New to the forum, and I have a question....

[ChrisBowsman]

Hi, I'm new to the forum, but not to ball pythons.

My wife's sister and her husband recently moved, and couldn't take their ball with them. We agreed to take care of the snake for them. I'm not sure of the snake's age, but it's probably ~1 yr, maybe less. Someone gave them a rather large aquarium (I'm guessing 75 gallons), so it's currently in that.

The snake NEVER leaves it's hollow rock thing except to eat (which it does well). Also, he has some sort of substrate which resembles sand. It's not sand, as it's softer, but it looks like large grained sand.

Would I be better off housing the snake in a tub of some sort? Also, does anybody think the substrate might be unsafe? In the past, I used indoor/outdoor carpet.

Also, he warned me that whenever people picked up the snake that "it always pees on them". I was under the impression that (like a bird) the white-ish portion of the waste was urine. Is there something else they could mistake for that, or is my brother-in-law just making it up?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Hi and

Someone gave them a rather large aquarium (I'm guessing 75 gallons), so it's currently in that.

The enclosure is over killed and will not likely allow you to maintain proper temps of 80-84 on the cool side and 90-94 on the warm side.

Also, he has some sort of substrate which resembles sand. It's not sand, as it's softer, but it looks like large grained sand.

I would remove the substrate, here are some of the substrate you can use: Newspaper - Paper Towel - Aspen - Repti-bark - Cypress Mulch etc. DO NOT use pine or cedar bedding as they contain phenols that can be toxic to your snake.

Would I be better off housing the snake in a tub of some sort?

You can or you can house your BP in a smaller tank it is really up to you, the goal being to provide proper temps, humidity and provide adequate security.

the white-ish portion of the waste was urine.

It is part of the urine that is recycled, giving you a solid urate.

[ChrisBowsman]

Thanks for the speedy reply.

Given that it's Xmas time, I'm kind of short on money for a new enclosure. Would partitioning this one off work in the meantime? I was thinking about cutting a piece of plywood to make a new "end" for the tank. Seems like that *should* effectively reduce the area I'm trying to heat. When I first got it from him, the thermometer in the tank read 70 degrees. He said it was always around that, so I put aluminum foil on the outside corner where the snake's rock is, and it's got that corner around 80.

Also, he's got a vine and climbing stick in the tank.... do BPs really make use of those?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Dividing the tank might be hard, so maybe a tub would be a best fit for now if you have limited resources.

Keep in mind that you must offer gradient temps of 80-84 on the warm side and 90-94 on the cool side.

Your temps should never fall below 75 degrees, if they do this will increase the risk of RI (respiratory infection)

Having a proper reading means having a digital thermometer measuring the temps at the bottom of the enclosure, if you don't already have one you can pick up a digital thermometer/hygrometer at Walmart for about $12 it look like this

Also, he's got a vine and climbing stick in the tank.... do BPs really make use of those?

BP are ground dwellers, yes they can climb, but having vine and branches is not necessary. None of mine have branches to climb on.

[ChrisBowsman]

Cool, I'll get one of those asap. Thanks for the advice.

I think I may call my bro-in-law and tell him he's not getting the snake back

[Spaniard]

Cool, I'll get one of those asap. Thanks for the advice.

I think I may call my bro-in-law and tell him he's not getting the snake back

Be careful,

Next thing you know you'll wanting more... many here have fallen victim to the addiction already

[Argentra]

heh, yeah snakes are addicting...but I fell for the corn craze more than Balls. Not because I don't like BPs, quite the contrary since they are my favorite breed of snake. No, I have more corns because I can AFFORD them. Ball pythons are crazy expensive!

But do watch out for the snake bug...it's really contagious.

[frankykeno]

Thanks for the speedy reply.

Given that it's Xmas time, I'm kind of short on money for a new enclosure.

A tub would likely be your easiest thing and cost effective as heck. Depending on the size of tub you are going to need you're looking at all of $5.00.

When I first got it from him, the thermometer in the tank read 70 degrees. He said it was always around that, so I put aluminum foil on the outside corner where the snake's rock is, and it's got that corner around 80.

Temps should be 80-82 cool side, 90-92 warm side, humidity at 50%. You are going to need something to measure this with as Deb showed you in her post.

"Snake rock" I assume means heat rock. I'm going to guess by the wording of this post that this is the snake only heat source. You need to address that quickly. Heat rocks are not only ineffective, inefficient heat sources they have proven deadly to any number of snakes and lizards. They can and will spike temps and burn your snake rather badly. There are a number of other options both short and long term for giving this snake the proper temps in a far safer manner.

Also, he's got a vine and climbing stick in the tank.... do BPs really make use of those?

Not much. Smaller bp's might do a bit of climbing but they mature into girthy, fairly heavy bodied ground dwelling snakes that rarely climb and when they do, they do it badly LOL. Height in the enclosure is just mostly a waste of space you're heating for no good reason. These snakes need more ground space than "head" space so climbing things are often just unused by the snake and yet another thing you must scrape poop off of.

Also, he warned me that whenever people picked up the snake that "it always pees on them". I was under the impression that (like a bird) the white-ish portion of the waste was urine. Is there something else they could mistake for that, or is my brother-in-law just making it up?

They pass their wastes in three forms. Feces (to me they look a lot like small cat poop), urates (the white solid form of their urine) and typical liquid urine. What the snake was likely doing was a fear/stress response to improper handling if it did it all the time when handled.

Welcome to BPNet.

[ChrisBowsman]

Thanks for all the replies.

The rock is not a heat rock. I know those are bad news. It's one of those hollowed out plastic rocks that the snake uses as a hide. His heat source is actually an infrared heat lamp. From what I'm seeing, a heat pad would be superior, correct?

I kinda figured the snake "peeing" on people was due to something improper. When he told me that the tank was usually around 70 degrees, and I saw the substrate he's using, I realized he had no clue how to take care of it.

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask this before.... he said the people at the pet store assured him the snake is a female, simply by looking at it. You can't really do that, right?

[frankykeno]

Oh I'm so glad I misunderstood about that rock. Those heat rocks are just plain bad news. The lamp while providing heat is also sucking out humidity like the very devil, making issues with glass tanks all the much worse. Underbelly heat is preferred, better for the snake, easier for the keeper in my opinion.

Pet store people, other than the rare good store/good employees, are not the "experts" they like to pretend they are. Getting a confirmed gender on that snake is best done by either probing or popping by a herp vet, a breeder or an experienced hobbyist. Guessing by tail length or shape or spurs is never the way to go (which is what I'm figuring the pet store person was referring to). Since it's a guess, well they are about 50% right LOL