Ball Python questions

[aspieguy]

Hello,

I was at a reptile expo today and I bought a captive born, female ball python. It is a small snake; it can fit in my palm comfortably.

I am mostly a T person, but I have had snakes before. I had a Honduran milk snake and a corn snake; the corn snake died and the milk snake I got rid of because it was being extremely aggressive, too aggressive for me.

Here are my questions:

For substrate I laid down some paper towels. Is that okay for right now?
I put a water dish in it. Do I need a heat lamp on the snake's enclosure? I usually keep my animal shed at about 30˚C.

That's it for now. I will add more later, if I think of any.

 

[Shell]

Ball Pythons require a hot end around 85-90. Our Ball Python sets up have a hot end between 85-90, and the cool end is around 82. They require high humidity to avoid respiratory infections and to aid in shedding. Humidity around 75% is ideal. A glass tank with mesh top will make it tough to keep humidity up. Paper towels are ok to use for substrate, however in my experience, they may also make it hard to maintain humidity. A large water bowl is needed, keep it full.

Low humidity, in addition to causing RI's, can cause bad sheds and retained eye caps (a pretty common problem in BP's) retained eye caps can lead to infection.

I recommend doing A LOT of research on how to properly set up your new snake, and on feeding. BP's can be notoriously picky eaters as well.