New Royal, have some questions/concerns

[Lord Sorril]

I did my research, as much as I could before getting her, and set up the viv beforehand...

Awesome! The sign of a responsible pet owner!

The warm side is on the right with the ceramic heat lamp, and is controlled with a thermostat.

Where is the probe for the thermostat located? Is there a UTH, if so, how is it regulated?

Oh, this is the thermostat and its current setting, this was also recommended and fitted by the reptile shop:

90F should be your hot spot created by a UTH on a thermostat. Sure, you can use a CHE to make a 90F hot spot, but, then you would drive the ambient temps too high on the cool side unless the enclosure was large (or had really good ventilation). Everyone has their own preference, but, I try not to exceed 85F for ambient in the summer and 80F in the winter.

I am also wary of the CHE that is installed inside the enclosure. I've never done it myself because CHE's heat up really hot and that wire metal cage would just conduct the heat to the snake (if it touched).

So, questions:

1. With the current setup, the temperature for both ends tends to be about the same, hotter on the cool end during the day (I assume this is due to the light that they fitted), and a little cooler during the night. I'm worried that the viv doesn't have enough airflow. Can anyone advise? I was wondering whether to cut a hole on the cool end, and nail some mesh/ into it to create a bigger vent hole and hopefully cool that end off?

I suspect heat from the CHE is being trapped inside and raising the overall temp to the one set on the thermostat. If you turn the thermostat down to 85F your temps should go down proportionately. As for drilling vent holes: What is your terrarium made out of? I would not want to drill/cut holes in certain materials.

1.a. I guess a follow up question is: Is this viv suitable for this snake?

Sure, you don't really need a 'cool' side as long as you have a Under Tank Heater on a thermostat to generate a hot spot.

BTW, the hygrometer usually reads just north of 50%, rarely ever under that. When I spray mist the viv and the spagnum moss inside, it steams up and the hygrometer hits 99% (it only have 2 digits so "somewhere north of 100% humidity", settling down within a few hours)

You can get/make a hide and stuff it full of moist sphagnum moss (or paper towels) as an artificially high humidity setting. If your water bowl is large enough for your snake to submerge in: I would not be concerned with low humidity at all.

2. Is this substrate suitable for a non-bioactive enclosure? It's very aspen-like.

I'm not familiar with that substrate.

3. She has been feeing fine (we've had her for about 5 or 6 weeks now) but the only poops she does are these tiny, hard, white lumps, not any "regular" poo - is that normal? She's been eating a smallish mouse every monday and hasn't refused a feed yet.

The white hard lumps are urate waste material produced during digestion. They are processed faster than normal 'brown' waste that you are expecting which you can expect on a less frequent basis.

4. Is her current food intake appropriate? These are the mice that we're feeding her, I don't know what they're officially called but here's a photo, they measure about 8cm long, nose to foot, as seen in these photos:

A lot of people will give you a lot of answers and some will show you a feeding chart. Until the snake reaches full size personally I would offer her smaller prey items-as much as she will eat at one time. Start by offering two and then scale the food offerings accordingly. (That is just how I do it)

Also, just an idle curiosity really but I wonder if she's blind or has poor vision?

Albinos are more sensitive to light so if she is exposed to bright light then she might have difficulty seeing. All snakes have reduced visibility during the shedding process. I've observed some ball pythons to be a bit clumsy too...so there is that...

Edit: Also would it be worth taking her to a vet to get registered / get her on their books? Or is that generally not useful/needed for snakes?

I would save your money until you have a perceived issue.

Best of luck!