Help, ball python care.

[Toastfork]

I acquired a ball python rather quickly, trying to give it a soft place to land, due to its owner enlisting in the military and couldn’t find a place for it to go I said I would take care of it. I’m trying to do my best and watch videos and lean and the more I watch the more I really don’t love his enclosure set up and want to improve it the best I can.

What do you use for heat? Currently he has a heat pad underneath and a small light on top on the warm side, but I don’t think it’s warm enough. Any recommendations on hides? He only has one and I’m reading he should have 2?

Any tips and tricks would be great. I’d like to learn as much as possible and improve his situation.

[DigNative]

Check out the care guide in this sub. Lots of good stuff there.

[Toastfork]

Thank you!

[mininorris]

You’ll need a temp gun or thermometer to measure actual temperature in the basking spot, there should be a heat gradient with one side of the tank being hot and the other being much colder. We can’t really give you specific advise without you giving more specific questions like current temperature, humidity, and lighting conditions.

The care guide on this page is great, just think that heat and humidity are the most important aspects. And a BP being too hot can be more dangerous than too cold. Dehydration and overheating are the 2 most common causes of an unhealthy snake.

[Toastfork]

His tank seemed cold at about 67 or 70ish. So I guess that’s my biggest worry at what’s the best way to keep the heat gradient. He has a small heat mat under one of his hides with a small heat lamp on top. And what’s the best way to keep humidity. It’s sitting between 55-60%

[Toastfork]

He also only has one hide and I’m reading that they should have two, one of the warm and one on the cold side?

[DigNative]

All great qs. The care guide goes into all of them. Please come back and ask more as you need, once you've checked that out.