Plz help. How to keep balls in rubbermaids...

pablo111 · 02-07-05, 01:57 AM

I keep reading that you should keep a ball python in a rubbermaid. I need more info though. How do you maintain temperature, humidity, and ventilation?

How is this better than a glass aquarium with a screen top? This is how I used to do it but I've been out of the hobby for 10 years.

I really need help. Please no "Just look around BS'. If you wanna help, just tell me how to do it

Derrick · 02-07-05, 09:40 AM

For ventilation you put holes in it with a drill or with a soldering. I prefer the soldering iron because the holes are cleasn and dont need to be debured.

To maintain the temp use a human heating pad under one end. low or medium usually does the trick. Make sure to get one that doesnt have a timed shutoff. If you have more than a few look into a rack system. http://www.ballpython.ca/The%20Rack.htm the link will give you an ide what I mean.

As far as humidity goes I control that with the amount of ventlation I provide. the water bowl should provide enough humidity through evaporation

mykee · 02-07-05, 11:54 AM

The information that you are "demanding" is essentially a books' worth of information, so do some research like the rest of us. Do a search on this site, for "Rubbermaids" or search the "General Enclosure Discussion" forum, and nose around, or go to the pet store and buy a book on the captive husbandry of ball pythons. P.S. You'll find that unless you change your "attitude", you'll get little help. Most members will point you in the right direction, but no one will spoon feed you.

zero&stich · 02-07-05, 12:48 PM

Well said mykee. I agree 100%.
The info you requested is easily accessable and if the question wasn't so demanding maybe more responses would have come to you pablo.

Here's a pic of my setup.

brutus · 02-07-05, 12:59 PM

like everyone else said. Hit your search key and do what the rest of us do.

Spirit · 02-07-05, 02:21 PM

Well I don't know what to say here... I just set up a rubbermaid viv with SEVERAL large water bowls, same temps, etc, and my humidity levels shot up a whopping 5%.

*blink* lol

Speaking of heating pads though, the one I'm using now is only 25 watts... aren't the ones you're all talking about something like 175?

Edited to add it's one of those 11x17" reptile ones... not drug store human kind.

rwg · 02-07-05, 02:34 PM

The more ventilation, the lower your humidity will be. Make sure you have adequate ventilation for breathing, but you may be able to reduce it a bit to up your humidity.

The more surface area presented by your water bowls, the higher the humidity. Deep bowls do nothing for you. The surface area is related to the sqaure of the diameter, so one 8" bowl will do more for you than 2 4" bowls in terms of raising humidity.

The warmer the water source, the higher will be your cage humidity. You could try moving it to the warm side of the box.

If you cant get the desired levels using these controls, consider getting a room humidifier.

other Roy

Tim_Cranwill · 02-07-05, 02:49 PM

The point of the rubbermaid isn't entirely or even mostly about humidity. It's also about not being glass and not being 100% clear. Then there are the cost and space benefits...

peterm15 · 02-07-05, 03:55 PM

sorry just some imput... well a question... could a melimine or plywood enclosure be used successfully, better than a glass..

greenman1867 · 02-07-05, 04:03 PM

Yes if you wanted that, I use melamine for my Boas, BUT the cost, size and weight make this impractical for my particular needs.

If you only had one BP and wanted to make a really nice BP viv, then for sure that would work. Check out some of the pics in the enclosure pic forum.

Here is my BP set up, and my Boa Emclosure I made this week.

<IMG SRC='http://usera.imagecave.com/greenman1867/BPSetup.JPEG'>

<IMG SRC='http://usera.imagecave.com/greenman1867/BaosViv.JPG'>

Spirit · 02-07-05, 04:19 PM

That last pic looks similar to how I have my glass viv set up. I basically have about 1/3 of the floor space, dedicated to a rubbermaid "hide" (part on the UTH, part off). The substrate in the hide is forest bark (for humidity), and in the viv, I use aspen (very low humidity).

I'm going to keep my setup as is (once I can work out the bugs -humidity, temps, etc) but to stay on the topic of this thread, what dimentions would be best for an adult ball if someone wanted to HOUSE their snake in rubbermaid?

My tank is 36Lx18Wx12H, and the rubbermaid hide is (I'm guessing) 12Lx16Wx6H... I could be WAY off, but that sounds about right. I think... lol

It's fine for him NOW (he's only MAYBE 17"), but not so much when he's full grown.

greenman1867 · 02-08-05, 05:46 AM

The rubbermaids (actually sterilites) I have set aside for when my Bps get a bit bigger ar 33"Lx19"Wx7"D.

I think this is pretty normal for people who have several and are using a rack system.

Slannesh · 02-08-05, 06:03 AM

Everyone else has pretty much given you the info you need but i'm going to comment on the manner of your request pablo.

Demanding stuff isn't a good way to start out. Find the search button and at least try to use it. You'll get much better answers when you say "I did a search and found the following information on using a rubbermaid that seems to be conflicting... (list conflicting info) can anyone clear that up a bit?"

Than you will with the demand that you made. We're here to help but we're not here to be at your beck and call just because you're too lazy to look it up yourself.

Consider this a personal attack or friendly advice as you see fit. It's meant as the latter, but a lot of people take such things as the former

Now onto the helpful portion of the day....

Assuming we're talking about an adult ball, the 31" x 16" x 6" rubbermaids work great. I too use an old soldering iron to punch holes (Make sure it's not one you'll want to use for actually soldering ever again, the plastic gets into it pretty good making it useless for anything else) and of course be careful to do it in a well ventilated area as burning plastic usually gives off toxic fumes. Punch just a few holes in each side and none in the top to start, set up your tank with one end on your heating pad (human or pet store type, it doesn't really matter which) Calibrate the temps accordingly and put a water dish in it. Give it a day or so and then doublecheck temps and humidity. If you need less humidity punch a couple more holes in each side.. if you need more then get a bigger water dish or move it closer to the hot spot. Make sure you're doing all of this before you get the snake as well since you don't want to be messing with basic husbandry stuff with an animal in the tub.