Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok hi, most of you have probably taken a glance at me from a whole variety of posts recently...so if you dont no, im 14, and planning to get my first long term herp, a ball python. ( I have kept short term herps from the yard, small pet stores, etc, but you all no how the sick little cheap things end up...)

Ok first, i plan on CB, if i cant get that my backup is CH, if i cant find either of those ( which i doubt) i will wait. I expect to get my pet at a local, once a month expo close to the end of summer, i plan to either get a nice normal, male or female, so when its time in 10 years or so, it will be well established to breed, if i decide to take that path.

Secondly, i plan to put the new baby in a 10 Gallon for only a short time, so i can get it accoustumed to me feeding and minor handling. Then it will move to a nice 28 Gallon Melamine Cage that i built myself originally for rats, but instead its just been unused.

Third, feeding. I have talked it over with my parents, the double lined ziploc and tupperware storage idea went well with them, and i also explained that frozen mice arent any different from the chicken that will be in there. (P.S. Im making sure to label it, i dont think anyone in my family happens to prefer nice ground fuzzy burgers or pinky parmesean anytime soon...lol )
I plan to feed in a separate area, once a week at ,least while it is young, so my hands will not stimulate any feeding once i move my hand into the cage. As you no, i plan on F/T instead of Live or Pre-killed. I also plan to use hemostats(sp) to dangle the prey for my new life long friend.

Fourth, Basic Husbandry. On the bottom of the cage i plan on using a heat mat with a control so i can regulate temperatures as needed. Also a small lamp will be provided for basking at times, it will have a lamp dimmer to control. Two thermometers will also be provided to check temps on both the warm(85-90) and cool(75) sides. For Humidity, I plan on a hygrometer to check Humidity. I will use either bigger or smaller water bowls to get a right humidity level in the tank, at least 60%. I will also provide a humid hide, for about 70%-80% if needed. Along with the humid hide, i will also provide at least one hide box, for hides at different temps.
For substrate, while in the ten gallon, i will use newspaper, so its easy, and he/she wont be in there long so it doesnt have to look the best. for the 28 Gallon, i will probably use something such as Aspen Shavings, due to how much we have from other animals when we buy the big lots of em, and only use a little bit of them.

Fifth, Medical. I understand most of the medical problems with ball pythons. And once i acquire my snake, i plan on bringin it to a vet within the first few days of the new snake, just to check of any problems.

Thanks for reading all that, i know its alot, but im just making sure i have everything correct. Please post any comments, questions, concerns, or miscellaneous posts,.

Thanks Again!
Nic Petrosius
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Nic
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Sounds like you got it down, There's just a few comments I can give you (in my opinion).
1) Go with a female, if you do decide to breed in the future, you'll see you can never have enough females.
2) Go with rats, when your ball is 5lbs you don't want to have to sit there feeding it 10 mice when you can give it one rat.
3) You said at least 60% humidity, 60% is fine you don't really want it higher then that, unless your snake is in shed.
4) I keep my warm side around 90-92 degrees, I think 85 is a little to low.
I hope this helps, Good luck!

Jay Cassidy
Caveman Reptiles
cavemanreptiles.com

So glad you got your parents to come around!

All sounds pretty good so far. I will add that I highly recommend that you set your tank up first and get the temps right well before the show (that gives you plenty of time to make changes). You might get lucky and find a breeder already feeding F/T.

I'd also agree those temps are a bit too low. Go for warm side of 90-95 and cool side 80-85. If temps drop at night (not required) don't let cool side go below 75 and maintain a difference in temps between the 2 sides of 5-10 degrees.

Other than that sounds like your're on a roll.

Are there any reptile shows sooner (where do you live)? If so you can go and try to scout out a good breeder (but resist the temptation to buy on impulse).

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Yeah man when i was 14 and buying my bearded dragon (normal phase) i was planning on using the net, and my parents were all good with it.. But my grandma brought me to the darn petstore I bought a baby... $75.00 first of all.... second it had mites!!!

You never know with a petstore... its great you got all this down dude, im glad your checking everything.. No impulse!! get a healthy critter!!!