New Snake! - New Member!

[Sarge]

Hey Guys, stumbled across this website when searching google for BP owners

My name is Dave, I own a Royal (Ball) Python named Sarge! He's a male norm, 2 and a half years old and I've had him for two days!

I have owned a BP before but was forced to give him up due to my landlord severely disapproving of keeping snakes (he was never bothered about any other animal). My recent change in circumstance means that hopefully nothing will ever come between me and my BP!

So its great to find other folk like me online, I have plenty of questions and hopefully will have some photographs soon!

For my first post I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions on how I can improve my BP's housing and general setup. I'll describe in detail what I have so far:

1 x 3'x2'x2' Wooden vivarium with a glass front.
1 x Medium Sized Exo-Terra Hide/rock placed ontop of heatmat with aspen
1 x Enclosed Heat Lamp positioned 1.5 ft above Hide Rock - fully protected
1 x Rock/Stick type thing that runs across to the other (cooler) side of the tank
1 x Tuppaware with water in
Aspen Substrate

I currently have the heat lamp on a timer - during the day it provides a constant basking area on the left hand side of the tank where his hide is. During nighttime the lamp is on for 15 minutes out of every hour providing roughly 70 to 75 degrees of heat in that area. In addition there is a heatmat underneath the hide where Sarge can get warm should he find it too chilly. The temperature of this area is sort of 80-85ish degrees constant during the day. The Right hand side of the tank varies between 70 and 75 degrees during the day and probably drops lower during the night but I am unable to measure those temperatures as I only have 1 fixed thermometer which is stuck onto the left hand side of the tank.

I worry that having the heat lamp come on for 15 minutes at night may confuse him but its realistically the only way I can keep the temperatures that have been reccommended to me with my current equipment. I am not too worried about the fact that he has seldom left his hide in the two days I have had him (I guess he could be disorientated or a bit worried about his new habitat) - in the reptile store the lady suggested all I need is 1 heatmat! This cant be true as with one heatmat I observed the temperature of the tank drop to between 62-65 degrees!

And finally, The only time I have handles him was when I was preparing his tank and he curled calmly around my arm and started slithering around and flicking his tongue and didnt strike or anything, was just very dosile - I went to remove him later that night from his habitat and he seriously bolted off like a rocket! never seen anything move so fast! I figured I'd just leave him to it for a few days.

Any suggestions kindly appreciated

Kind Regards,
Dave and Sarge

[Nate]

Hey Dave Welcome to the board!

To get a real good accurate reading, head out to wal-mart and buy an Acurite brand thermometer. This unit has a probe so you're able to measure outdoor temps...but we use that probe and put it on the bottom of the enclosure to see how warm the belly heat is. You want your belly heat to be around 90 degrees. they need that heat to digest their food.

Place the Acurite unit on the cool side, and this will tell you the cool temps (which should be around 80) and it will also tell you the humidity, which should be around 50-60, and 60-70 when in shed. put the probe on the warm side to get a good read.

Also, check out the caresheet for some more info.

Good luck! don't be scared to ask questions. and don't forget the search feature as well.

[ZEKESMOM]

Hi and Welcome You may want to check out the caresheet forum for the bp's and the caging forum for setting up your viv properly. You should have 2 idebtical hides on the warm and cool side, and your temps on the warm side should be at 92, cool side 85. You can buy a digital thermometer (Accurite) at Walmart for about $12. This will give you a reading of your warm and cool side and your humidity. You want your humidity when not in shed to stay at 50%...when in shed bump to 60%-70%. What kind of subtrate are you using. What are you using for heating? The best way to heat is using a UTH connected to a thermostat or flexwatt connected to a thermostat so that your heat is constantly at the 92 degrees. As for handling you need to let him acclimate for atleast a week with no handling and only disturbing to do any spot cleaning of the viv as needed.
If I have missed anything I am sure that one of the more experieced owners will chip in here
Good luck with Sarge

[Sarge]

I guess thats ASDA then given we dont have Wal Mart over here, but i think they own ASDA

Ill have a pop down..

Incidently, I couldnt resist the temptation and I handled him before, he was in a great mood and he was nice and warm.

[elevatethis]

I worry that having the heat lamp come on for 15 minutes at night may confuse him but its realistically the only way I can keep the temperatures that have been reccommended to me with my current equipment. I am not too worried about the fact that he has seldom left his hide in the two days I have had him (I guess he could be disorientated or a bit worried about his new habitat) - in the reptile store the lady suggested all I need is 1 heatmat! This cant be true as with one heatmat I observed the temperature of the tank drop to between 62-65 degrees!

In a room that cold, you are going to have to go to extreme measures to efficiently heat that cage to where it needs to be.

Right now, your cage temps are cool enough that your snake is in danger of getting a respitory infection, which is expensive to treat and could be deadly if left untreated.

Temporarily, ditch the bright daylight bulb and get a nighttime, "nocturnal" bulb and leave it on 24/7. No need for a night drop, just heat the cage 24 hours a day.

If you can increase the room temperature to about 72-75 with a space heater, it will be much easier to get your cage temps up into the mid 80s to low 90s.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

1 x 3'x2'x2' Wooden vivarium with a glass front.
1 x Medium Sized Exo-Terra Hide/rock placed ontop of heatmat with aspen
1 x Enclosed Heat Lamp positioned 1.5 ft above Hide Rock - fully protected
1 x Rock/Stick type thing that runs across to the other (cooler) side of the tank
1 x Tuppaware with water in
Aspen Substrate

First and congratulations


One thing you need is a THERMOSTAT not only will it help you to provide the required temperature but it will help prevent overheating of your heating device that could lead to severe burns for your BP


Other thing your temp must be gradient the warm side should be between 90 to 94 and the cool side should be between 80 to 84, so that mean that right now your temp are not adequate


You must also provide an humidity level between 50% to 60%


To help you measure temp and humidity it is important that you get an accurate thermometer / hydrometer sold at walmart or lowes for around 13$ it look like this

You must also provide your BP with 2 tight hides one on the cool side one on the warm side (must be tight enough so he can snug in)


I would recommend to wait 7 days with no handling then offer food and then wait an additional 48 hours before handling


Anyway hope this help.

[Tussin]

Welcome

[Sarge]

Hi guys its me again

I went out today and as you suggested got myself a new infared heatbulb to deal with the fact the crappy UK weather can make my flat quite cold sometimes - I have today observed the following temperatures:

Warm Side: 91-95 Farenheit
Cold Side: 80-85 Farenheit

I have not had time to observe the night temperature (the daylight bulb will turn itself off leaving only the infared bulb running)

This is an overall improvement of about 10 degrees which I am happy about and I think I may have nailed the temperatures once and for all.

I was wondering if the fact that i've been messing around in his tank today will mean that tomorrow he will be funny about eating, should I try and feed him tomorrow or wait a little longer? He's used to eating on a tuesday apparently

Regards,
Dave and Sarge

[dr del]

Hey there,


I just bought a new thermometer from ebay that should show max/min for me to test the new tanks I'm planning on building ( I also ordered zoomed heat cable to test) as I figured that would be the best method for checking the night time temps for unexpected dips.

We get those a lot in old scottish tenements.


As for the feeding I'd say give it a try - worst case you throw away a rat (I'm assuming you feed Frozen/Thawed?).

As someones probably mentioned those heaters do tend to sap humidity so you might want to check that too for a week or so to see how it changes.


dr del

[Sarge]

cheers mate, I too have actually just bought humidity sensor and thermometer from ebay so hopefully I'll be able to get that all sorted by the end of the week - as for the feeding, i'll let you know how it goes