and deciding if I wanted to take the plunge and adopt one for myself, and for the last week especially while I was waiting for my account to be approved and getting used to the ins and outs of being a Python Momma!

I adopted Florence last Saturday from a reptile Expo. She is 3 year old, normal BP. It has been an incredible and stressful week, in part because I LOVE HER SO MUCH and I want to make sure I do everything correctly. In any event, I wanted to introduce myself and share my experiences this past week, because I am very excited to be a member of this community.

Where to start? I am beginning to suspect that the Aquarium I bought for Florence is too small for her, so my plan is to purchase a 40 gallon tank this Sunday and move her to a bigger home. The home she has now is big enough for her hide and water dish. I have a heat lamp on the left side of the tank, directly above the water dish. I've noticed that the heat lamp significantly heats the water, which worries me. I also have noticed that when I turn the heat lamp off, the number on the thermostat that is connected to the heat pad drops rapidly, so I have been keeping the heat lamp on 24/7. The woman who is going to sell me the larger aquarium said that she also has a heat bulb that emits heat only, NOT light.

I have an analogue humidity gauge that reads between 70 - 80. From the research I have done, the analogue gauge is notorious for being 10 - 15 off, so I suspect the humidity is actually around 50 - 60%. I spray down her home 1 - 2 times a day, though I have been spraying it a third time per day because she is on day 3 of her shed cycle.

She spends a lot of time in her hide, and when I take her out to hold her, she likes to sit with me for a bit, then is keen to explore and find a place to burrow. She likes to burrow behind pillows on the couch, or directly behind me. I had her out last night and felt horribly guilty because she was obviously stressed, probably because of where she is in her shed cycle. The guilt ate away at me I felt so terrible. Going forward, I will leave her alone until the shed cycle is complete. Once the shed cycle is complete, I plan on feeding her her first rat.

In any event, I'd love to get a conversation going from the expert BP keepers here, in part to tweak my snake mommy skills, and also to put my mind at ease, because I am constantly thinking "am I doing this right?"

Thank you in advance for welcoming me into the community and for your support. I look forward to connecting with many of you.

Ash

P.S. My snakes name is Florence Bones. (Flo for short).

[Sallysmom]

Hey there!
Welcome to the forum it’s pretty awesome! There hasn’t been a single question I had that wasn’t answered here.
I’ll start with saying that you shouldn’t handle your snake at all until
ita had three consecutive meals for you without a refusal to make sure it’s properly adjusted to the new home and unstressed. Also keep in mind that after feeding snake should be left alone for 48 hours.
You need two hides for your baby. One on either side of the tank. The tank should have a temperature gradient so the snake can properly thermoregulate with hot side around 89-90 cold side 78-80 and ambient temp 80. Humidity is best kept at 60 and bumped up to 70-80 during the shed. Make sure the substrate isn’t damp to prevent the scale rot issues.
Analog gague is a no-no. Go and get an accurite (about 10$ at Walmart) to measure ambient temperature and humidity. Even the smallest difference from the norm can cause stress and make your snake refuse meals.
You did mention that your heat pad is controlled by thermostat? If that’s the case great if not you need to get a thermostat ASAP.
Those are main points I have. But let’s see if more experienced keepers will have something to add

[Florence_Bones]

Hey there!
Welcome to the forum it’s pretty awesome! There hasn’t been a single question I had that wasn’t answered here.
I’ll start with saying that you shouldn’t handle your snake at all until
ita had three consecutive meals for you without a refusal to make sure it’s properly adjusted to the new home and unstressed. Also keep in mind that after feeding snake should be left alone for 48 hours.
You need two hides for your baby. One on either side of the tank. The tank should have a temperature gradient so the snake can properly thermoregulate with hot side around 89-90 cold side 78-80 and ambient temp 80. Humidity is best kept at 60 and bumped up to 70-80 during the shed. Make sure the substrate isn’t damp to prevent the scale rot issues.
Analog gague is a no-no. Go and get an accurite (about 10$ at Walmart) to measure ambient temperature and humidity. Even the smallest difference from the norm can cause stress and make your snake refuse meals.
You did mention that your heat pad is controlled by thermostat? If that’s the case great if not you need to get a thermostat ASAP.
Those are main points I have. But let’s see if more experienced keepers will have something to add

Yes, heat pad is controlled by thermostat! The hot side (where her hide is) is always between 27 - 31 Celsius and ambient temp ranges from 80 - 84 (thought I have to keep the lamp on all the time to keep the ambient temp up).

I use paper towel for the substrate. It dries very quickly after misting.

I'll go to Walmart this weekend and get the gauge you recommended for sure. Is "Accurite" the brand? I have a regular digital thermometer measuring the ambient heat and a thermostat connected to the heat pad measuring/controlling THAT temperature.

I know not to handle her at least 48 hours after feeding, and I will keep the handling to a serious minimum when I move her into her new home on Sunday.

[Sallysmom]

Yea Accurite is a brand a lot of people on here use.
Paper towels are fine but not the best to help the humidity. I personally use cypress mulch and it keeps the humidity up nicely and looks very pleasant. I’ve seen a lot of people on here recommend reptibark but I personally never used it.

[Florence_Bones]

Yea Accurite is a brand a lot of people on here use.
Paper towels are fine but not the best to help the humidity. I personally use cypress mulch and it keeps the humidity up nicely and looks very pleasant. I’ve seen a lot of people on here recommend reptibark but I personally never used it.

Thank you for the suggestion.

Do you use a heat lamp and heating pad for your BP? Do you keep the heat lamp on 24/7? Does it exude light, or just heat?

I am constantly checking/worrying about the temp. She stays in her hide lots, though, and from what I've read, a BP in their hide is a happy BP.

[Sallysmom]

I use both heat pad (for a hot spot) and heat lamp for ambient temperatures. Mine only exudes heat (it’s dark red) you can’t leave the one that does daylight on at night cause it’ll mess the snakes cycle up. Checking temps every once in a while is good, don’t overstress tho once you have everything up and running it should be pretty stable. And yes hiding BP is happy BP

[Florence_Bones]

I use both heat pad (for a hot spot) and heat lamp for ambient temperatures. Mine only exudes heat (it’s dark red) you can’t leave the one that does daylight on at night cause it’ll mess the snakes cycle up. Checking temps every once in a while is good, don’t overstress tho once you have everything up and running it should be pretty stable. And yes hiding BP is happy BP

Can we talk a little bit more about not overstressing? It is so very hard to not overstress when I love this little creature SO MUCH!!!!!

It will be nice for her (and me) when I have everything all setup. The setup I have now has been fine for the first week, but I am excited to get a bigger house for her, proper dark red bulb, ect.

[Sallysmom]

Oh I totally understand when I first got my noodle I sat by the tank for hours and just checked everything thousands of times to make sure it’s perfect 😄 it was driving my family insane 😄 but it’ll pass and once you get more confidence and know what you’re doing exactly stress will pass too
once you get a bigger enclosure make sure to provide at least two hides! (I personally have three one of them is in the middle of the tank and has damp sphangum moss in it for whenever my BP feels like extra hydration)

[Florence_Bones]

Oh I totally understand when I first got my noodle I sat by the tank for hours and just checked everything thousands of times to make sure it’s perfect 😄 it was driving my family insane 😄 but it’ll pass and once you get more confidence and know what you’re doing exactly stress will pass too
once you get a bigger enclosure make sure to provide at least two hides! (I personally have three one of them is in the middle of the tank and has damp sphangum moss in it for whenever my BP feels like extra hydration)

Can I see a picture of your setup, pretty please??

[Sallysmom]

Sure here it is


under the right side there is a heat pad (thermostat controlled) and then on top of the middle is the heat lamp. The left side top is covered with plexiglass to keep the temperatures and humidity in and on top of plexiglass I have a small humidifier that’s constantly running to keep the humidity at 60%