Lizard's totally unnecessary snek thread

FINAL PAYMENT MADE ON THE NEW GIRL! :D :D :D

 

I was in a pet shop on Monday and they had a... king python? something like that for adoption and he was called Thranduil which I thought was adorable.
I was a bit worried though because he did not seem to be in a proper enclosure, more just a tub with another tub with another snake in on top. I think they had more snakies for rehoming than they had reptile terrariums. Should have asked about that because now I am intermittently worrying about it.
Sadly I could not take him home because a) am moving soon hopefully to somewhere that will very likely say absolutely not to a snake and b) I know jack fucking shit about taking care of snakies, even though I do love them.

 

Yeah, not a great idea to get a new pet while moving lol. Once you get settled though, snakes are wonderful pets!

As for the kind of snake, if it looked like a ball python I'm betting it was either a kingpin morph, which is a lesser pinstripe combo, or it was being marketed as a royal python, which is just what they call ball pythons over in the UK. Oooor else it was just a kingsnake and someone is really confused, lol

 

So You Want a Pet Ball Python (Python Regius): a Quick and Dirty Kintsugi Guide for Basic Setup and Care of Your New Best Friend

So maybe you’ve read through this thread thinking “Gee, I sure would like a scaly longdog of my own,” but you’re overwhelmed by the prospect of getting into reptile ownership. Never fear, the Lizard is here!

Ball pythons need not be fussy, time consuming, nor expensive to keep. Like the snakes themselves, setups can be as fancy or basic as you please. Getting your husbandry correct is going to be 90% of the work, but once you’ve dialed in the correct parameters, ball pythons can literally be a “set it and forget it” animal. They aren’t social animals, and they aren’t hard wired to need interaction and contact the way mammals are, so if you’ve run out of spoons for some reason, they’re perfectly happy to chill while you work back up to it. Feed about once a week, and you’ll have a happy noodle.

The things ALL ball pythons need are:

• A secure enclosure with enough space to stretch out when moving from one side to the other
• At least two hides, one on the “cool” side and one on the warm side
• A heat source that is regulated by a thermostat or rheostat
• Water dish: large enough to soak in is optional, but a good bonus
• Substrate
• Food
• A good herp vet that you have the ability/commitment to travel to, even if they’re a few hours away.
• Correct husbandry

Husbandry is the care and cultivation of animals (or crops, but uhh, not the right thread for that lol). When talking about herps and someone asks you “how’s your husbandry” what they’re asking you is how close to the ideal settings are you keeping your animals. For ball pythons this means hides, temps, and humidity; the three things a snake needs to thrive.

Humidity: ball pythons enjoy a relative humidity of about 50% on average, and elevated to 70% when in shed. A good hygrometer is a must if you want to know what your relative humidity is. Digital models made for being outside in the weather are much preferred over the dial style analog ones marketed for reptiles as they’re more accurate. Over time moisture will leak into and build up in the dial style ones, which completely ruins them.

Maintaining correct humidity can be a chore, especially if you have a screen top style tank that’s open and venting the whole length of the tank constantly. The most simple ways to manage it is through misting with a spray bottle and choosing the kind of substrate you want to use. Substrate is the stuff that lines the bottom of the tank so your animal isn’t sitting on bare, slippery glass or plastic. There are a TON of choices for substrate, and here is where I can’t really help you pick. You’ll have to experiment and see what works best for both you and your animal. Some are easier to clean, some are more expensive, some hold humidity better, some get dusty or messy.


If all else fails and you can’t seem to get your humidity to stay constant without a lot of work, you may want to scrap the idea of maintaining it through out the whole enclosure, and instead create a microclimate using a humid hide. Humid hides are easy to set up: you don’t need anything more than another plastic tuperware with a hole cut in it and some damp material- usually sphagnum moss or paper towels. Place it toward the cooler end of the enclosure and the snake can chose if/when they want to use it.

Temperatures: over all temperatures, or ambient temps, should be about 78-80 f. A hot spot between 89-90 f should be provided at one end of the enclosure via the use of an under tank heater, heat tape, radiant heat panel, or ceramic heat emitter. In the hobby these are abbreviated UTH, HT RHP, or CHE. Each one does the job, but they get it done in slightly different ways. UTHs and HT heat from below, which is preferred for ball pythons as they are not basking animals. They prefer to use belly heat when digesting a big meal.

A UTH is usually big enough to provide heat to one enclosure. Heat tape is cheaper, comes in lots of widths, you can order it by the foot, and most places to order from will do the wiring for you, but you can DIY easily if you want. Youtube how-to videos abound! A single strip of heat tape can heat multiple enclosures at once off of one power source and regulation device.

RPHs and CHEs heat from above, although RHPs can be side-mounted as well.

ALL HEAT SOURCES MUST BE REGULATED BY A THERMOSTAT OR RHEOSTAT. Yes that was bold and caps. Sorry if I startled you, but tbh I only just resisted using underlines too. That’s because this is vitally important. Unregulated heat sources can get easily hot enough to burn an animal, and in worst case scenarios they may become fire hazards as well. A thermostat can easily be the most expensive thing you purchase, but the less you scrimp here, the better off you and your pet(s) will be for a long time. If you can’t afford a thermostat (usually shortened to t-stat in the hobby) a rheostat will also work. It’s basically a dimmer switch, and you use it to limit the amount of wattage that runs to the heat source, which in turn limits the amount of heat it puts out. R-stats do require more fussing and monitoring than t-stats though, because they do not automatically adjust for temperature fluctuations. T-stats do, which is a ton easer, less time consuming, and less stress inducing.

Now that you have all this fancy equipment (it really isn’t, but sure seems that way when you first start out) you have to make sure your temperatures are correct! You’ll need at least one thermometer- though two is preferred- and a fancy (not really, about $10-15 on amazon) infrared heat gun! Why? It will provide you the most accurate over all picture of what your temps look like. (You’ll also need the heat gun if you plan to feed frozen/thawed. More on that later) You should place one thermometer at each end of the enclosure. Since ball pythons are terrestrial snakes and spend a lot of time at the bottom of the cage, it doesn’t do a lot of good to place your thermometers high up on the wall, as aesthetically pleasing as that my be. Down low is where they go. Digital indoor/outdoor style is preferred, but you can calibrate the analog dial style ones if you have an accurate idea of true temps. As a bonus, you can usually find digital hygrometer/thermometer combos in one device. They’re about ten bucks and usually floating around the home and garden section of box stores. Those little stick on strips that go from blue to red are pretty much useless though.

Use your temp gun at both ends of the enclosure during different times of the day for the most accurate idea of how well your enclosure is being heated. You should also use this to measure your hotspot directly over/under the heating element so you can dial in your t-stat/r-stat settings. Take readings over the course of at least a week during different times of the day before you get your noodle friend so that everything is set correctly once they go into their new home. After that, you don’t have to check very often, but it’s a good idea to do so whenever you’re switching from one season to the next so you can adjust for anything new.

Hides: beeps are low on the food chain in the wild, are nocturnal, and they’re ambush predators. This has led them to evolve to become shy animals that like to stay hidden. A ball python that hides all day and pokes it’s head out in wait for a rat or some casual enclosure inspection at night is a ball that is comfortable in it’s environment. In the wild they hide in rodent burrows and termite mounds. In our homes, we’ve got molded plastic. Various companies make and sell plastic hides marketed specifically for reptiles, but anything can be a hide as long as it’s sturdy, opaque, large enough for the animal to fit under, but small enough to touch the animal on at least three sides. For your own ease of mind it should either be easy to clean with just soap and water, or cheap enough that you won’t mourn your wallet every time you need to throw a soiled hide away. Aesthetically pleasing rock or tree shaped hides are cool, but beware that they aren’t too open.

If you have a large enclosure in comparison to the size of your snake, you’re going to have to clutter it up. Branches, fake plants, logs, rocks, leaves or additional hides are all good. Making something that looks nice to you is a bonus. The goal is to break up line of sight. Your snake should be able to choose a path from one side of the enclosure to the other along which it will be hardly seen at all.

The Enclosure: your options for enclosures are many, but the three most common choices are tanks, tubs, and PVC caging. Tanks are what most people are familiar with. It’s what you’re going to find in a pet store being marketed specially for reptiles. The benefits of tanks are... few. Mostly one: it looks nice. You can decorate it pretty, and even if you can’t see your snake that sleeps all day, you can still look at his nicely furnished terrarium. On the down side, they’re heavy, they often sieve heat and humidity which will drive you mad, and they’re much more expensive than plastic tubs, though cheaper than PVC. A 20 gallon size is fine for a hatchling, though you’ll want to upgrade to a 40 or even 50 gallon size by the time your snake is an adult.

Tubs are simple, cheap, hold heat and humidity better, and you can keep them stacked in what are called racks if you find yourself with an addiction. The down side is... they’re really not meant for display. You can certainly decorate the inside nice, but from the outside they’re still gonna look like plastic storage bins from the mega-mart. If you only have one animal, and you want your snake’s home to double as a conversation piece, you might wan to skip to the next one on the list. Sizes will vary depending on the age of the snake. Remember that you need floor space most, so be looking at the foot print. If you want to keep multiple animals in a commercially sold rack system, you’re going to be limited to the sizes standard to breeders. 6qt “shoe box” tubs for hatchlings, 15 qt for juvies, 32 qt for males and still growing females, and 41 qt “sweater boxes” for adult females.

Personally, I feel that if a snake wants to utilize vertical space, they should be allowed to. The usual tubs don’t allow for that, so I’m going to make my own custom racks. Right now, my snakes are in the Sterilite 90 qt tubs, though I may bump up to the 110 qt. The have the same floor space as the 41 qt boxes and about double the height so I can have vertical features like branches for my animals to explore.

PVC caging like the kind sold by Animal Plastics combine the best of both worlds. They look great with clear glass or acrylic door fronts, and they hold heat and moisture well. You can also stack them, though how high depends on the size of each cage. The down side to these is cost. These cages run easily from $150-300 or more depending on size and customization features.

Feeding: should happen about once a week give or take. Very young, small animals can eat as often as 3-5 days, larger animals do better at 10-14 days between feedings. Other than the age and size of your snake, other factors may affect how much and how often they eat. Animals will often go on fasts during the winter months or after breeding. Animals gearing up to start a breeding season will take larger meals or eat more often as they pack on the extra calories they’ll need to sustain themselves while wooing their mates or sitting on a clutch. Even if you don’t plan on breeding you animal(s), they will often still sync themselves to the natural rhythms of the season.

How big a meal also depends on the age and size of the snake. For small snakes that are doing a lot of growing the most often quoted general guideline is 10-15% of their body weight in grams. If you have a 300 g snake, a 30 - 40 g rat pup is a good once weekly meal. As the snake grows, so will its food. After about the first year, the suggested feeding guideline is to offer meals the same thickness as the widest part of your animal. After the snake has eaten you should see a small lump in the middle. An adult ball python can happily consist on small adult rats that are some where in the range of 70 - 90 g about once a week for the rest of its life.

The best option for feeding your snake is to use pre-killed frozen/thawed feeders that have been heated to the appropriate temperature. F/T feeders should should be clean, and whole. You should not notice any strong odors when you take out your feeder, and there shouldn’t be any discolored areas. If in doubt throw it out. Thaw your feeder slowly before you heat it, either in cold water or in a cool area like a fridge. This prevents uneven heating and a build up of gasses that can make your rat... err. Pop. That is exactly as unpleasant to clean up as it sounds. Heat slowly and evenly once thoroughly defrosted until they read at about 101 f under your temp gun (see, I told you you’d need it for other stuff). I like to heat mine under hot running water. Other methods people use include blasting them with a hair dryer or setting them under a heat lamp.

Thoroughly wash your hands with soap and cold water before you feed your snakes so they don’t make a painful mistake. Offer the feeder with tongs or a hemostat; something that will grip the rat at a distance from your actual god damn fingers. You would think this would be common sense, but whoo boy, I have seen some shit. You may need to do the “zombie dance” by wiggling the rat around to entice a snake to eat. You might not. (Studel will hit anything rat smelling that enters her tub like a bullet. Serket doesn’t even bother striking- if she shows interest, I set the rat in her tub and leave her to casually consume. No zombie dance required for either.)

Sometimes you may have to feed a snake live prey for whatever reason. F/t is easiest and safest for your animal, but you might not have access to f/t prey, or your snake refuses to eat it, or you happen to breed your own rats as a hobby idfk. Note: I do not consider “it’s more natural” to be a valid reason. Predators, parasites, disease and starvation are also natural. These are pets. The whole point is that we are taking them out of nature to love and pamper the fuck outa them. Okay moving on.

There is a right way to feed live, and a looooot of wrong ways. When you offer live make sure the feeder is relaxed and comfortable before introducing it into the enclosure. Do not attempt to “stun” or pre-kill the feeder by striking its head: a stunned feeder can snap out of it before your snake gets it down, and it will come back up fighting. You don’t want a panicked rat anywhere near your snake. It’s is also incredibly cruel to the feeder. If you want to pre-kill the rat just before feeding, do so with cervical dislocation (there are several youtube videos demonstrating the proper technique) or through CO2 (again, videos. Watch them.)

When you place a live feeder in the enclosure, watch the snake and the feeder. If the snake has not eaten the feeder with in 20 minutes, remove it and try again the next feeding day. Observe the strike to make sure the feeder doesn’t bite or otherwise harm your snake. Whatever you do, do not leave the rat and snake in the same enclosure unattended! You can see why if you google images of live feeding gone wrong, but I warn you these are extremely graphic. Just trust me on this. Any rat older than a pup can do a serious amount of damage. They have sharp teeth, and sharp claws, and they know what the snake is about. They will fuck your scaly buddy up. Don’t. Do it. Once the rat is dead, your job is done, and you can leave your snake to its meal in peace.

That’s scaly noodle dog basics 101! Barring emergencies (I am not equipped for those) and more specific trouble shooting (I’m probably more equipped for that) this should get you through your first dive into ball python ownership.

At this point, it’s past midnight and I probably missed something, but if you have any questions post them and I’ll try my best to answer in the morning. I hope this takes a little intimidation out of the prospect of being a snake parent!

 

If you use a moist hide, change the moss out every 2 days and have the container isolated from the substrate of your tank. (A plastic tupperware with a hole cut in the side but a solid bottom is great) Sphagnum moss holds bacteria like a sonovabitch. Don't find out the hard way that constantly-damp substrate causes scale rot :(

 

@Lizardlicks
Ah yes it might have been royal python (since I am indeed in the UK), my brain just remembered 'something-about-ruling-classes python'. I can't say what he looked like, sadly; the sides of the tub were too opaque to really see.
Your rundown for the newbie snek owner is very interesting. One day maybe I will give it a try.

 

Yeah a good way to set up a humid hide is to cut a hole in the lid on the top. It's also a good idea to let your humid hide dry out a bit between shed cycles. The stuff you put in should be lightly damp to the touch, definitely not soaking, and rehydrating it should be done by misting.

 

...am I allowed to do the thing
eh I'm doing it, tell me if I'm not allowed

while working today, we found a snake! I'll attach the pictures

he curled up in my teammate's hand, and when she deposited him in mine he proceeded to go across my shirt, through my belt loop and skated all the way down to the ground

after I got him up again, she took him back to his house

anyway what type of snake is this? he was super cute



(did that work, I'm doing it off of mobile)
screw it here's my tumblr post too

 

@Moss looks like a ringneck!

(i hope it's okay that i answered this?)

 

thanks! he was really cute, and very polite for, no doubt, being a little stressed out by these giant warmbloods.
:D

 

I second ringneck and that's a lucky find! The lizard is kind of hard to see very clearly but it could be a western fence lizard?

 

Potential good temps forecast for next week. We have highs in the upper 50s and lows staying at or above 40s. Keeping a careful eye on it, but if everything stays good, she ships out Monday! Keep your fingers and toes crossed!

I'm going to be posting an unboxing video when she gets here so all of you can enjoy her with me :D

 

Aw

So my baby was going to be shipped today, but then we found out that she would be routed through the Indianapolis hub and not the Memphis hub as previously assumed and their overnight temps are still bellow freezing :(

She might not be here for another month now it looks like :( :( :(

 

It is, but we don't want to risk shipping her that late in the week. If something goes wrong or there's a delay somewhere, that means she gets stuck at the hub over the weekend. With reptiles shipping usually only happens Monday- Wednesday and no later.

 

She's heeeeeere! ouo

 

Ohhhhh! She looks really really cute!

 

The new little beeb had a perfect shed with me last week and I got some v adorable pics.








She's pretty jumpy and quick to ball and hide her head still, and I haven't been handling her much to get her out of that because I want to keep her as stress -free as possible while trying to switch her over to f/t. I skipped her feeding last week, this Saturday is my first attempt at offering f/t so cross your fingers! Once she's switched, you'll be seeing a lot more of her.

 

She is simply adorable <3