new to everything need help!

frankadank · 02-19-17, 10:39 PM

hello everyone.
names frank and i'm over here in ohio and having trouble trying to get into the hobby. to start out i've always loved snakes, sharks being my favorite animal than snakes. always wanted one and finally allowed to get one after 10 years! so i've been needing help getting started and don't know many people in the hobby so i wanted to join a forum and get some expert advice. so hello to everyone and thanks for taking time to possibly help me. i've decided first snake would be a ball python to get started (:. i've been doing many many many weeks of reading and watching videos and got some good knowledge but it's all different when you try it out. within the past 2 weeks i got all the equipment and everything to try and have a happy snake. unfortunately my rooms in the basement and it gets quite cold.. 62-64 in winter. now i purchased a 20G tank, got warm and cold hides and even a middle log hide. since it's cold and i had trouble with the small UTH so i got a bigger one made for 30-40G but still is small. didn't do too much.. so i had to purchase a ceramic heater as well and it did some help to the warm side but my cold side was too cold like 68 so i also got a 75 watt red night light and in my opinion the temperatures are finally just about right. my UTH & ceramic heater are on a thermostat set around 98 so the bottom warms up thru the glass. i have a temperature gun so i am watching it. few questions. too much heating sources? scares me but it gets the right temps. thermostat probe placement is bothering me.. i have it under the tank on the heat mat but feel like inside might be better? under the warm hide is around 90. been running all this stuff for a week now trying new stuff making sure i can house my hopefully female bumblebee. if you're still reading and have good advice please help!! thanks so much for giving me your time and hope to meet some cool people!

GyGbeetle · 02-20-17, 11:47 AM

It does sound like it might be too much heat on the cold side. They need a cooler side that is around 75-80 degrees F. Your warm side sounds fine.

What about water setup? They will like to soak, and you'll need something to put into their tank as well.

I live in an arid area, and keep mostly tropical snakes. It can get as low as 30-40 degrees at night, so I try to keep the house thermostat around 75 degrees ambient. It can get as cold as 70 degrees, but they are (sometimes) smart and will stay closer to their warm side if that ever happens.

What about your humidity? What kind of substrate do you think you may use? Balls should be kept moist too, which will impact the heating in the tank as well.

I'd try to stick with heating sources that are specified for that tank size. I.e. if you have a 20G tank, use the UTH for 20G, instead of the larger ones. They need a gradient heat source, and when you bump up the size of those UTH, it may prevent that gradient from happening.

Things to keep in mind when you bring home baby. Get the feeding schedule from whomever you're purchasing from. If they feed every 2 weeks, try to keep that feeding schedule for the first month. If they are feeding them a fuzzy rat, try to keep them on that feeding size for the first month. It may not be appropriate from everything you're reading, but it'll be less of a shock for baby when she comes home. And then you can bump up feeding schedule/size to what is healthy for her. Also try to wait a week before your first feeding.

Another note on feeding. There is always going to be preference on whether to feed live or fresh kill or frozen thawed. If you feed live, STAY WITH THE SNAKE AT ALL TIMES. Never, EVER, leave a snake unattended with live prey. Fresh kill, I wouldn't leave in their tank for more than an hour, just because it may get too ripe too soon, especially with the heat source. But I don't have a lot of experience with this, because all of my babies have been able to eat within that first hour, or the food gets tossed.

Keep baby on paper towels the first month. Why? Mites. You can't see mites on substrates. You can see mites on white paper towels. As a preventative measure, you may want to prophylactically treat her as if she has mites, and definitely treat the enclosure and everything that goes into that enclosure (hides, plants, etc).

The first week you're going to want to hold her, hug her, kiss her, squeeze her (or maybe that's just me). Try not to. Again, she just met you. She needs to get to know her surroundings and your smells first.

I think you're onto the right path, by having the setup first and testing everything out. I wish I had done that with all my purchases, so I could test out my ability to keep the snakes happy and healthy. I did it more by trial and error, and although I learned a lot, I would not do it again like that.

Post some pics of your new baby once you get her!

frankadank · 02-20-17, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GyGbeetle

It does sound like it might be too much heat on the cold side. They need a cooler side that is around 75-80 degrees F. Your warm side sounds fine.

What about water setup? They will like to soak, and you'll need something to put into their tank as well.

I live in an arid area, and keep mostly tropical snakes. It can get as low as 30-40 degrees at night, so I try to keep the house thermostat around 75 degrees ambient. It can get as cold as 70 degrees, but they are (sometimes) smart and will stay closer to their warm side if that ever happens.

What about your humidity? What kind of substrate do you think you may use? Balls should be kept moist too, which will impact the heating in the tank as well.

I'd try to stick with heating sources that are specified for that tank size. I.e. if you have a 20G tank, use the UTH for 20G, instead of the larger ones. They need a gradient heat source, and when you bump up the size of those UTH, it may prevent that gradient from happening.

Post some pics of your new baby once you get her!

thanks for replying! i do have a water dish just didn't mention it, its big enough for her to possibly go in if she wants to soak. humidity is doing good between 50-60% im using aspen but was looking into getting reptibark so the humidity stays up a little higher. as for the UTH i had the 20g one but it wasn't warming up the hot side enoug. with the 30G UTH i still have a pretty good radiant since it covers 1/3 maybe 1/2 but not fully 1/2 of the bottom. i have the UTH & CHE on the thermostat but the 75 watt night light just plugged in. her cold side is around 70-78 so i'm thinking that's a good enough cold side, right? thanks for the response! and i will be posting pics of her (:

SnakeyJay · 02-21-17, 04:29 AM

I'd get rid of the red light (especially as it's not on a stat) and just buy a bigger wattage ceramic bulb...

sounds like your on the right path tho and at least your setting up the enclosure and tweaking things before the baby snake comes.. most people sadly don't prepare like you are.