Hide or no Hide (or no brainer?)

[Stewart_Reptiles]

He doesn't defecate often, is this a sign of constipation or diet problems? I'm feeding him fuzzies right now.

It really varies from one individual to another there is not set schedule however I would guess that because you are feeding fuzzies most of the prey item is being absorbed for his growth.

I would recommend to feed a prey slightly smaller than the girth size, keep in mind that most hatchling BP are started on hopper mice and quickly move to small to adult mice.

As far as refusal if your BP refuses just wait another week, offering too soon after a refusal will only cause stress and lead to more refusal.

[blackcrystal22]

Honestly, I think I've been scolded enough after 18 replies.

I asked many friends and also a fellow reptile owner who is keeping three bearded dragons about the snake before I bought him. I went to the reptile store (not a huge megamart like petco) and asked the owner about the snakes and what he felt would be good. I bought two books, Reptiles and Amphibians for dummies, which was the only book at borders that looked even partially worthwhile with a section on pythons. I also bought the Ball Python Manual by Philippe de Vosjoli.
I found this site and while I found some of the posters to be rude or immature, I read some of the information, though I don't know how I missed the caresheets. I dislike vBulletin sites, but that's besides the point.

I waited half a month for a paycheck to come in to make sure that I could cover the expense and I read wikipedia and other information sources. Now maybe I"m just dense, but now, after owning this snake for over a month, I can finally recognize what i Really needed to know. The things that weren't obvious during my investigation and preparation.

I'm upset by what I feel is a broad assumption that I don't care or love my BP and that I should give him away. I'm trying my best and that's why I've spent time asking for help on these forums. I get anxious about every little detail and I still, after re-readign the BP manual 4 times (It's mostly about husbandry anyway. It rather sucks, IMO) I still have almost no confidence that I'm doing the right thing. Until yesterday I felt resigned to trial and error.

So make no mistake that I appreciate all the advice I've received, as well as how fast I was answered, even in the middle of the night.

But please, it is my first time owning a herp. I've made a lot of mistakes I admit, but even as hurt and ashamed as I feel reading this thread, it wouldn't add up to a fraction of how hurt I would be if my poor BP died. I love him.

At least I got the feeding schedule right. He eats every 7-8 days, though I'll stop trying to feed him the day after the first attempt. I usually try three times with 15-30 mins inbetween each attempt, then I dump the mouse for the day and wait for the next day. Last three successes he ate the second day, or the 8th day.

He doesn't defecate often, is this a sign of constipation or diet problems? I'm feeding him fuzzies right now. Next bag of ten mice will probably be five fuzzies and five hoppers.

We really are not trying to attack you. We just want to make sure you get everything setup right. If was sounding like it, I was probably in a bad mood and I apologize. I've been sick today. All herpers start out new and you did come off sounding a bit carefree about your animal, which we understand now is not true. We'll try to be more positive now.
Fuzzy mice sound a bit small, so try to feed two at a time if he's eating frozen. (Just put one at the end of the other one as it's going down, and he should keep eating it).
I'm really glad you came to us and asked questions. Now we can help make your setup perfect and know that your snake is thriving under your care!

Dr Del basically nailed it. Follow that and you should be set! :]

ummm who are these 5 people that voted that they have NO HIDE? lol

Probably people using large rack systems. Where the snake may never need a hide because it's already in a warm dark place.

[carlthuringer]

Current setup:


Things you can't see:
The heat lamp is a no-light ceramic model now. I chose a 60W bulb and I'm glad I did. The heat on the left was about 80F but on the right it's getting up to 97F inside the hide (where the probe, and the snake both are at the moment)
I just turned the lamp off to let that side cool off a bit.

Humidity is 48%. I just misted it for the second time and the whole cage is fresh from a bleaching, drying, and wiping down. I cleaned everything before putting it back inside.

There's a reptile carpet on the bottom too. The substrate is newspaper pellets and I hate them. Dusty, hard to remove, impossible to find urates. Is it really fine to just spread out newspaper on the bottom of the terrarium?

EDIT:
I also want to cover the back and sides as advised, just didn't have a chance to go to K-mart or meijer today. Considering plexiglass for the top.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

If you want to help with humidity I would recommend to try to switch to a substrate that holds humidity better such as cypress mulch, repti-bark or other type of barks

[blackcrystal22]

Current setup:


Things you can't see:
The heat lamp is a no-light ceramic model now. I chose a 60W bulb and I'm glad I did. The heat on the left was about 80F but on the right it's getting up to 97F inside the hide (where the probe, and the snake both are at the moment)

Humidity is 48%. I just misted it for the second time and the whole cage is fresh from a bleaching, drying, and wiping down. I cleaned everything before putting it back inside.

There's a reptile carpet on the bottom too. The substrate is newspaper pellets and I hate them. Dusty, hard to remove, impossible to find urates. Is it really fine to just spread out newspaper on the bottom of the terrarium?

EDIT:
I also want to cover the back and sides as advised, just didn't have a chance to go to K-mart or meijer today. Considering plexiglass for the top.

Yes, it is fine, but if you like something that looks nicer, you can use Aspen bedding. Which is very common for snakes. Don't get pine or cedar though!
If those pellets are indeed dusty, get them out of there as soon as you can, because snakes get Respiratory Infections because they can't cough up dust and it gets stuck and infected.
A good way to keep humidity in the tank, is to cover the top with foil, and tape it down (making sure no tape comes in contact with the inside of the enclosure or where the snake could reach it) and leave holes for the lamp and such.
Another thing, is look into buying a dimmer, t-stat, or rheostat, to control the UTH so it doesn't get so high.
If you like something better to look at, you can feel free to add plastic plants too and decorate. :]
Make sure to turn off the lights at night.

Otherwise your taking proper steps in the right direction. Your doing a great job.

[carlthuringer]

Make sure to turn off the lights at night.

Oh, it's on a 10-hours on, 14 hours off auto timer.

[dr del]

Hi,

Try and dial it down to keep the top temp inside the warm hide around 93-95 if you can as too high a temp can be dangerous and it's a good idea to keep a nice "buffer zone".

Also measure the temps on the glass directly above the UTH and make sure they are about the same - there is no way to predict when your snake will burrow down.

What are the temps on the cool side?

It might be a better idea to move the heat lamp into the middle so it heats the whole tank and keeps the cool end at 80-82f and let the UTH on the warm side keep it around 93f. It depends what the temp range on the tank is really.

Another thing to think about - I have a cool house (sadly only temperature wise ) so I actually put aquarium backing round the back and sides for appearance but then covered that with a layer of insulation to help keep the temps more stable. I chose to use cork sheeting as it looked nice and was easily available but there is also bubble wrap and foil stuff - I think it's called reflectix that may actually insulate better.

What are you using to control the heaters?

It's all about problem avoidance when setting up enclosures - if there are never any dangerous hot spots or tape in the enclosure he can never burn himself or get covered in glue.

And yes it is perfectly fine to simply spread out newspaper on the bottom of the tank (with the temp proviso above) - I generally use at least two layers of newspaper as they do pee a lot.

And I agree on removing the reptile carpet too.


dr del

[hoax]

Look at it like this. There are people out there that only care about what they want. They come on here and post about all of their knowladge they got from the idiot at the pet store who said oh yah just get a 110 watt lamp and a heat rock here are your two sticky thermometers and we have frozen rodents here ( this is the part where they tell you about buying from the other guys frozen rodents and a snake died from the parasite his snake got from it).

Then ignore all advice they get from here and get all indignant. then three months later they are like what is wrong with ym snake... I cant figure it our he doesnt eat he doesnt move he just lays out all day and smells funny he is kinda limp. Are they supposed to do that? ahh your wrong he is playing and my BP must have musked me....

There are alot of idiots out there...

and I am sorry to say this looked like one of those threads.

I do think you care about your snake. stick with these great people around here and they will teach you something. Everything I know is from different members on here.

[TooManyToys]

No brainer....BP's need at least 1 hide, but 2 is better - 1 for the warm side and 1 for the cool side.
PLEASE put the hide back in
BP's really need that feeling of security.

I'll second that

[rishnack]

if there in a rack they prolly be ok without one but in glass i would use one
at night i cover mine with towels and my big girl will come out and hide behind the towel as long as theres not alotta foot traffic they prolly wont stress to much, i would use a hide even in a rack though but i take em out when im going for a lock up
i make my hides outa baskets though, they look cool snakes seem to like em
and there uber cheap at any walgreens or value village (they still have VV,s?)
50 cents a peice for my last 4 lol and if they get tatterd or overly pooped in
toss em and buy new ones!
i even run em thru the dishawsher a few times and they hold up really well