New snake housing

Pythons Ball Pythons
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Tubs are for rack breeders who need space opts. This is your first snake, give it your best pls! Dont you dare buy the snake until you’re absolutely 10,000% on EVERYTHING you will need. I didnt get this option with my bby, so I hope you do.

Ball Pythons are beautiful animals, but breeding racks n’ tubs are not for pets. Try to obtain a front-opening, lockable enclosure. GLASS loses heat easily and Theyre stupid expensive and heavy. PVC is plastic and can overheat and melt if done wrong, plus, sizing is inconsistent and rudely difficult to find furniture for.
I honestly recommend a grow tent, which are actually pretty good when you turn them on their side, or a PVC (which you can DIY or even modify for pretty cheap) with a metal mesh top and front-opening tank.

You will want as many opportunities and options for enrichment as physical possible. You do not have to spend 100s of dollars on Amazon or anywhere else tho, because well-cleaned outside sticks that dont have sharp points are perfect.
You’ll want AT LEAST 2 hides, at LEAST. If space allows, I also strongly recommend a third humid hide. Especially if you live in a drier place and it’ll be more difficult to keep up ambient humidity.

As many “plants” as you can possibly shove in one square inch is the preferred method. Live plants are a waste of money as they can get easily killed by a bp.

Do NOT EVER feed your snake live if you can possibly help it.

ALLL HEATING ELEMENTS NEED A THERMOSTAT TO MAINTAIN THE CORRECT TEMPS AND PREVENT OVERHEATING, put probes wherever you are maintaining the head.
At least two hydrometer/thermometers for monitoring cool and warm side temps and humidity in the air. Try to get digital like ink bird because those are much more effective than a simple gauge, which can be kind of vague.

For substrate, there are loads of options. Right now im using coco husk with a half inch top layer of green moss, it holds humidity well, and my snake loves it. Moss is also utterly perfect for sheds and humid hides.

Try to keep the ambient/overall humidity under 80 and over 60%. This keeps your noodle hydrated without overcooking (RI) it or letting it go stale (dehydrating).

Warm side temps shouldnt exceed 90. Ever.
Cool side needs to be above 70 at all times.
Night vrs. Day flux of light and heat is good enrichment. It can keep your noodle from getting confused and turning into a durian.
Try to feed in the evenings or early mornings if possible.

Weigh your snake AND the chosen feeder before EVERY. SINGLE. FEEDING.
Do not handle your noodle for AT LEAST 48 hours after feeding unless emergency.
Do not feed fowl-smelling or visibly rotten feeders. This is like taking a week-old pancake out of the couch and feeding it to yourself.

Good luck!!!

Best Setup for Ball Pythons? Tubs vs PVC? Dimensions?
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Why? This would (a) stress the snake, (b) risk a bite (hungry snake), and (c) is completely unnecessary – the appropriate size range of prey is pretty wide, and it could be argued that variety in size would be a sort of “enrichment”.

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I weigh my snake a couple hours to a day before I feed her and have never had an issue, and it’s because many reasons…

  • my inexperienced self
  • Chat GPT said to
  • It’s great for making sure husbandry isn’t the issue if that case arises
  • She isn’t “food aggressive” until the food sits in front of her face, tastes like food, and wiggles for ten seconds.
  • I never have her out of the tank for more than ten seconds to put her on the scale and then put her back into the tank
  • It’s how I found out her feeders were too small in the first place :smiling_face_with_tear:

Ik my methods or the health of my snake are probably somewhat questionable, but I’m figuring it out and nobody told me the right thing from the start…
And again, didn’t ask for it, I got this poor snake as a gift for my birthday :sob: I was NOT prepared but she at least came home with her original 20 gallon and UTH.

And she hasn’t been showing signs of chronic stress, at least not yet….
She thermoregulates, she only comes out at all towards late afternoon till midnight and early morning, she drinks, she eats, she has correct temps and humidity, she has space to fully stretch and I’ve never had an issue with feeding for shedding

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There’s a reason I’m here today :smiling_face_with_tear::woman_facepalming: but thank you for making me question that which seemed not completely reasonable to begin with.

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Using “AI” for this sort of thing is a terrible practice. There are actual humans who actually know what they’re talking about who actually want to help, and few of us make stuff up out of thin air to sound legit.

Maybe her feeding response is throttled because of overhandling? Getting a baseline read on normal behavior takes a while.

If something doesn’t sound reasonable, then posting it an an authoritative and absolute fashion seems way, way off base. Good idea to drop hints about how you came to believe something (‘AI said it’ – well, then we can all fully discount it and ask someone who knows), and best to have a good understanding of why something is true before posting it publicly.

I’m a breeder and seller of a variety of herps, and it really bugs me that so much of my time is spent correcting new keepers’ issues that they got from reading stuff online that just ain’t right, and buying stuff that is less than ideal (why a screen top PVC enclosure when the heat loss concern was just mentioned?, for example).

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I came here looking for correct information because i was worried it was wrong, and sure enough :melting_face:

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This is her current tank tho. Pls give me information on it :folded_hands:

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The PVC holds heat better than glass. And if it’s the same surface area as a glass tank, but PVC, my current understanding is that it’ll have an easier time heating up and staying warm. The mesh top would be for airflow just as it is on a glass tank.

I’m sorry you’re inconvenienced by the misinformation but I’m glad you’re willing to correct ppl

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Monitoring your snake is extremely important if you have a screen lid.

Screen lids will act like a cheese grater if the snake is determined enough to try escaping. Treating the facial wounds will take A LONG TIME to heal.

I had a hatchling that injured it’s face 6 months ago and it’s just starting to look healed up well. And this was in a plastic tub where he rubbed against the lid and ventilation punch out.

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I agree with @socraticmonologue on his points.

This is not necessary… you’ll be ok doing a weigh-in of the snake maybe once a month and adjusting feeders as such, and definitely do not do it literally right before a feeding. BPs are ambush hunters and quite shy about eating in general especially as babies and juvies, taking them out of their comfort zone even for a very brief few seconds can completely discourage their food drive and risk them missing meals.

Edit to add:

Its not even a good idea to touch them at all during feeding day. For example I’ve had BPs refuse food because I handled them the day before feeding day… they are super sensitive to that kind of stuff.

Do. Not. Listen. To. A. Bot. For. Animal. Care.

Its just that, a bot. Its trained off information that is already present and a lot of that information is misinformation. It can’t differentiate that. It doesn’t have eyes to see the actual conditions of the animal, its care or housing. It doesn’t have concern.

If you have a care question, ask someone who has real extensive experience with the animal or a licensed specialized Veterinarian.

You may not have had any issues yet taking her out right before feeding but that doesn’t mean that issues will never arise.

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@emojidragon

As a general rule to follow;

Do not handle your snake for 48 hours BEFORE feeding to avoid stress to the snake and then 48 hours AFTER feeding to avoid regurgitation.

To me this is just common sense…..

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I didn’t specify when I weighed her. I weigh her weekly; Normally more than at LEAST 12 hours before she eats… I’ve never handled her only 2 days after either. I wait at least three days or she doesn’t get handled for more than a minute a week for when I weigh her.

The assumption that I am only listening to a bot when I’m here for more information is kind of harsh too… I came here to make sure I was doing the right things for my animal so she can be healthy, not so a bunch of people can have a go at me for being overcautious, thank you for your feedback.

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Tubs are not just for breeders. I have been keeping a wide variety of snakes for years in appropriate tubs for the type and size of the snake, including bps. All of my animals eat and shed with no issues. I handle all of my animals weekly. They live in clean environments. Even my PacMan frog in housed in a tub and he is fat and happy.

There are several ways to keep a snake healthy and thriving and not just one way only.

Also ditto on the BOT. A BOT is the last place to research snake husbandry, or for that matter to research for ANY information.

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Yeah why do you think I’m looking for better information? I know a bot is a bad source because it just parrots all the information and misinformation already out there. pardon me for saying anything, im not a seasoned keeper and it can get cruel fast to keep a snake in a tub too small for it.
I don’t want my snake to pay for the misguidance of the internet. And at the very least I can say I am committed to her lifelong care

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We are not having a “go” at you for any reason. I’m glad you’re here instead of learning from a bot. However in order for you to learn from the experienced people here you must be willing to accept constructive criticism/feedback. Trust me I have been here for years and I have taken a lot of constructive criticism. Some people may be a tad more direct than others when giving advice but the whole purpose of this community is to insure the health and wellbeing of the animals and not to purposely have a “go” at anyone. I am sorry you feel that way.

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Apology accepted, it’s more of a vibe… and now lk for sure you care passionately about these animals. I’m not going to be a breeder or anything more serious than having my bbyg as a pet, hopefully for a good, happy long time

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What’s insane is that I was told when I got her that I should feed her pinky mice… Liek. At the pet store. I knew ‘snakes eat rats and mice’ but I’ve done more research on corn snakes than balls. they were way too small and I moved her to fuzzies… luckily she’s been growing and I’ve been feeding her more properly because I learned, thankfully without casualty. Though it is still terrible that they tell people that still.

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(She’s moving to rat pups so I can get her off mice)

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I have split this off into its own topic as it was deviating from the original thread. I’m also going to remind everyone to please remember the community guidelines.

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I needed this info, my girl has a screen lid. If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of lid should I get for her adult enclosure where I can still have overhead heat? Is it better to have an enclosure with just the 2 screen squares for the lamps?

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