Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So i finnaly picked someone who i thought would send me a nice baby ball. It will be here next week, anyone have an pointers on exact cage setup and such or any links would be appreciated.

I see the breeders just keep them in a tubberware with a bowl and a hide spot, does not seem to great too me but i read they do not move around a lot.

So far I have 10 gallon, top, cedar bedding with a thin layer of organic topsoil on the bottom to hold some moister better. 10-20 gallon cobra mat with rheostat to cut power down so its not too hot.

Another question I have it i see these exo terra hides and stuff that are suppose to provide more moister for shedding and stuff that are like 30$, isn't the same as a rubbermain with a hole cut in it, or is it made of something special to hold humidity.

Thanks in advance

GET RID OF CEDAR BEDDING!!!!! It will kill your ball!

what do you recommend then

aspen, newspaper, cypress mulch, coco soft, carefresh, etc

you need good basic information. please purchase asap a book that can answer most of your questions. just to get you started i am suggesting these books. keep in mind you can not ever learn too much about the animals you keep. you are the care taker.

- BALL PYTHONS IN CAPTIVITY by Kevin McCurley

- THE COMPLETE BALL PYTHON by Kevin McCurley

- BALL PYTHONS: HISTORY, NATURAL HISTORY, CARE AND BREEDING by Dave and Tracy Barker "award winning book"
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Ditch the cedar and wash that cage out. Cedar contains oils that are toxic to reptiles. I use aspen bedding for all my snakes, but there is a wide variety of things that you can use. Cheapest option is newspaper or paper towels. You can make hideboxes out of damn near anything. Rubbermaid tubs and other similar items work great. Most of my adults have large plastic bowls I got from the dollar store and cut a semi circle in to. For my hatchlings I get those clear plastic saucers that they sell at Lowes to put under flower pots. I paint them black and cut a semi circle-costs about 50 cents to make. For heat, use the under tank mat and make sure the basking area is in the 88-92 degree range. Make sure he has a sturdy clean water bowl. Any cage decoration is optional and up to you, just make sure it's safe and non toxic. As another poster already mentioned, get yourself a quality book on ball pythons in short order and arm yourself with knowledge.

I have the giant bags of aspen bedding i use for my mice cages, i figured it was too dry.

should i ditch the layer of organic top soild for humidity too? my house is normally 75 and not very humid.

the snakes about 2 months old and supposly is eating live hoppers, im hoping i can switch to frozen mice as i have a feezer full of them

I also highly recommend you purchase a book as an excellent hands on resource as stated. Posting questions here should be only if the resources available won't provide enough or sufficient enough answers.

The most successful substrates tend to be printed or unprinted newspaper and Aspen. I use aspen for all my snakes and mice with much success. I use Cypress mulch in my hides so that will be humid for them.
As Dave and Tracy Barker mention in their book (Ball Pythons of the World, Vol. 2) Ball Pythons do not need ubiquitous constant high humidity. They are prairie/savannah snakes, not jungle snakes. A humid hide is probably all they will ever need unless you get a troublesome shed. That is, a hide with a good, non-molding moist substrate. Cypress works well for this because it takes almost a month to start developing mold even when heavily wetted.
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0.1 crazy cat
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Plus, once they go into "the blue" (their eyes get a milky blue color before shedding), you can soak them in luke-warm water for a few minutes. Usually takes care of shedding issues.
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As was already mentioned by someone, a humid hide is all you really need. If you use a plastic container with a lid and a hole in it as a hide box, you can use cypress mulch or sphagnum moss to make a humid hide.

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1.1 Cal Kings (Spot and Fry)
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I wouldn't use a 10 gallon tank for a baby ball, just too much wasted space and leaves the ball python feeling rather exposed. The reason breeders all use small rubbermaid/sterlite shoebox style containers is that is all a ball python baby needs.

They want to feel secure and comfortable, with dark tight hides and proper temperatures. The more secure and 'comfortable' they feel, the easier they acclimate to their new home and eat regularly.

Plastic containers have the added feature of holding humidity well, much better than a glass tank with a screen top. Many plastic containers have tightly sealing lids which makes escapes difficult to impossible.

For baby balls that I had in the past, I kept them in a Sterlite number 1884 style container (15 Qt. or 14L). The lid fit tightly and the lid had a sort of lock on the latch (well you had to lift it up by levers on the ends to lift the lid up). I drilled holes in the lid (4 rows of 6 holes each) and a couple on the ends for air flow. As a substrate I just used paper towel. Hides, medium sized margarine containers (500-900g size...it should be a little bigger than the diameter of your snake, coiled up). Cut a hole in the side which is big enough for your snake to get in easily, with room to spare. I have also used take out dishes as many are black and a good diameter and height for young ball pythons.

Water I use a small ceramic bowl I bought at Dollarrama. Typically they are 2 for a dollar and are about 4-5" diameter.

I placed a heat pad under the bottom set on low (I tend to use human heating pads which don't have an auto-off feature) set to low (as I find these never get above 95 surface (inside) but you have to make sure they are not squished under heavy tanks..as they are not designed to have any weight on them. Plastic containers tend to have little 'feet' so wider ones can have the pad between the 'feet' but still get warm enough to meet the snake needs. The smaller containers are just not heavy enough to be a concern.

As others mentioned, no cedar. Its not even good to feed any rodent to a snake which has been housed on cedar, as the toxic oils are all over the rodent and can kill your snake over time.

You don't need that soil either...its not needed with ball pythons. I find in plastic containers, misting when they are going into shed works fine. Or having a moist hide provided during shed time. A wide bowl of water tends to keep humidity at a good range in plastic containers too. The only time I really do have to mist or provide a moist hide for my snakes is during the winter..when the humidity inside my apartment is practically non existent (as low as 5-10%). In the summer, it tends to be around 60% or higher...depending on the outside humidity and whether I have the AC on or windows open.
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PHLdyPayne

Darn, wish i didn't buy a 10 gallon now. I did buy small butter bowl looking plastic food containers and spray painted them green so its dark inside the hide. I bought a 5" water bowl and aspen for substrate. The top is a steel mesh but i covered it with plastic to keep it humidity inside. For heating i ordered 11" flex watt and was going to cut a section 11" x 6" and wire it up on a rheostat, i also have some cobra mats that I could use as well.

I got two baby balls so i have exact double of all this, but if its a lot better to use the plastic like you were talking about I may switch the tanks.

Do have any pics of the kind of set-up you had? I looked on walmart.com and couldn't find those containers.

is this what you are talking about http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10401049

looks pretty much like what I have. 11"x16"x7" in dimensions...(width x length x height).
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PHLdyPayne