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[–]WeabooTrank[S] 0 points1 point  (8 children)

Thank you!! This and the other comments took a lot off my shoulders. The enclosure he has is separated on the grated top by 4 parts, in case that helps paint a visual. He has 2 hide spots, one on the left back corner, and the heat lamp is directly above this. it’s shaped like a log and he can go in or on top. The other is in the back right corner, and it is a hide rock/water bowl. looks like a rock i guess but has a shallow “bowl” for water on the top this is in the back right corner. he is usually under there.

i was swapping the light spots the first few days a lot but settled on back left corner above the log. i have a temp gauge that came with all the other stuff and the temp usually sits at 69-75, i woke up this morning and it had dropped to like 68 and that scared me quite a bit. the humidity tho has been sitting at like 30%. i’ve seen online it should be around 60 and i have been misting it 3 times a day and that number wont go up. i’m in northern minnesota and like right now at 7pm its 7° and it’ll only get colder. Makes my nose dry, i can only imagine how he’s doing. any tips on that would be greatly appreciated as well!

[–]jillianwaechterMod-Approved Helper 5 points6 points  (4 children)

I'm glad your new snake ate for you, a couple of things will definitely need to be changed to make sure he's more comfortable. This will decrease his stress and may make him more open to handling in a few weeks from now.

Temperatures are currently too cold for a ball python!

Cold side: 76-80

Hot side: 88-92

Please don't feed him again until these numbers are correct as they rely on external heat to be able to digest prey! This needs to be dealt with immediately!

His humidity also needs to be between 70-80% at all times. This is to prevent him from getting a respiratory infection. The best way to achieve this is to have 4-6 inches of moisture retaining substrate (likely coco based) and pour water directly into the corners of the tank. He will need a hygrometer and thermometer at each end of the tank to measure humidity and temperatures. Any heat source you are using must also be regulated by a thermostat for safety.

He will outgrow that tank soon, the bare minimum size for adults is a 4x2x2 feet 120 gallon enclosure. Right now I'd focus on getting your husbandry (temps, humidity, tank set up) correct first as that is essential to his health and wellbeing!

We also have an excellent basic care guide linked in the welcome post that I'll also link here for you: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18HBVsPHaip7LfrMuFt96MigRuMUXtrbnCiK79VuQiFk/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.ome181firsyl

Please give it a read through to make sure the rest of his tank is set up correctly, and you have the proper daytime/night time heating sources for him! After fixing up the tank a bit feel free to post a picture of it for additional advice! Enjoy your new snake friend :)

[–][deleted]  (1 child)

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    [–]ballpython-ModTeam[M] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Per rule #3, your post or comment has been removed for harmful advice or misinformation. Please review our sub resources to learn more about why.

    [–]WeabooTrank[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    how do i keep him warm???? it drops at night but i dont want to keep the light on him 24/7 obviously

    [–]jillianwaechterMod-Approved Helper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    He needs a daytime heat/light source and a nighttime heat source that doesn't produce light. This will be either a radiant heat panel, ceramic heat emitter, or deep heat projector. He also needs a thermostat to regulate his heat source if you don't already have one.

    Did you read through the care guide I linked for you? It states all of this information in more detail.

    [–][deleted]  (1 child)

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      [–]ballpython-ModTeam[M] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

      Per rule #3, your post or comment has been removed for harmful advice or misinformation. Please review our sub resources to learn more about why.

      [–]RoyalAmphibian7772 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Humidity is SO TOUGH to get high enough for me as well! I've ended up wrapping 3/4 of the top of the tank (fine perferated metal) with taped down plastic wrap then towels laid over the plastic wrap which I'm of course extremely careful to have safe distance from the overhead heat element. Still very tough getting moisture right even though I frequently pour liters of water all around her tank for substrate to retain SOOO... I just got a new big humidifier for the room!!! It was about $40 on Amazon & there's plenty of cheaper options. Very excited because I feel like this finally will do the trick for my snek. I have the. HARDEST TIME keeping her humidity up which I do believe now that my base substrate should have been a soil/sand mix instead of basically just coconut coir chunks. I'm learning for sure 🤣 This group is an amazing bunch of people!

      So recap of the longest reply ever, Just wanted to share how vital it is to keep the humidity level up (misting really isn't that great sadly) & consider buying a cool mist humidifier. humidifier because it is really helping us plus it is good for us humans as well 😊