Another newbie's paranoia (w/pics)

[Toraelle]

Howdy all!
After lurking on this site for several weeks and trying to absorb as much info as possible, I wanted to make a post. I got my first BP on June 6th and have tried my best to settle her in without any problems, and so far I'd say that she's doing well. But like with any new pet owner, I start to wonder about more and more stuff and I get more and more worried; it drives me nuts! Apologies in advance for the upcoming novel of blurb, but hopefully someone can help me settle my nerves...

My first worry is about the temps. I have an undertank heater on both sides of a 20L regulated with thermostats and ambient is around 80-83. I read that the hot/cool spot temps are best regulated on the glass itself since it's the hottest point, but in my case it leads to the substrate temps being a lot lower (substrate is <1 inch deep as it is and can be as low as 85 when the glass is 94 under the hot side hide). My BP hasn't made any burrowing or digging attempts. So should I assume she'd burrow if she wanted more heat or take out more aspen from under the hide? She's had two meals with me and no regurg or persistent bulging, and doesn't wander around the tank a lot.

Another thing I was wondering about are her spurs... they're long, thin and curved, almost like fangs @_@ A lot different from every other spur pic I've seen before, is it something to worry about? (Sorry if the pic isn't clear, but I made a version with the spurs outlined in red)


... Well, there were other things I was wondering about but as I typed them I felt really silly. x_x At any rate, here's a chunk of info about my new "baby" Sarin in case it'll help with answering questions

Normal female from Pro Exotics
Received 6/6/08
Full shed + poop 6/13 and ate a med rat 6/14
Fed 6/21
currently ~40 inches, ~1000gm (Does this sound over/underweight?)

Now some full pics!




And my tank setup


This is such an awesome forum and I'm glad I've found it - so many people to share their experience and advice, and it's helped me out tons. I'm kinda shy when it comes to forum activity, but I'm a big-time lurker! xP If anyone has any other newbie advice or critique for me, I'm all ears! =)

[STORMS]

You're setup looks nice I dig it

And you're BP is beautiful!

As far as spurs... I dunno, but I'm sure someone here does.

Temps sound OK to me, my BPs don't burrow either, so you could probably move the probes off the glass and more into the substrate and raise the temps slightly. That's just my opinion though.

Good luck!

Oh yeah...WELCOME!!!

[frankykeno]

Howdy all!
After lurking on this site for several weeks and trying to absorb as much info as possible, I wanted to make a post. I got my first BP on June 6th and have tried my best to settle her in without any problems, and so far I'd say that she's doing well. But like with any new pet owner, I start to wonder about more and more stuff and I get more and more worried; it drives me nuts! Apologies in advance for the upcoming novel of blurb, but hopefully someone can help me settle my nerves...

My first worry is about the temps. I have an undertank heater on both sides of a 20L regulated with thermostats and ambient is around 80-83. I read that the hot/cool spot temps are best regulated on the glass itself since it's the hottest point, but in my case it leads to the substrate temps being a lot lower (substrate is <1 inch deep as it is and can be as low as 85 when the glass is 94 under the hot side hide). My BP hasn't made any burrowing or digging attempts. So should I assume she'd burrow if she wanted more heat or take out more aspen from under the hide? She's had two meals with me and no regurg or persistent bulging, and doesn't wander around the tank a lot.

Another thing I was wondering about are her spurs... they're long, thin and curved, almost like fangs @_@ A lot different from every other spur pic I've seen before, is it something to worry about? (Sorry if the pic isn't clear, but I made a version with the spurs outlined in red)


... Well, there were other things I was wondering about but as I typed them I felt really silly. x_x At any rate, here's a chunk of info about my new "baby" Sarin in case it'll help with answering questions

Normal female from Pro Exotics
Received 6/6/08
Full shed + poop 6/13 and ate a med rat 6/14
Fed 6/21
currently ~40 inches, ~1000gm (Does this sound over/underweight?)

Now some full pics!




And my tank setup


This is such an awesome forum and I'm glad I've found it - so many people to share their experience and advice, and it's helped me out tons. I'm kinda shy when it comes to forum activity, but I'm a big-time lurker! xP If anyone has any other newbie advice or critique for me, I'm all ears! =)

Measure your temps at substrate level where your snake actually hangs out. BP's don't tend to burrow all that much. I don't use glass tanks with the BP's so I'm not an expert though on how to manage a BP in a glass tank.

All BP's have spurs, both males and females. Some are more pronounced than others so no worries there. Did ProExotics sex her for you and confirm she's indeed a she?

She looks fine for weight and sure is a cutie. Nice purchase! At 1,000 grams she may not need a medium rat though every week. Likely a small or a small/medium would be more than enough. Depends though on the size of your mediums. What I call a medium is a lot bigger than some online suppliers I've seen.

The tank looks good other than I'd move it from near that window. Not only will drafts cause the glass tank to flucuate but direct sunlight coming in can drive up the temps in no time at all. Best to keep reptile tanks well away from windows.

Congrats on your new snake.

[Somed00d]

It looks like she is doing well!! If your worried about the temps maybe try less substrate? My ball pythons push the substrate all over so they expose the bottom of the tubs they are in.

I am glad she is eating for you. It can be hard to get them feeding once they have been relocated.

As for the spurs I wouldn't worry about them.

[blackcrystal22]

Measure your temps at substrate level where your snake actually hangs out. BP's don't tend to burrow all that much. I don't use glass tanks with the BP's so I'm not an expert though on how to manage a BP in a glass tank.

All BP's have spurs, both males and females. Some are more pronounced than others so no worries there. Did ProExotics sex her for you and confirm she's indeed a she?

She looks fine for weight and sure is a cutie. Nice purchase! At 1,000 grams she may not need a medium rat though every week. Likely a small or a small/medium would be more than enough. Depends though on the size of your mediums. What I call a medium is a lot bigger than some online suppliers I've seen.

The tank looks good other than I'd move it from near that window. Not only will drafts cause the glass tank to flucuate but direct sunlight coming in can drive up the temps in no time at all. Best to keep reptile tanks well away from windows.

Congrats on your new snake.

As long as you keep that window closed and the blinds shut you should be ok if you can't put it anywhere else.

The set up is pretty good, you seem to have everything worked out perfectly.
Just raise the temps on the thermostat a bit and keep it a bit above what you have. Overall it's fine temperature wise.

She has a nice pattern and is a very good size! Overall theres nothing wrong with her that we could see. :]

Spurs won't do anything bad if they are a bit larger. No biggie.

[STORMS]

Measure your temps at substrate level where your snake actually hangs out. BP's don't tend to burrow all that much. I don't use glass tanks with the BP's so I'm not an expert though on how to manage a BP in a glass tank.

All BP's have spurs, both males and females. Some are more pronounced than others so no worries there. Did ProExotics sex her for you and confirm she's indeed a she?

She looks fine for weight and sure is a cutie. Nice purchase! At 1,000 grams she may not need a medium rat though every week. Likely a small or a small/medium would be more than enough. Depends though on the size of your mediums. What I call a medium is a lot bigger than some online suppliers I've seen.

The tank looks good other than I'd move it from near that window. Not only will drafts cause the glass tank to flucuate but direct sunlight coming in can drive up the temps in no time at all. Best to keep reptile tanks well away from windows.

Congrats on your new snake.

Great catch on the window...I totally over looked that!

[Sophiax]

Welcome! I totally know where you're coming from, I'm a paranoid newbie too, so no worries there. I just wanted to say about the spurs - they look a lot like the ones on my baby bp who I'm (fairly) sure is a female. Anyway, the spurs on mine are also 'fang-like' shape, as opposed to reaaally curved.

By the way, lovely colours on her too, she's beautiful! Looks like things are off to a good start.

[Toraelle]

@ lena: Thanks for the comment and welcome! I'll see if I can find a way to anchor the probes a little farther up the substrate.

@ franky: Thank you for your input! I've been reluctant up to now to put the probes anywhere besides the glass because of the risk of them deciding to push the bedding around and lay on the glass, but she hasn't made any attempt to do that thus far so I'll tweak her tank a bit.

For the sex, I didn't ask if he specifically probed this one in particular, but she was listed with a big group of older females for sale so I'm just trusting his judgment. ^^; I haven't done a fecal on her yet but I probably should just as assurance, so mayhaps I can request a probing too. At any rate, I don't have breeding in mind so if she turns out to be a he, I'll just work with that! =P

Robyn had told me that she eats medium rats, and the mediums I've got stocked in the freezer are all around 100-120 grams. Oh man, am I going to have to buy smaller ones? If that's the case I wonder if I can save the bigger ones for later... I bought 25 of them. =(

Ahh, the window. >_< Hopefully I can do something about that. (My mom's afraid of snakes and this is one of the few places that she'll tolerate it, but I think she's warming up to it very slowly!) But there's a house directly behind this window which blocks sunlight from ever directly hitting it. No one ever opens this window and I can close the blinds if it'll help with temps until I find a place to relocate the table.

@ d00d: Thanks, I'll thin out the substrate as well as relocate the probes, so hopefully there'll be better heat conduction going on. =) The first time I tried to feed her she wouldn't touch the rat until I left her alone with it in the dark! But the following week, she snatched it right outta my tongs. I was so happy, lol.

@ crystal: Thank you for your thoughts on this, I'll keep them in mind as well. I'm glad that the general consensus is that she's doing fine as of now!

@ Sophia: Thanks bunches! And thanks for telling me about the spurs on your baby. I was just freaking out because everyone else's snakes had these short stubby thick spurs and here's mine all curvy and stuff!

[frankykeno]

Just watch the window for being drafty even when shut (more of a cold weather concern). Glass can get very cold or very hot very quickly and once you've worked so hard to get an enclosure set up and stablized you don't want it messed with and your snake uncomfortable. Especially watch for anyone opening the blinds. Animals trapped in a glass tank under direct sunlight overheat fast.

If you're getting a fecal done you don't have to take the snake in but it's never a bad thing to have a general wellness check done. You can get the fecal done then and also a sexing.

She looks like a lovely snake and if that's the feeding routine she's used to then I'm sure she'll continue to do fine on it. If you notice her becoming picky about eating then either drop down a bit in size or add in a few more days between feeds. BP's will tell you if you are overdoing it with the food. They don't get fat, they just stop eating for a bit (wish I was a BP LOL).

[Toraelle]

Okay, will do! I'll keep those tips in mind. And lol, if that's the case I wish I were a BP too! xP