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#1685921
RangeMan Services
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Merlin gets a new tank... 
I have had a ball python for nearly a year. I got her for free from a friend of mine after fixing her truck. Usually, I tend to spend more time with poisonous snakes in the wild, so getting a non-poisonous constrictor was a little different. When I got the snake, it was named Pandora, but after brief inspection of her anal spurs, I determined that it was more than likely a male. So, I renamed him "Merlin." When I got him, he came with a small hide, a water bowl, and a ten gallon tank. However, just recently, one of the kids in the house began tapping on the tank, and it cracked clean up the side. A friend of mine gave me a 55 gallon tank, but I have neglected to switch over to it for the lack of a locking lid. Today, however, I was forced to come up with a solution. I went to the feed store, and picked up a 4X2 ft. piece of rabbit wire, and bent it to fit over the top of the tank. The only problem I have is that I am fresh out of bricks to hold it down. As I am sure you all know, ball pythons are amazing escape artists. So, instead of risking him getting out, I placed a 2X4, and a large rifle over the top of the rabbit wire to keep him from escaping. I placed his hide on the side of the tank where the heating pad is, and his bowl in the middle. The heat lamp, as usual, sits on top of the tank, and provides plenty of heat for him, and the humidity stays just about perfect. Once he got in his new home, he didn’t quite know what to do. Boy, he sure is an explorer. If anyone has any ideas for me, please feel free to let em rip. Thanks.
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04/01/08 11:13pm
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#1686016
JackAsp
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Message To: RangeMan Services In reference to Message Id: 1685921
Merlin gets a new tank...
Well, besides jokes about that cover arrangement and/or getting shot by an escaping snake:
You need at least one more hide. And plan on getting really anal with the temperature controls. Ball pythons need a cool hide of about 80, a warm hide of about 90, and the whole rest of the cage also in that same range. Also, they’re often claustraphiles, so more than two hides is probably even better. The "friskiness" you’re seeing is stress, or if you prefer subtler terminology, restlessness.
Ball pythons in the wild rely on the thermostatically controlled burrows and mounds of a few species of termite and rodent. They’re not good at just living under a bush or whatever and managing to thermoregulate, so they often don’t respond well to setups that superficially seem like they ought to be fine.
If you haven’t already, swing over to the ball python forum. The good thing about BPs is that as many quirks as the species can be prone to, they’re so well known nowadays that the preventions/solutions are amazingly accessible.
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04/02/08 12:27am
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#1686053
Ambiguous666
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Message To: RangeMan Services In reference to Message Id: 1685921
Merlin gets a new tank...
Quote: I tend to spend more time with poisonous snakes in the wild, so getting a non-poisonous constrictor was a little different.
hmm well i know there is like one "poisonous snake" but i pretty sure you mean venomous. and there are no "posionous constrictors, constrictors kill by constriction, i would of thought someone who handles hots would be more educated.
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04/02/08 01:23am
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#1686297
RangeMan Services
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Message To: Ambiguous666 In reference to Message Id: 1686053
Merlin gets a new tank...
I don’t mean to be rude here, but I really didn’t ask for your opinion on my education. I’ve noticed on this site that people often have a tendency to take offense when someone mistakenly calls a "venomous" snake a "poisonous" snake. Well, they either take offense to it, or jump at the opportunity to correct them. That, my friend, is called pride. Watch yourself, son, with your pride. It can do you more harm than good. I didn’t get my education with "hots" from any school. I got my education with them from years of living along side them in their natural habitat. I grew up on the Brazos River, where rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths are very plentiful. I’ve spent the better part of ten years handling "venomous" snakes, and have been bitten only once. As for the "non-poisonous constictor" comment, I know there are no "poisonous constrictors." I was making a statement as to the different field I was in between "venomous" snakes, and non-venomous snakes. You really should try and exercise a little humility, and let things slide, son. You would be much happier.
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04/02/08 11:30am
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#1686462
Ambiguous666
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Message To: RangeMan Services In reference to Message Id: 1686297
Merlin gets a new tank...
LOL.
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04/02/08 02:24pm
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#1686527
JackAsp
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Message To: Ambiguous666 In reference to Message Id: 1686462
Merlin gets a new tank...
Mussuranas are venomous constrictors. Not deadly-to-humans-venomous, but the two prey-killing methods are not incompatible. Not to mention all the millions of people every year that are killed by ball pythons that had access to rifles!
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04/02/08 03:13pm
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#1686599
RangeMan Services
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Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 1686527
Merlin gets a new tank...
Not to mention all the millions of people every year that are killed by ball pythons that had access to rifles!
That’s pretty funny. Just a precaution, I always make sure the safety is on, and the rifle is unloaded. He doesn’t have access to it, due to the fact that is on top of his tank. LOL. As soon as I get some bricks to hold the wire down, I am removing the rifle. It’s just the only thing I could find that is heavy enough to keep him from raising the rabbit wire top. He did, however, just start to shed this morning. It’s not coming off very well, so I misted him a bit. Any other ideas would be great. I thought mussuranas just spit the venom out of the glands behind their head...Didn’t know they were constrictors too...
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04/02/08 03:57pm
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#1688710
JackAsp
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Message To: RangeMan Services In reference to Message Id: 1686599
Merlin gets a new tank...
He’s probably solved the problem himself by now, but if he hasn’t, just give him a soak. Closed containers stress tham out less than bath tubs. Use like a clean beer cooler or something. Only make the water about half as tall as his body’s diameter, if anything a bit less than that. And don’t make it over 90 degrees, even 80 is fine. Leave him for maybe an hour and he should be okay. They get a lot of bad sheds if their hunidity is too low. Rememeber, even though they live in a lot of areas that are technically dry grassland they’re extreme wusses about what microhabitatt they actually live in.
Also, when you take him out of the cooler, be careful not to surprise him. He might be carrying a sidearm. Ypu wouldn’t BELIVE how many people get shot that way.
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04/04/08 01:46am
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#1703891
RangeMan Services
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Message To: JackAsp In reference to Message Id: 1688710
Merlin gets a new tank...
Hey Jack...Just thought you might like to know...His name has been changed to Monty. Not too original, I know, but funny none the less. Also, his tank has been upgraded from a single log hide, and newspaper substrate to astro-turf, two tera-cotta hides, temp, and humidity guages, a new heating pad, and a nice long oak stick for him to climb around on. Here it is. By the way, Amb, nice to see you keeping your pride to yourself. Good work. Also, Jack, I routinely inspect Monty to make sure he is not carrying any hidden firearms.
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04/15/08 04:00am
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#1704402
Shiftylarry
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Message To: RangeMan Services In reference to Message Id: 1703891
Merlin gets a new tank...
Hey look ball pythons don’t just sit on the ground all day! What a surprise. Take notice, all you people who insist on keeping them in a tupperware container with a small heat pad.
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04/15/08 04:54pm
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#1704642
Farout
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Message To: Shiftylarry In reference to Message Id: 1704402
Merlin gets a new tank...
That’s true! My ball python used to climb all the time! Not necessarily with the greatest agility, but it tried. :)
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04/15/08 08:00pm
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#1717006
Charlystarly
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Message To: Farout In reference to Message Id: 1704642
 Merlin gets a new tank...
Lol my brother has a BP. It’s 3’X2’, l x w. it has 2 branches, 1 hide and some fake ivy in one corner. He has branches because we used to have 2 water dragons in there but the moved up to our parents.
You dont have to give them branches. we only put Fluffy(BP) and Castro(BCC) in there once for feeding and let them sit on there and reach down for their food. we use newspaper substrate as it’s easier to clean and supplying 4 snakes (1.0 Burm, 1.0 Red tail BCC, 1.0 BP and my 0.1 JCP) with substrate.
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04/26/08 02:44pm
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