Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, i just picked up a ball python about a month ago, and from what I've gathered he can't be more than two, two and a half months old, maybe three if we push the envelope a bit.

Anyway, my boyfriend has a cali-striped kingsnake, and recently she broke out with a serious underbelly rash (redness, peeling scales, the works) after he cleaned her cage with bleach. He's been posting on forums asking for advice, and today he finally took her to the vet to be looked at.

The vet said that bark is not a preferred bedding for snakes (cali-striped or pythons, from what I've heard) and that lighting is a necessity to keeping this creatures healthy and happy.

For the past month I've had Wally on Repti-bark natural bedding (i think) at my boyfriend's reccomendation, and he seems to be doing alright. I also used a 25 wat moonlight bulb for about twelve hours a day, but I'm not sure he really notices anyway.

Generally, he's a very healthy, happy, and snuggly snake, and I'd like to keep him that way.

Should I switch out his bedding to something more python friendly, or am I alright with what I have going on right now?

I know nothing of kingsnakes but balls are fine on reptibark, newspaper, aspen, cypress mulch, coconut husk, papertowels, cage liner, etc. pretty much anything EXCEPT cedar and pine.

As for light -- balls don't need it. The moonlight bulb is fine if you want to watch him cruise at night but that's the only reason you'd need to have a light in a balls cage.

Congratulations on your new baby!

Good luck!
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Tosha
JET Pythons

Get a new vet!

I agree, find a new vet. While maybe not ideal, the bark shouldn't have caused that. You did say you are using a moonlight bulb on your snake, I hope that either A it is not the only heat source. B you are watching it doesn't raise temps to high when used with your heat source.

That being said, reptibark is fir bark. Some people have had issues with it/believe it is not great for snakes. For those that do use wood based beddings, it seems most use Aspen or Cypress bedding, or coconut fiber beddings such as EcoEarth or Bed-A-Beast

Many of us use nothing more than newspaper.

A snake does NOT need special lighting to be healthy, that would be most lizards etc that are active during the day and needs UV lighting to be healthy.
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3.2.0 Corn Snakes (Jareth, Morkai, Gunner, Selene, Angela)
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Yorkshire Terrier (Ragnar)
0.1.0 Kenya Sand Boa het Snow (Moo)
0.1.0 Red Tail Boa(Annabelle)

Thanks for the advice, guys.

As of right now, he's got that little 25 wat one about a foot away from the cage, so it's simply for ambiance (he's a spoiled snake), mostly because I don't want heat to be a factor.

We're located right in the heart of the desert, so on average his cage varies between 83 degrees during the day and about 79 degrees at night on the side of the cage with his hide, and between 80 and about 76 degrees on the side with his water dish.
I don't want to make the little guy suffer.

I looked into that coconut fiber on google, and I read that it increases the humidity in the snake's cage. My only source of humidity in the cage right now is the water dish. Should I invest in the bedding? Should I start looking for a humidifier?

Did i mention yet that the creature is spoiled?

I would bring the temp to 85-88 as day temperature on the hot side with the cool side in the upper 70s. No lighting is necessary. Its an option. under the tank heaters such as heat pads, flexwatt tape do just fine as long as you have a thermosato for it because they can overheat. Cal King snakes don't require so much attention to humidity they adapt to the enviroment really well. I have always used newspaper for all of my snakes easy to clean and economical. I have liked the look of aspen sheddings but never used them myself.

Rich