Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thanks for everyones help with my questions. I have him in a rubbermaid container right now with a couple hide boxes, a water bowl he keeps dupming and a thermometer and humidity, the humidity is 50-60% and then goes to about 80 when he dumps his water and that goes everywhere. The temp is about 80 degrees. does everything sound good? He ate 2 mice last night no problem. and has been acting normal today and laying in his water bowl and under the heat lamp. I am getting a 55 gallon tank friday someone is giving to me. I am going to put a divider in it so he only has half so it is not too nuch room for him, and also if we decide to get another one (we are enjoying this so much already) it can have the other half of the tank. I am going to put some black poster board up to darken the tank so he feels safe, and then use the same hides, UTH and gauges and heat lamp. so far so good.

Congrats, Sounds like one happy snake. Claude

Sounds pretty good. You may eventually find a tank divider is more trouble than it is worth, but it is a good idea, so go ahead and try it.

As far as your water dish that he keeps flipping, what are you using? I prefer to use heavy ceramic dogs bowls (you can occasionally find some really pretty ones on clearance at petstores) with a good glaze on them that is free of any pitting or "crazing" (lots of tiny little cracks). I avoid any that are rounded at the bottom or have an out-turned lip that the snake could use to flip the bowl.

Also, for cleaning, everybody has their own favorite solutions, but I prefer to use distilled white vinegar (the cheap stuff you can buy by the gallon any place that sells groceries). It's a good glass cleaner in general, but it is also great at disinfecting a previously used cage, and for cleaning anything you can think of out of a water bowl. Just rinse once or twice after cleaning, and that's all there is to it. It won't harm your animal(s).

Just thought I'd put that out there. I know you said you weren't new to reptiles, just new to snakes. Good luck!

~Rebecca
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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)

Is the tank divider necessary. Is it okay to let him have free roam over the whole 55 gallon tank, I didn't want him getting stressed. I would rather let him have run of the place. Thanks for the info.
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Human boys 2&7
Ball python 1 male
American pit bull terriers 3 (2male,1 fem)
Ferret 1 male
Fish ????

I can't tell you for certain what will stress your snake and what won't. You said he is 3 years old, right?

Would you know if he was kept in a large cage or a breeder's rack system before you bought him? I ask because he is large enough, that there is a fair chance the 55 gallon tank wouldn't be too big... but if he has lived all of his life in a rack system, he won't be used to anything like that kind of space and there is a good chance that that much space would be scary to him.

My 3-year-old female lives in a 33L tank, which is only slightly smaller than the footprint of a 55. Since we are talking about ground-dwelling snakes, it is the footprint of the cage that matters most.

Definitely, if you try the whole 55 gallon tank on him, ensure that he has plenty of hiding places to increase his feelings of security - and snakes like to have cramped places to hide in too, so don't use a whole bunch of hides that he 'rattles around' in.

There are a few signs snakes will give that they are feeling stressed, but a lot of it isn't easy to explain. If you run into feeding problems after changing his cage, there is fair chance that stress would be to blame, and you should scale back his cage. That being said, this is still late winter, and plenty of mature Ball Pythons are fussy about eating at this time of year anyway.

Others here may be able to advise you better on this. I just know that few tank dividers are up to the kind of push-and-shove exploration that a snake will probably use - and therefore the tank divider may well turn out to be more trouble than it is worth.

Whatever you decide to do, watch his reactions. If he takes to hiding not only all day but also all night for over a week... it may be because he feels overwhelmed... or he's just a lazy BP.

A lot of these little nuances are something you just need to develop a feel for.

Good luck with him! I'm not sure how helpful this may have been.

~Rebecca
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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)

thanks for the info. I think I will give him the whoole tank at first and see how he acts. he seems pretty easy going, so far. so hopefully he will do well in the big tank. hanks for your help.
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Human boys 2&7
Ball python 1 male
American pit bull terriers 3 (2male,1 fem)
Ferret 1 male
Fish ????