She should easily swith to Frozen thawed prey. Given their fantastic appetite, I would do it early on.

Here's my two cents. I'm going to try to save you a ton of money and hard work here, so pay attention.


I'd ditch the large cage for now. She's small, and bloods when young prefer smaller enclosures.

Go to Walmart and purchase a Sterilite or Rubbermaid tub. Depending on the age and size of your blood roughly speaking....

12qt will work for babies up to 500 grams,
28qt for 500 to 1000 grams, and
32/41qt for 1000 grams up until they could use a large Christmas tree tub or Animal plastics T10, which measure 4x2x2.

Now, the reasoning I say to get a tub is because it’s much easier to control their climate in a tub, AND, she will feel more secure in a smaller tub, making her less stressed.

You will melt holes into the tub with a soldering iron to offer ventilation. Measure with a hygrometer until you get 60% with dry substrate.

Buy a thermoSTAT. Thermostats are going to be the most expensive thing you buy for this snake! I would recommend you look into Ranco, Johnson Controls, or Helix. Do not buy a zoomeds crap. Bloods need very constant temps and cannot have a heat spike or large dip in temps.

Buy a digital thermo-METER. I recommend Acurite Indoor/outdoor thermometer/ hygrometer. It costs 12$ from walmart and has a probe to measure the hot spot if you choose to provide one.

Now, invest in some flexwatt or a UTH. (best to buy online)

This is where some thinking and decisions come in. Are you going to provide a hot spot? Generally, bloods don’t need a hot spot and can be kept at a constant temp, but you must be certain your temps are not going to fluctuate, otherwise it would be a good idea to give a hot spot.

If you do not offer a hot spot, I would put the flexwatt on the bottom length of the enclosure, and set it for a low to mid 80's temp. (measuring with a good thermostat and thermometer probe)

If you were to offer a hot spot, I would cover 1/3rd of the enclosure to offer a hot spot from 86-88, and a low 80's ambient temp for the rest of the tub. (measuring with a good thermostat and thermometer probe)


Please read these caresheets, since everything I told you I have learned from here and asking questions for things I needed clarification on. Kara from NERD (KLG) is one of the BEST in the business, she has great advice all throughout this forum.

http://www.newenglandreptile.com/CareBlood.html


http://vpi.com/publications/blood_py...ation_and_care