Terrarium set up

[Salty]

I have been setting up a terrarium for the last week or so getting ready for a new bp. I wanted to make sure that the temp and humidity was right before getting it obviously and I have some questions.

HEAT I bought an under tank heater for my 40 gallon tank and I think I wasted 20$ Is it okay to put this underneath the hide box or is this supposed to serve as a cooler resting place as well as a place to hide? Many of the books I have say snakes like to have a cool side and a warm side so should I use a ceramic heater or heat lamp in conjunction w/ this or just get a ceramic/heat lamp place it at the oppsite side of the hide box and forget about the heating pad?

Humidity I have put a rather large water bowl in the tank and still the humidity is low(35-45%.) What should I do?

Substrate Is carpet a reasonable choice for the bedding? I have some left over from another project and cut some to size for the tank. (newspaper looks tacky and commercial bedding is expensive and is a pain in the @@@ to clean....I know cause I went that route w/ my iguana years ago.)

LIGHT Some of the books I have contradict each other about many of these issues including light. Should I light the terrarium? Should I get a heat lamp? I have full spectrum lights I could use: 1 book says it will make them darker, 1 says it will stress them 1 says it is great for them, some say a photoperiod is important especially for breeding and the reptile store says I need not light the tank at all. WTF?

Please help I am so eager to get my first ball I can't sleep at night, yet I don't have a working habitat yet.

[kavmon]

what size bp is this for? a 40 gal. would suit an adult, but might be too big for a baby. no light needed at all, room lighting is enough. temps on the hot side should be 90-94, cool side 80-84. humidity around 50-60%. the 40 is a big tank to heat, you might need a larger heat pad or higher wattage heat pad. bulbs or ceramic heaters will dry out the air alot. you might have to cover about 90% of the screen top to maintain temps and humidity. there are some good caresheets on this site also. also a thermostat to regulate the heat source will save you alot of headaches and is a must have for a setup in my opinion.


vaughn

[frankykeno]

We use sterlite tubs so I'm no good at sorting out much about glass tanks, other than it does seem the mesh lids let out a lot of heat and humdity and overhead heat lamps also dry out the tank environment a lot.

I did just want to post though to commend you for taking this time now to set up the enclosure properly before purchasing your ball python. You are saving yourself all sorts of headaches and stress and helping to ensure your new snake will have the least stressful transition into your home. Good for you!

My only question is how are you measuring your temps and humidity? Digitally? Analog stick on thing?


~~Joanna~~

[Salty]

^I am using a digital thermo and hygro meter. I answered a lot of my questions by viewing the DIY portion of the caresheets(Didn't realize they were there) but I wanted to have something that my reptile could live in as an adult as well and I've had it for a few years so it just made sense to use the 40 gal. Some of the books I read are for snakes in general and the temp says 80-88 degrees or something so I thought my 91 degree temp was too high.


You can feel free to disregard the first post because they are stupid questions I should have read the care sheets first. Even my carpet as substrate question was answered.

New question:
Should the temps come down at night? And if so how much? Some of the books I have suggest 75 degrees or so. That is easily done for me but is this too low?

[tigerlily]

Unless you're breeding there's no reason to drop your temps.

[HelicopterPilot]

Do not drop your temps purposely unless your breeding. A couple of degrees drop at night is okay as long as it is unintentional (caused by weather).

As for humidty. Cover up the screen alittle and place the bowl in the hot area. Also make sure to have PLENTY of hides since your little BP might get stressed to be in a large area.

[Eddie_Z]

If I might jump in with sumthin that some one else (I believe it was Adam) had suggested before. If you are going to stay with the 40 gallon tank, even though you think that newspaper is tacky, you could easily save your snake a ton of stress by crumpling up a bunch of pieces of newspaper & laying them all over the floor of the tank. This way your snake will not feel unsecure about moving from one hide to the next because of the open space. It will feel as though it can cruise through the "brush" or in this case newspapers, to stay incognito from any lurking prey while movin from one hide to the next.

[mlededee]

I answered a lot of my questions by viewing the DIY portion of the caresheets(Didn't realize they were there)...

You can feel free to disregard the first post because they are stupid questions I should have read the care sheets first...

we love you! seriously, i am SO glad that you found and read the caresheet and DIY articles. so many people disreguard them and lose out on so much good information. it's awesome when a new member takes the time to read over all that stuff. welcome to the forum.

[Salty]