Newbie Questions & horrible Ex preparedness.

[Hugsplox]

First off, welcome to the forums and congrats one your new snake!

A lot to unpack here so I'll try to touch everything very briefly and I'm sure some other users will jump in. Personally in a glass tank, I'm using both a overhead head source and a UTH both controlled by a thermostat, and remember any heat source you use 100% needs to be controlled by a thermostat. Don't let anyone tell you differently. If you don't have them already I'd also pick up some reliable digital thermometers/hydrometer that you can stick in there and see where your temps and humidity are. Also grab yourself a handheld temp gun to spot check surfaces. It's hard, not impossible, but hard to maintain proper humidity levels and heat in a glass enclosure without making some alterations to the enclosure. You can go to the below link to take a look at a tutorial on how to make it work.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...With-Pictures!

I would recommend looking into a PVC enclosure, as most of them will meet all your needs, specifically locking doors. The issue is, the wait times for most vendors are over the top long right now, for an assortment of reasons. You didn't mention what you were using on top of the enclosure, and I assume by 55 gallon you're just using a fish tank. You can buy mesh lids for them, and most come with clamps that will lock that lid down to where he can't get out, but snakes are escape artists and if there's a way, they will find it.

It's possible to make it work and it's not that hard, but I think your biggest hurdle is going to come from something other than the animal, which is unfortunate, but we won't get into that. Take a look at the care guide below, spend some time browsing the husbandry sub-forum here, and I'm sure you'll find everything you need.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...s%29-Caresheet