Reptile & Amphibian Forums

long time herper...first time snake owner!

i just purchased a ball python for my 1st grade class room and i couldnt be happier!
what a doll! awsome temperment, very mellow snake.

we did our homework before purchasing but im just checkign with other woners to make sure all is well for our beloved 'Kaa' (hehe from the jungle book)

we finishing teh 40 gal breeder tank for teh final housing today.
we havea lock-able screen top that cant be pushed open.
we ahve a water dish...disney patern hehe... aspen beding, grape vines to climb on and a half log to hide in, heater lamp to create basking spot, and a 24" strip light with a reptisun 5.0 bulb for uvb light.
Kaa has been raised on frozen food and i will continue it.

temps are maintaining in teh mid to upper 70's on teh cool side and upper 90's on teh heat lamp side.

question 1) shoudl i get a under tank heater?

Kaa just kinda chills out in log and comes out sometimes and wanders around tehn goes back and curls up.

question 2) he is on a thursday feeding time this is teh first thursday coming up that he has been with us...is there any special thing i have to do to get him to eat...and if Kaa is reluctant to feed...how long shoudl i wait before i get concerned?

thank you for you time reading this... i just want to make sure that i am providing teh best for Kaa.
oh, just becasue he is in teh class doesntmean hes being held all teh time...esspecially now so he can adjust. and when i do take him out, class i quiet and not coming to pet him.
thanks

-slappy

The big question is how old/big is Kaa? (If you don't know age, size is perfectly acceptable) Ball Pythons make wonderfully calm pets.

If he is full grown, the cage sounds pretty good. The big trick to knowing whether or not you need a UTH is to first know what temps (AND humidity) you currently have in the cage. My two favorite tools for this are my infrared temp gun from ProExotics (http://www.tempgun.com/main.html - mine is the PE2 which has a handy laser pointer) and a little digital thermometer/hygrometer that is made by Fluker's.

In case this isn't something you've tried, I also like to use distilled white vinegar (the stuff you can get at any grocery store for CHEAP) to clean the water bowl and glass aquarium sides - as it is excellent for removing any junk from both, without posing any threat to the animal. (Do rinse these things of course!)

Congratulations

~Rebecca
-----
0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

thank you for your promt responce!

Kaa is about 12 to 15 inches at the most.

i was told he was only a few months old.

they todl me he just ate on thursday (two thawed pinkies) and should be good until this thursday.

i live rigth next to monterey, ca...im in salinas so humidity is always at least 60% or more. but i do have a big water bowl so evaporation shoudl keep humidity fine as well.

have a temp gauge but didnt get humidity since what i said above.

Kay, few months old, bout a foot and a half long, sounds about right. But... ball pythons never need prey items as small as pinkies. A regular sized adult mouse should be fine. Pinkies have just about zippo nutrition for a ball python.

Small snake, small cage. Your 40 gallon is almost guaranteed to stress the little guy out, sorry to say. Use the 10 gallon (I know, it seems tiny) until he's at least two feet long, and then you should be fine with just a 20L tank.

Use a UTH instead of overhead heating - doesn't dry out the air, gives the belly heat needed for complete digestion, and if you also get a rheostat or dimmer, you can control how hot or cold it is and thus the temperature I've tried using just the heatlamp and it doesn't cut it - my snakes didn't digest as quickly (think 6 days to poop instead of 4) and I had to work a lot harder to keep my humidity at the right level for good sheds. Just something to think about

Give the snake at least two places to hide (hot side, cold side) and pretty much just leave it alone until its eating regularly for you.

Oh, and heat - hot side doesn't need to be any hotter than 90, low 90s tops. With a UTH my ambient air temperature (hot side) is 85 with the actual bottom at 90.

Good luck with your ball!

~jenny
-----
1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

it will be more acurate
-----
jake

my addiction:
0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
0.1 amelenistic corn snake (maizy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
1.0 albino cal king (zeus)
0.0.1 wc garter (zim)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

1) LEARN THE SNAKES BODY LANGUAGE
2) there is no need for uvb lighting
3) you might not want to feed it with the kids around
4) dont feed it on the aspen (also consider carpet)
5) remember to give the kids a positive expeience because they are our future

and for a teacher you have alot of typos
-----
jake

my addiction:
0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
0.1 amelenistic corn snake (maizy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
1.0 albino cal king (zeus)
0.0.1 wc garter (zim)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

haha
i never took typing and was trying to rush during my recess break and in between 6 year old drama! haha

already been told about feeding outside of reg. tank. so i have a 10 gal to feed in. i was thinking ill just put paper towels in during feeding.

already know about the white vin. to clean tanks...ty for that anyhow.

yea not going to feed around kids...to their dismay i might add.
silly kids.

Kaa tends to sleep a lot and come out on occasiona nd roam then ends up back in hiding. seem like reg behavior from what i read...?

thanks all!

yeah balls tend to hide all day and come out in the wee hours of the morning
-----
jake

my addiction:
0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
0.1 amelenistic corn snake (maizy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
1.0 albino cal king (zeus)
0.0.1 wc garter (zim)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

I know this will not sound good but hit spell check before you post.Good luck with the ball python.Terry

the person you got this animal from is either a liar, or ignorant, or perhaps both : )

baby balls don't eat pinkie mice, they eat hopper mice, or small adults, right out of the egg. you may not know this, since you are new, but your source should have known this, for sure, so this throws everything they told you into question and doubt.

fishing for husbandry tips online can be iffy at best, and usually contradictory. get the McCurley Ball Python book, the basic one is available at our site, or here on the classifieds, for all of $11. that covers all of your husbandry detail in one reliable source. you can also upgrade to his full version for $65, it is terrific.

also check out our Snake Pro Pack and FAQ at our site, there is lots of info listed there, including feeding in a separate container (a well spread old myth).

be sure to take a look at our Hidespot FAQ as well. you need a proper hide, and not a cave. actually you should have at least two : )

best of luck.
Pro Exotics Snake FAQ- packed with so much info you could overdose

-----
robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Hmmm.... Although he said "pinkies", I'm assuming he fed rat pinks. 2 of those for a young snake isn't too bad. Though as big as it is I'd go for regular mice or rat fuzzies. That's what my snake feeds on, and she's about the same size I believe.

Sometimes she gets my hognose's leftovers (uneaten pinkie mice) as a snack though, lol.