first time snake owner!

[Boarder4l154]

Hi, This is my first time posting, and my first snake, so I just wanted to take this time to say hi to everyone on the site and to the snake community. I just bought my snake last week from a local pet store who said that it was cb. and for $68 bucks it better be! Right now he/she is 18 inches long. Im not sure how old it is so any estimation would be good. Basicly I had a couple of questions about my current cage. Its a 2 gallon (maybe) small reptile inclosure. It has astro-turf as a substrate. it has a water dish and a place for the snake to hide. under the hiding space (and the substrate) is a reptile heating pad. i've got a thermometer on the side that reads constantly between 80 and 90 degrees. above the cage i've got a 75 watt blacklite that's on 24/7. I was just wondering what else i should do. obviously it's too small but i have a 10 gallon tank at my moms that i need to pick up. but heres a picture of my setup.

oh, and heres a pic of my snake!


i just fed him/her for the first time last night. the last time he ate was at the pet store before i bought him about a week ago. he ate a live fuzzy both times. the pet store owner said i should be feeding him about every 3 days or as much as it can so it can grow... i'm now thinking that he just wanted me to buy alot of mice from him. so what is good feeding habits for a baby bp? other than that its a very nice snake. its never bit me, yet. its freaked out a couple of times but i guess thats to be expected. he was dropped one time from my shoulder while i was standing up, and peed on the floor. its it common for snakes to pee when scared? i just want whats best for him/her so any info would be good.

[daniel1983]

I would recommend you:
1. Get a bigger enclosure....and a 10 gallon will only last you a few months.
2. Get a digital thermometer, those dial thermometers do not work great.
3. Make sure your temperatures are correct...92-94 warm side/ 82-84 cool side.
4. You should have two hides one on the warm side and one on the cool side....so you definately need an enclosure just to fit another hide.
5. You should not handle you snake for 48 hours after eating.
6. When purchasing a snake you should not handle for the first week or two in order to limit stress.
7. Feeding once a week is generally how people feed.

You need to do alot of work to keep that ball python properly. I would suggest reading as many caresheets and info online such as this one:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=52

Good luck and welcome to the site.

[python kid]

Good luck!