a snake thread cool!
I have three snakes now, i have had others in the past.
right now i have a BCI, red tailed boa
yellow head reticulated python and an albino Burmese python...
a ball python is a good beginners snake however i think a red tail boa is a better choice.
first ball pythons are notorious for going off feed for sometimes months at a time, they can be fussy feeders also.
as far as feeding any and all snakes should ONLY be fed pre killed or frozen thawed food.
with RTB you wont run into these problems. the only draw back for some is that a RTB can grow up to 8 feet or around there.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS NOT BEING ABLE TO GET A SNAKE TO EAT P/K F/T FOOD, PERIOD.
do not use lamps or hot rocks or heat cable for heating.
if you are using a glass aquarium with a screen lid, make sure it locks, they will get out.
also cover 3/4 of the lid with a damp towel.
for heating the only things you should use is under tank heaters, like something called flexxwatt, use a thermostat for temp, and have a temp gradient, about 95 on the hot side to lower 80's on the cool side.
humidity is vital!
use a water ball over the heat source, belly heat, to raise the humidity, glass aquariums are the worst thing to keep a snake in, you may need to spray the cage once a day with water, aim for about 60% humidity in the enclosure.
use something like a flukers temp and hydrometer to keep track.
for substrate there are all dff things you can use and i guarantee i have tried everything!
the best overall i found is craft paper, go to cageliners.net for it, or just use newspaper.
if you don’t like the fact that it isn’t aesthetically pleasing and you want to use a wood substrate use either shredded aspen or cypress mulch. BEWARE these may contain mites which are a pain to get rid of!
never use pine or other woods with oils in, it is fatal to the snake.
NEVER feed the snake on loose substrate, when i used it i would put the food item on a peice of cardboard. if they swallow the substrate they could get a blockage...
I could keep going and going, if you need any other help just let me know.
Later and good luck!
my current setup;
the BCI, he is over 4 feet now and a little over a year i feed him one md rat every week;
the reticulated python 6 months old, he is 5 feet and gets fed one sm rat every week, he is also pretty vicious
and the burm almost a year old, he was just maesured yesterday 81" and 11 pounds, he eats one XXL rat once a week.
old pic but you get the idea