Buying a ball python in the morning

[SPEEDEMON]

(05BusaLe @ Jul. 01 2007,12:51) My brother in-law had 2 snakes, boy did they stink!!!
He would clean them and the tanks all the time but in the summer you could not get rid of the stink!

interesting...
snakes themselvs have no odor that humans can smell per say, however their urate and fecal matter smells horid. i have never heard anyone with that problem though.
using the cages i use, animalplastics.com, and the substrate i have no smell from them at all.
i suppose if a wood cage was used and urin was able to soak in it it would smell bad.

also boa and pythons are very differnt then corn, king snakes and the likes, so that miht have something to do with it, they pass waste far more often than boa or python, which are both boidae family...

 

[Shibumi]

My 7 foot red tail Boa ate mice, then the biggest rats I could find, then went to small rabbits. He would only eat every two months or so. They were always alive- once a rat bit him before he could strike, when he finally struck at it he hit him so hard there was blood spattered on the glass where the rat's head hit- guess he pissed him off!! Kinda like a Conan scene right there in the living room...

He loved his heat rock, without an exterior source for belly heat they cannot digest food, what's up with the no heat rock advice?

He would spend hours curled around it in a big football shape...


And no, snakes have no odor- somebody shoulda cleaned his cage more often! Trust me though, a seven foot snake craps a loaf as big as a Rottweiler after he scarfs down three wharf rats in a feeding- you definitely know when you get up in the morning if he did his business overnight...

 

[SPEEDEMON]

the prob with heat rocks is they found that they can get too hot...the surface of some heat rocks can get to 130*, way too hot for a snake...
belly heat should only be used and only with a thermostat, never reaching temps over 100*
all that i said is not set in stone it is just what works and what every big breeder in the entire herp world uses, there is not a single respected breeder who will say heat rocks should be used, they shouldnt.
i am not saying your snake didnt do fine but i know of snakes who were killed by them...

the animalplastics cages that i use have belly heat built into them on the one side. all my snakes thermoregulate their temps by laying over the warm side or the cool side of the cage. no other heat source is needed if you use this method of heating. again i am not saying nothing else will work but this is the most reliable and cheapest method of heating and of course not to mention the safest.

 

[Don Hardcastle]

Speed,
I am getting an under the tank heater that covers one part of the tank. That should be sufficient, right?

Don

 

[SPEEDEMON]

(USN05LE @ Jul. 01 2007,18:51) Speed,
  I am getting an under the tank heater that covers one part of the tank.  That should be sufficient, right?

Don

yeah it should be good, what are your temps in the room the cage is gonna be in?

 

[SPEEDEMON]

also record keeping is very important.
i use a program called Degei you can download a freeware from degei.com but the 25 bucks for the full version is worth it imo.
everytime i change water, clean the cage, if the snake urates or defacates, feeds sheds and so on and so forth i keep it logged since the day i had them, then if you run into a prob you can look back at the records and see if a pattern emerges, and it may show you what went wrong.

 

[Scar]

What a crack-up!  A snake thread on the bike website!

I am the Western Region Sales Manager for T-Rex Products.

Check out our new website:  www.t-rexproducts.com.  We are and have been a leader in research and food, medicine, and habitat development for reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, etc., for nearly 15 years.  The headquarters is here in San Diego.

The Reptile Super Show was held at the Scottish Rite Center (SD) this past weekend (I worked the show Saturday and Sunday).  T-Rex and Zoo Med were prime sponsors, and the show was PACKED both days!  Absolutely amazing.

Whatever you guys want/need; seek me out.  I'll do whatever I can to help you enjoy your herping experience--inexpensively.  

 

[VaBusa]

Congrats on the snake...I find plenty of 'em in my own yard, so I don't think we need to cage any LOL We've "relocated" 2 in the last week because the hubby's so scared of 'em

Scar, you'll find we talk about nearly EVERYTHING on this board...

As long as it's clean and not too offensive that is...

 

[MsMeow]

+1 on be careful of the undertank heater. Mine got her belly burnt once. Snakes will sometimes decide not to eat and I have given my B12 injections a couple of times in the past to stimulate their eating desire (not something I would usually recommend, but when it goes past 2 months, its sometimes needed).

 

[Scar]

Bump...on the undertank heaters...they should be used only by those who know how to set them up properly. Fires have ensued when improperly applied.

 

[SPEEDEMON]

yeah like i said they should only be used in conjunction with a thermostat
some of the new cages being built like those from boaphile use fire resistant pvc just incase.