First time buyer - Page 2

daver676 · 05-06-04, 02:18 PM

My guess is that a pinkie is too small. Feed it a rat that is the same girth as the thickest part of it's body. Don't even bother with mice, cause trying to switch a mouse feeder over to rats can be a pain in the ***, unless of course you want to be feeding your bp 5 mice per feeding when it gets big, then by all means.... Good call on the tank downsize.

What are your temps and humidity like?

nita · 05-06-04, 02:19 PM

Young ball pythons should be eating at least fuzzy/hopper mice. They are too big for pinkies. The meal item should be at the size of your snake at his largest girth.

PS..... I researched for almost a year before I got my first snake. There are many very knowledgable breeders here as well as hobbyist, use their knowledge and learn from others mistakes so that your snake doesnt' have to suffer. Using a glass tank keep a close eye on your temps and humidity as they are hard to manage in glass, I found out the hard way and ended up with 2 snakes with RI's. We are in rubbermaids now and doing much better. Good luck with your new pet.

Cruciform · 05-06-04, 02:41 PM

My baby BP is the oddest little fella.

He's got lots of hides, but his favorite place to curl up is under the water bowl that I had previously notched for the baby corn to be able to hide under.

So when you look in his rubbermaid you see a bunch of nice, snug, empty hides, and a dog's water bowl sitting on top of a snake. It actually ends up off the floor off the cage once he's in place. And he still hasn't spilled any of the water yet.

I'll try and get a pic of it

sapphire_moon · 05-06-04, 02:52 PM

lol.

tanks are crappy for humidity. Thats why people were saying get a rubbermaid.

try an adult mouse or fuzzy rat.

smeagel · 05-06-04, 04:52 PM

what size of rubbermaid should i get for my 9 month ball?
and my adult bal python

knads06 · 05-06-04, 04:57 PM

Right now my tank is reading 78 degrees F on the left side and 90 degrees F on the right side. As far as humidity goes im gonna work on that one tomorrow. Cruciform, my Bp does the same exact thing as yours. ITs currently balled up inside under the dogs water bowl. One of my friends recommended using that and he said his bp loves it in there. What size tank does everyone have. I kinda wish i got the 20 gallon high tank instead of the 20 gallon long tank. He's still a baby and can almost reach the top, looks like ill be puttin some heavy rocks on top so he doesnt escape. Does anyone use a dimmer switch to control the amount of heat their lamp gives off??????

smeagel · 05-06-04, 05:25 PM

right now i have a 50 gallon tank with the sliding glass doors at the front with a standard slinding glass door lock on it

nita · 05-06-04, 06:55 PM

My BP's are kept in 33"X16"X6" rubbermaids. BP's arent' arboreal so they don't usually climb. When I had mine in a 33 Gal tank they never climbed, they would hide under their rocks and just cruise around at night. My hatchling rack will hold 8"X5"X13" rubbermaids. The top of your tank should have locks of some sort on it, my 33 Gal tank had 4 little latches that hooked under the edge of the tank so that they couldn't push it up.

sapphire_moon · 05-06-04, 08:16 PM

WHY do you have a lamp?
Get a UTH or human heat pad, lamp dimmer, and digital thermometer.

Hook the heating unit up to the lamp dimmer, hook the lamp dimmer into the wall, put the probe over the uth (the UTH being on the outside, the probe on the inside).

You will never have a tank that is tall enough that they can't reach the top.
As already said, ball pythons are more ground snakes, not arboreal, they NEED the length not the height.

knads06 · 05-06-04, 09:53 PM

Right now i have both the UTH which is underneath the tank ofcourse and a red heat bulb hanging above the tank. Do i need both or is bad for the snake??? I was told to use a UTH and a heat bulb above...........its reading 92-95 degrees F right now, too hot??????

sapphire_moon · 05-07-04, 05:29 AM

no, 92-95 is a great temp, but a UTH alone can get well over 100 degrees, HOW are you measuring your heat?

If you are using a UTH uncontrolled and a heat lamp, it is way to hot.

if you are using both, get rid of the lamp, get a lamp dimmer or rheostat, plug it in, and take the temps down to proper levels.

If you are using a dial thermometer, in my opinion they suck, they are measuring air temps, same with those strip stick on things, get a digital thermometer and put the probe over the UTH.

Again, HOW are you measuring temps?

knads06 · 05-07-04, 10:37 AM

I have two strip stick thermometers in the upper left and right hand corners. I understand what your talking about because if the one in the upper right is reading 90 degrees F way up top then its definitely going to be hotter down below. Ill have to invest in a digital thermometer today.........

marisa · 05-07-04, 11:09 AM

Don't worry you won't have to "invest"

You can usually pick up a decent one with probe at Walmart, Canadian Tire or other home hardware stores for 10 bucks.

Marisa

daver676 · 05-07-04, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by knads06
I have two strip stick thermometers in the upper left and right hand corners. I understand what your talking about because if the one in the upper right is reading 90 degrees F way up top then its definitely going to be hotter down below. Ill have to invest in a digital thermometer today.........

Holy CRAP! I bet it's sweltering down on the bottom of the tank! I'd fix that up ASAP.

BoidKeeper · 05-07-04, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Young ball pythons should be eating at least fuzzy/hopper mice.

IMO a ball python should never be given mice of any kind at any age. Balls grow up large enough to eat rats and are born big enought to eat babie rats, i.e. pinkies. Almost all snakes reach an adult size that is large enough for them to need a rat to constitute a proper size meal is born large enough to eat a baby rat. What I mean is adult snake eats adult rat, baby snake eats baby mice. Balls are picky feeders as it is and if you start them off on mice they may want to stick with mice. Then you get a snake that needs to eat 10 mice at a time to constitue a proper meal when they are full grown. Reaching that full grown size will also take a lot longer while on a diet of mice as well.
My two cents,
Trevor