Should I soak?

[Adam_Wysocki]

-adam

[Isshinharu]

thanks for the post i wanted to edit mine but cant.. not allowed to.. that is just down right weird. >.>

it's not pride it's frustration.. and stress.. sorry for comming off sounding like i did.

i just have a lot of crap on my mind and some of what i read made me feel like i was being condescended or something. *shrugs*

We all stress at times... I know I do.

i'l go about it silently for a while, i dont have to ask for help to get it damnit all..
you guys are gonna think i'm all helpless or lazy or something like i cant go research a little on my own.

If you have questions, ask away!!! The people on here love helping noobs like us. Nobody things you're lazy for not searching. I search, and ask questions. Do only one or the other and you may end up mis-informed. I've found it takes an even mix of asking questions and researching to gain the valuable knowlege that is beneficial to good husbandry. Please don't take what I said as a bad thing... I'm just trying to help.

man i do suck.. i go now. toodles.

Why do you say that? Nobody's trying to scare you away.

[SatanicIntention]

I don't meant to sound condescending at all, I apologize if I did. As a vet tech, I try and look out for the animal's health first and foremost. I'm sorry if I came off strong, but it is important that the environmental conditions the snake is kept in change for the better.

As Adam said, ball pythons have extremely slow metabolisms, and illnesses may not manifest themselves for months, and then all at once, the snake is gurgling, gasping for air, because its lungs are filled with icky stuff that it can't cough out. Temperatures are very important for these guys and they despise fluctuations. We're just looking out for you and your snake, and trying to save you hundreds of dollars in vet bills just in case something like that does occur.

Pet stores use carpet because it is cheap, and they have a neverending supply of it. But just like Adam said, there is a living animal living in the enclosure that harbors salmonella in its feces, it is hot and humid in the cage with not much air flow, so bacteria grow readily in this type of environment. I was saying no to the carpet because it doesn't conduct heat well, is annoying to clean every time your snake goes to the bathroom, extremely expensive at the pet store and doesn't hold up well in the washing machine or in bleach water. Plus, if the snake goes to hide underneath the carpet, it may likely get burned on the glass since they can't sense heat well. They don't know they are getting burned. The cypress mulch looks wonderful, and is easy to spot clean if the need arises. I have a few sheets of newspaper underneath the mulch, just in case she moves it around and ends up sitting on the bottom of the tub.

Also, the plastic caging was just an idea until you could get the terrarium you want. Temporary thing. Regardless of whether glass or plastic is used, the whole concept is to make it as secure-feeling to the snake as possible. The tubs help that a little better since most are transluscent, and help the snake not feel so out in the open. You can do that with a glass enclosure as well, but you just have to provide alot of cover(silk leaves, branches), and you can also cover 3 sides with Con-Tac paper or a colored construction paper, or even one of those backgrounds from the petstore. All work equally well.

I know how you feel. It is exactly the way I felt when I tried to go help out at another reptile forum, trying to give my medical input and see if I could help anyone. But did they want my help? Nope... They were wondering why people kept coming to them asking why their ball wasn't eating when the temps were "right" and all of this other mess. I tried to explain that if you keep a ball python at 90warm and 80 cool, that they would most likely never eat consistently. They replied with a condescending tone that if you keep a snake at any higher temperatures, then the snake would get neurologic and die. Such a pain...

Sorry for the rant, but I know being stressed out is tough. Stress is when your boyfriend of over a year just up and leaves for a job in San Francisco. I know, off-topic.

If you do have any questions about anything, just ask. All we want to do is help.

[Smulkin]

Folks round here really do put out to help. I can't tell you nor would I mention by name the number of forum communities to which i have at one point belonged which seemed to be based solidly on the following (DESPITE forum focus topic): "Read the FAQ" or "Search First" or "Read the Caresheet" or "google it". One thing that keeps me so deeply involved here is the communal willingness to help and the variety and scope of advice that can be harvested for use. Clearly there is no "golden path" to follow - no "one right way" other than making the health of the herps in your care your priority. It is often possible to mistake passion for prescription - though that's never the intent and some caveats and warnings may be more strongly worded than others. Please stick around - there are new things to discover and learn constntly - for all of us.

[frankykeno]

Having read this thread and being the newbiest newb of all time (hell we don't even own a ball python yet and I ask a million questions daily of the patient folk here) I just had to speak to this.

One thing online is not so great for is the lack of body language and voice tone. Just a typed word or two can be taken wrong and suddenly someone's upset when the same comment made in person would have brought a different reaction completely....just a thought.

Most importantly as a new owners to be, my husband and I have also done those long hours of research at countless websites, read more info in forums than we can begin to comprehend yet and are asking question upon question. We've found those here (and at one other forum) to be very patient with us. I actually sent a private message to one of this forum's moderators asking if we were being a bother with all the threads we start and were assured it was showing we were concerned for the snake's best interests and it's good for the forum to have lots of threads going. Sure made us feel welcome here and that none of our questions were unwanted.

As far as the issue of setting up a home for your BP. We've got a lovely 30 gallon octogon enclosure sitting empty. Without this forum we likely would have put the new BP in there and then had tons of problems with temp and humidity issues. In the end, it's the snake that pays for those problems. So as the best advice given indicates, we will use Rubbermaid. It's not the "prettiest" set-up but if it's what is best for the snake....subject closed. Maybe in time as our snake matures and we become more experienced, we can feel confident to try out that enclosure, but ONLY if it's in the snake's best interest to live in it. Pet ownership isn't, or should never be, about what is best for the human, especially "exotic" pets with special requirements.

For Mike and I it's about being privileged to "own" a piece of nature, to show our kids that wonder and to maybe be lucky enough to one day see some eggs open and a baby ball head pop out.

So hopping down off my soapbox...and newcomer to newcomer....please believe these folks want the best for your snake. If they came across to you as a bit abrupt, I'm sure it was not meant that way and came from their concern for the snake's well-being and to help you succeed as a snake keeper.

[daniel1983]

great post

One thing online is not so great for is the lack of body language and voice tone. Just a typed word or two can be taken wrong and suddenly someone's upset when the same comment made in person would have brought a different reaction completely....just a thought.

thats why I always put happy faces....a form of internet body language