Should the ball of water be on the side where the lamp is or on the other side? What substrate could i use that looks nice? Do i keep the lamp on at night? If so, do i change the type of bulb? If so what kind? watts, Uv light, Color etc. Oh and could you tell me fun times or bad times u had with your ball python? Like have u lost it in your house in stuff or sumething funny it does. I like stories owners tell bout their pets.Questions about a ball python?You will need a source of daytime lighting which can be provided by using a reptile daytime spot light. This will also provide a source of heat and a basking spot. You may also wish to provide a nighttime bulb or ceramic heater to maintain the temperature at night without the bright light which would disturb the snake at night. Do not use a white light at night! You should provide an overall enclosure temperature of 80-85掳F with a basking spot around 95掳F. Night time temperatures can drop to 75-80掳F, but no drop is required. If using light bulbs for heat, be sure that they are placed in such a way that the snake cannot contact any hot surfaces. You can also provide heat through under tank heaters and specialty reptile heating platforms. Be sure to use a thermoregulator to allow for better control over the temperature. The heated area does need to be large enough for the entire snake to bask. I know many people will disagree with them needing UVb, but in the wild they receive small amounts at dusk and dawn(they do sometimes bask at these times) and diffused penetration between rocks,bark and other cover. This is why I advise the use of a bulb that has low UV measurements- like Flukers Repta-Sun Black Light Bulb at night. The combination of a heat pad and light(and/or heat emitter) work best.
My first exotic was a ball python I got when I was 7 or 8. I named it Skull, never did know the sex. Unfortanitly it only live about 4 months it died of Inclusion Body Disease. I do remember many people that didn't know any thing about exotics freaking out thinking it was a cooperhead.Questions about a ball python?puit he water on the non heat side use heat pad you do not need uv lights for snakes there a waste. if you are using a open top screen tank cover 905 to keep heat in 84-86 durting the day 12 hrs at thsat temop and 80-82 at night. i would use newsp[pareQuestions about a ball python?Definitely keep the bowl of water on the cool side, or in the middle. If its on the hot side, there is a much bigger chance of getting mold or illnesses in it.. besides.. who likes drinking out of a nice bowl of lukewarm water? ;)
You should have a heat source for your snake at all times, but snakes do not even need lights to begin with- definitely have it off at night. They'll feel more secure as well, and it will give them a better sense of time. Under-the-tank heaters are better than heat lamps for snakes, and you can keep that on 24/7. You could do both- but make sure to have a thermostat to regulate the temperature. The 'hot spot' should be about 90-95' F.
For substrate, I use shredded coconut fiber. It can be found at petco and petsmart easily, and isn't real expensive. Plus, it looks very nice.. especially with some wood and fake plants; I've got my tanks set up with a jungle theme!
I don't have ball pythons, but I've got carpet pythons- and they are pretty darn closely related.. you can even interbreed them to get carpalls.
One time, I was driving.. and had my snake in a container. Well, my friend thought it'd be cool to take him out and play with him during the car ride.. and you guessed it, he got into the steering column. It was February, so it still got below freezing at night, and snowed on occasion too.. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to completely dismantle my car, he was dead. :(
A funny (but not really) story happened today with my boy Jaguar. He decidede that the rat I was offering him wasn't what he wanted, so he struck and latched onto my hand instead. He was completely coiled around, had his teeth deep into my finger and was trying to figure out how to digest me. It took over 5 minutes of running him under cold water before he finally got off- and he got me good! I was bleeding quite a bit. Good thing he's still only 10 months and isn't too big yet.I would put the light on the other side. I use paper and a bit of aspen, u can use all aspen but don't feed it in there it can cause digestion problems. i wouldn''t keep the light on at night, their nocturnal so they will be up when it's dark which is in the night. when my mum had a ball python it wouldn't ever eat frozen food, we don't know why, but we had to breed mice and rats for it, then it ate. Another problem we had was we had a light in his tank, one time he wrapped himself around it and wouldn't come down, he ended up getting burnt and had to go to the vets - couldn't get him down and he wouldn't get down. apart from that he was great. We had reptiles for along time, my snakes are a common boa constrictor, and 2 corn snakes, my mum has a dumerils boa and my granddad has a californian desert phase king snake. Their all great, my common boa is only small now but she is so strong if she doesn't want to go anywhere she won't. My granddad made my a new vivarium for my corn snake and the first night she was in there she got out, we looked everywhere and then we found her underneath the unit where the vivarium was, this was at about 11.30 at night. It was funny a few days later. I love my snakes and i think they are the best pets anyone could have.
