Just want some feedback

[chronicmike]

Hey everybody,

This only my second post so be gentle ;) Anyway, I just want to get some feed back on my ball python husbandry. I have a male ball, Ive had him for over a year now, and he was around 6 months to a year old when i got him. I keep him in a large, well for him anyway glass reptile tank (3ftx1ftx16in) yes it has a screen top. I keep him on a constant temp with ambiants around 83 degr F and hot spot 90-95 degr F. The ambient i mantain with a large heat rock ( i no it sounds bad, but just hear me out) set on very low ( I keep a close eye out for burns) and the hot spot is provided with a 100w exoterra nigtlight. I use astro turf for a substrate, a large water bowl for drinking, soaking, and humididty, i dont have a hide, becuase he wont use them, he just stays under his turf. During sheds, i mist him to help with humidity. He feeds on one white mouse a week, never refused one either. I clean his cage whenever he dificates or urinates, with a mixture of mild antibactirial soap and water, then rinse thuroughly. I handle him mostly everyday (except after meals and in shed) for at least half an hour. Anyway, i guess that about sums it up. To finish this let me say, in writing this i guess im just looking for validation that im a good and fit "parent" but if something dosent sound good here, espcially from past experinces, any helpful feedback is appreciated.
Thanks for reading
Mike

[Phrasty]

welcome..

im no expert but most of what you said sounds fine. the only thing is if your BP is at least a year and a half old, i would think he never refuses a mouse cuz he pretty hungry.. one mouse a week doesnt sound like enuf food, i would think he should be on rats by now..medium ones at least. i have a BP thats only a couple months old and he's taking pretty-much adult mice, and im gonna try get him onto baby rats a soon as i can get them.. but yea, get a second opinion, but im sure he should be on rats by now. well good luck with him Mike

Phrasty

[Artemis]

Ok- well if you want honest feedback- here you go:

1. Ditch the hot rock and switch to a UTH! You may need to hook it to a rheostat (kinda like a dimmer switch) to get the temp just right, and account for substrate. To do this you will need to measure your temperatures with a digitial thermometer. Put the probe on it at various places in the cage and monitor them for a about a week to make sure they are stable. Hot rocks are not for pythons, and can/does kill them, so spend the 30 bucks and get the UTH. Then once you stabalize your temps you wont need to "keep a close eye out for burns" anymore. Even the labels of the hot rocks they sell now say they are not reccommended for pythons. You may not need the overhead light to get the temps right once you switch, as a uth will generate more ambient heat than the hot rock. Measure your temps regularly until you have them perfect. 95 degree hot spot is good, ambient sounds good.

2. Get a piece of plexiglass or use towels or even cardboard to cover the top of your tank to increase humidity. Get a humidity gauge. RH should be no lower than 50 and no higher than 80 as a stable percentage. It can drop a bit during the day (still no lower than 50) or climb a bit when you mist as long as it doesnt stay below 50 or over 80 constantly.

3. A year old snake should probably be moving on from mice to good size rats. Does he eat frozen food or live? Ideally he should be fed frozen/thawed (f/t) food, as it kills parasites and other icky things that food can pass to your snake, and it also ensures that your snake is not getting injured by his dinner if he isnt hungry. If you feed live it must always be supervised, and you should not leave the prey in the tank with him, in case he doesnt want to eat it and it freaks out and bites him. It happens.

Rats are larger and generally more nutritious. A full grown BP should be able to eat a large rat, and an adult mouse once a week is simply not enough food. Do you ever offer more than one? I am not surpised he isnt taking them as he is probably very hungry at 1 year with one mouse per week.

The very best thing is that you are concerned about your husbandry. Typically it is better to figure these things out before bringing the animal home, and 9 times out of 10 you cannot rely on the retailer of the animal (especially if a chain pet store) to instruct you on the proper husbandry of ANY new animal. Always do research first!

It is good that you are checking up on yourself, and please give me more info about how and what you feed, and I will be able to tell you better what you need to do. THere are all kinds of tips and tricks from switching from live to f/t, and from mice to rats. At this point, if you are already feeding f/t, Id buy an hopper or adult rat depending on the current girth of your bp, (prey can be about 50% larger than your BPs widest point) and just try it and see how he does with it. If not, Id try to get him on f/t first, as a live rat can do a LOT of damage to a snake.

Hope this was helpful, and if you make these few simple changes your BP will be much happier for it.

ALSO- for more info on all the above and more BP care tips, look at the very first thread in this forum, Matt Kameka has posted a fabulous BP FAQ section that covers all this and more, and its definitely worth a look!

Artemis

[Tim_Cranwill]

Originally posted by chronicmike
[B]This only my second post so be gentle ;)

Ok, I'll be gentle. :)


I keep him in a large, well for him anyway glass reptile tank (3ftx1ftx16in) yes it has a screen top.
Not the best cage, in my opinoin but you can make it work. I would suggest covering about 1/2 the screen top with something... a plasic lid, some wood, a towel. That is if you are set on keeping him in the tank... which I would understand.

See? I can be gentle. :p :D lol

I keep him on a constant temp with ambient around 83 degr F and hot spot 90-95 degr F.

That sounds ok. The 83F ambient is a bit high but other than that it sounds pretty good to me. 75F ambient or just room temp is good enough for ambient temps.

The ambient I maintain with a large heat rock ( i no it sounds bad, but just hear me out) set on very low ( I keep a close eye out for burns)

Here's where I need to speak up... :)

You keep a close eye out for burns? Isn't it a bit late if he ALREADY has the burns? Wouldn't it be best to avoid putting the snake in ANY situation where it can receive burns in the first place?

Like I said above, you ambient sounds a bit high AND you should ditch the rock that is providing that high temp... win-win situation... no rock and lower ambient. Done deal.. :)


and the hot spot is provided with a 100w exoterra nigtlight.

Not what <b>I</b> would use but it "can" work. I would recommend an under tank heater. Less prone to burns if the snake contacts the heat source, and there isn't an annoying light on the nocturnal snake 24 hours a day.

I use astro turf for a substrate, a large water bowl for drinking, soaking, and humidity, I don’t have a hide, because he wont use them, he just stays under his turf.

Ok, astro turf is for artificial golf greens and patios, not snakes. :p I just don't like the stuff. It holds bacteria and I just think it looks kind of cheap... but that's just me. This is another point where you're not doing anything "wrong" but I wouldn't house <b>MY</b> snakes that way. :)

The bowl is fine...

Give the snake two TIGHT hides. He'll use them. He NEEDS the if he's in a glass tank. He doesn't want to be in plain sight all day, every day. That's why he's hiding under the turf. Fine him a couple hides that he BARELY fits in and I bet you a frozen rat (we'll get to that later... :D) that he uses them.

He feeds on one white mouse a week, never refused one either.

Nice to hear he's a decent feeder. That's ALWAYS a huge advantage with ball pythons. :) However, 1 mouse per week for a ball that age is not enough. Get him to eat a frozen/thawed rat equal to the thickest part of his body (+ a bit) once every 7-10 days.

I handle him mostly everyday (except after meals and in shed) for at least half an hour.

Here's another point that is hard for me to argue because the snake is eating and seems to be doing fine BUT... :D Handling ball pythons too much "might" stress them out and cause them to stop eating (don't let YOUR guy read that part, he might not be aware of that fact! ;)) Just remember that if he DOES stop eating at some point, cutting back on the handling might help get him back on food. ;) :D

in writing this i guess im just looking for validation that im a good and fit "parent"

Sounds to me like you're doing ok but I do recommend all the recommendations I made. :p :D

Good luck and happy herping!! :)

[Artemis]

C Mike-

Just FYI any variations you see from what I said versus what Tim said, go with Tim's version. He has guru status on here, and im too lazy to edit out the differences in mine! ;) Also- do check out Matt's FAQ, its really good!

[chronicmike]

Hey, everbody thanks for your feedback, I do have an under tank heater (not on a rehostat) i tried it when i first bought him but it gets up to about 105-112 degr which is hooooottttttttt. If anybody knows how to hook a rehostat to it, im listening, if not where kan i get a uth with a rehostat ? As far as the feeding goes, I have been feeding live, since i was feeding mice it wasnt really a serious threat of biting (at least i didnt think). If i kant find a f/t rat, will fresh kill be allright Tim ? For substrate what do you use ? I will start covering half the top, im not set on using the glass tank, Ill probably build a custom cage on down the road, but for now i will keep it in use. As for hides, ill look around to see what i kan find. I will start implementing these changes asap, so thanks for your help so far everybody, and please help me with the above questions.

Thanks
Mike

[Vengeance]

Originally posted by Tim_Cranwill

That sounds ok. The 83F ambient is a bit high but other than that it sounds pretty good to me. 75F ambient or just room temp is good enough for ambient temps.



Really 83 for the ambiant is too high? I thought having an ambiant between 80 - 85 was what it was supposed to be at? Did not know that going to have to change my setup if that is the case.

[latazyo]

mike, go to walmart in the lamp and lighting section, kind of where they sell extension cords, etc and buy a lamp dimmer

your UTH will plug right into it and that'll plug into the wall, absolutely no hard wiring involved, just plug and play and it is $8.88 @ walmart....also at walmart in the thermometer section get the digital thermometer with probe that also shows humidity, you can put it on your cold side and run the probe to your uth and it will display both temps and the humidity all at the same time....these are a steal @ $14.88 at walmart too

this is 25 bucks worth of stuff that'll make your life waaaaaay easier

and post somepics of your snake

[corr]

The easiest rheostat is a plug-in style lamp dimmer IMO. I have purchased them at Canadian Tire (obviously not available to you - lol) and Ikea...

[corr]

D'OH! latazyo beat me to it! :D

[latazyo]

huhet

[chronicmike]

Hey, thanks, ill be going to walmart shortly. Ill post some pics when i get of my *** and take some, then figure out how to post em :) Should i get rid of the light and see what happens ? In that case, would i need to use the uth for hot spot and see what the ambient runs at? Im gonna go to the petstore today and see if i kan find a smaller rat for him (its feeding day anyway). Thanks for all yalls help. Keep it up

Thanks
Mike

[Tim_Cranwill]

You should be fine JUST using the UTH. That should be at 92F (+/- 2F) and the ambient should be just fine at room temp unless your house is very cold. But that's for YOU to figure out. Just play around with what you have and find something that works. What I use is mid-high 70's on the cool side and low-mid 90's on the warm side.

If you can't find f/t feeders (most pet shops should have some), pre-killed or stunned will be fine. Buying live feeders at pet stores can be expensive though.

Good luck! :)

[latazyo]

I don't use lights on any of my snakes

[chronicmike]

Hey,

He just got feed his first rat, It was kinda a nervous time for me :), I stunned the rat (hit it over the head) before i put it in there, by the way, any suggestions on good ways to stun/kill rats is appreciated :) Since it was stunned at frst all it did was lay there and all he did was stare at it, i went and got a pair of tongs, and wiggled it in front of him, it didnt take long from there :) It may have been stunned, but it still put up a good fight. He only coiled it once at first then after about a minute he started using his whole body ( i guess he's just used to killing smaller pry items) Anyway, while i was out i picked up plug and play rehostat and a new thermometer with a hydrometer( humidity meter). Thanks Latazyo. I got rid of the heat rock and the light, and right now the temp is currently at 78 with a hot spot at 84, (thats with the rehostat all the way up) maybe itll get warmer as time passes ? The humidity is at around 48%. One quick question, the rat was bleeding pretty good after i hit it, ofcourse it got on the cage floor, should i change his substrate right away, or can i wait until tomorrow, when he is in a better mood to be handled? By the way, what do you keep the your snakes on Tim ? And by the way, i guess i owe you a rat ;) put a hide box in there for him, and he is in it right now :) Ill keep you updated for the next couple of days, that is if anybody is intrested. Thanks again everybody.

Mike

Mike

[Tim_Cranwill]

LOL... I'm on my way to Georgia to pick up my free rat! lol :D

Sounds good, Mike. It's nice to see someone willing to ask for AND take advice to better care for their snakes. :)

I house my ball pythons in Rubbermaid containers but I have over 30 of them. I totally understand a "casual keeper" wanting to house theirs in a tank. It <b>can</b> work with the few adjustments you've made.

Hopefully the heat pad will get up to or just over 90F over the next couple hours. But one thing, where is your temperature probe set? It should be IN his warm hide. That way you know what exactly temps he's getting when he's actually using his basking/hiding spot.

Talk to you soon. :)

[chronicmike]

Hey,

Any perticular color you want the rat :)
Anyway , the probe is under his astro turf, right under his hide(although now he is in the cool side hide), right know i have the light back on to help bring temp up, is that okay?If the temp dosent get up, kan anyone recomend a good uth to try? Damn , 30 balls, you must be a busy guy ;) but for real, i kan undertsand, i love mine :) What kind of substrate do you use Tim? Im glad i found people willing to help without alot o sarcasm and rudeness :) After all the whole reason for this site is the betterment of captive care for reptiles, right. Thanks again
Talk to you later,

Mike

[Tim_Cranwill]

The light will do fine to bring up the temp a bit but if you notice he's having bad sheds, it could be because of the light. Just keep it on the warm side and tinker with it until you get the temps and humidity you're looking for.

I use newspaper. It doesn't look very nice (unless you get the swimsuit model picture ;) ) but it's quick, easy and cheap! :) If you want something that looks nice, you can try aspen shavings or bark mulch.

:)

[Kevin McRae]

Originally posted by Tim_Cranwill
I use newspaper. It doesn't look very nice (unless you get the swimsuit model picture ;) ) :)

lol............:D

Agreed!

[robitza]

My bp refuses pinky rats. They are about the same size as a small adult mouse. The 2 bp I had years ago also refused rats. I could only get them to eat mice. The biggest would take 2 large mice a month and the smaller one would only eat 1 if that. It was WC and a very picky eater.

To me, and I am not an expert, everything seems ok. I would supply a hide though. He may not use it now but eventually should.

[chronicmike]

Hey,
Just an update, everything is going good, tempratures at around 79 and 92, had to get a new uth today though, itll be worth it aslong as i kan keep the right temps. Thanks again everybody for your help. Ill see yall around

Mike