Hi everyone - I tried to post a thread earlier but it doesn't seem to have gone through. I'll post again now that I have more time and (a lot) more details. Apologies if this is a repeat, though!
Anyway, I picked up my first snake this weekend at an expo and thought I was fairly prepared, but now that he's with me I'm worried that I'm doing everything wrong! The breeder has been a wonderful help to me but I'm already beginning to feel bad for all the questions I've been asking him over the last few months. If the members of this forum can share their knowledge and experience with me, I'd greatly appreciate it!
The snake itself is a 5-6 month old Jungle Carpet Python, still fairly small. He's in a pretty cozy tub at the moment and I'll begin working on a larger one in a month or so. Currently the tub set up includes a THG heat tape running across the long side, which also includes some fake vegetation and a hide. On the cool side is a water bowl and a makeshift hide (couldn't fit the other one I bought in there). The heat tape is, of course, connected to a thermostat, and I try to scan the tub with my temperature gun when I can. There are multiple (albeit small) breathing holes on both of the shorter sides and on the long side above the heat tape.
Here's what it looks like:
Anyway, I do have several questions, particularly about the enclosure and heating
- Ambient temperatures vs. floor temperatures/belly heat. I'm getting ambient temperatures of 78 - 82 F on the warm side, but the floor is closer to 88 - 90 F. The warm hide seems to be as it should be, though, with a belly heat of around 90 F and an air temp of ~85 F. Is the ambient temperature much too cold for the snake, and if so, how do I increase the air temperature without overheating the floor?
- Cool side is around 70 F (sometimes as low as 68 F, but I've recently tried wrapping my sweater around that side and it seems to be an improvement). Yikes, too cold, isn't it? I plan on raising the temperature of the room itself, but even then I don't think I can get the cool side up to an ambient temperature of 80 F. Do I need another heat tape for the cool side as well?
- The water goes cold fast! Should I be switching it out twice a day, though? I worry that it'd be stressful for the snake and a little bit overkill. Cold water is okay, I'm guessing?
- The snake itself feels cold to the touch. This probably sounds completely ridiculous, but I'm worried LOL Should snakes feel like that? Not freezing, of course, but think of any regular surface at room temperature. That's what he feels like, and I'd definitely appreciate some confirmation about this being completely normal!
More information about the snake itself
* He appears to make use of everything in the enclosure and doesn't seem to have a preference for the warm or the cool side. I can find him in the cool hide and in the warm hide, or on top of either, or nestled in the fake leaves (where I usually find him in the morning). Or halfway between the leaves and the climb. I'm hoping that means that neither sides are too extreme for him and that he is doing relatively okay with these temperatures.
* He's already pooped once or twice, which I figure is a good sign (although odd, considering he had his meal at the breeder's over 2 weeks ago).
* He fed earlier tonight, great feeding response even though I was a little jumpy (I'll get used to it!!). I chose not to feed him outside of his tub this time because I didn't want him to stress out. He was "on alert" the whole time and afterwards, too, but let me put his hide back in the tub without concern. I guess this can't really be indicative of his comfort level, though, considering that he's a JCP and probably very hungry!
Any help or input would be greatly appreciated! I promise I will make a proper introductory post later and post pictures once I have the seniority/post count to do so. Thanks in advance, and also for reading through my post. Bonus points if you did it without laughing at me, but if you had a laugh that's fine, too
A few pictures of the little guy himself, for anyone interested! Not my best pictures because I was in a hurry and don't have access to my PC (and therefore, my editing programs). Plus I only had the portrait lenses with me... ouch. But he was just too pretty not to snap a few pictures of!
At night - the bedroom's lights make him look really yellow! He's not quite there yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
But if that's the bad news, then that makes me feel pretty good!
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