Good evening gang,

My name is Leroy Steigerwalt and I teach at Kingsbury Elementary School in Sumter South Carolina. My class of 4th graders and I have been lucky enough to keep a corn snake in our room the last three years. Three days ago our luck improved greatly as I recieved a call from a man in town that needed to get rid of two ball pythons...supposedly one male and one female...
I quickly called my principal and got the ok to bring them to school and set them up in my room. I feel like my brain is going to explode with the amount of info I have learned about pythons in the last three days. The more I learn the more questions I seem to have. Here are some shots of the current exhibit which is housed in my classroom.


Since the pictures were taken I have added 3 locks to the top of the enclosure to keep any would be knuckle heads out. The supposed female has been wiped down with a damp cloth to help with shedding and I removed a rather thick eyecap from her. The supposed male was taken out today and used as part of a presentation for another class and was calm and gentle for me the entire time. Both snakes were fed today..the female was fed in a seperate box and the male was allowed to eat in the enclosure.

The previous owner had these snakes together in this enclosure for the past 3 years without incident...is this ok???

The current temp stays around 78 with the lights on...not sure what it gets down to at night...I have been leaving the lights on 24hrs a day..is this bad??? We have no heating pads in this enclosure...do we need some???

The humidity is between 45 and 55 depending on how often we spray the enclosure. Is this ok?

Thanks for your suggestions and comments..we are knew to pythons and looking foward to a wonderful experience.


Thanks...Leroy...aka Mr. S

Welcome to HerpCenter!
Ball pythons are great snakes and great for use in teaching purposes since they are so docile and slow moving.
One thng I notice is the cord going to the stone in the corner. If that is a hot rock you need to know that those are very dangerous and have been responsible for a number of animals being seriously burned. It should either be removed or have the cord cut off and just used as decor.
I would also add a large water tub such as a cat litter pan for them to bathe and soak in if they wish. This will help with your humidity level.
My pair have lived together for 7 years. No problems. And your enclosure looks big enough that they have plenty of "personal space"

Your ambient temp needs to come up to 80-83 degrees with a basking area of 90 degrees. A night time temp of 75 to 80 is acceptable but you need to know for sure what it is. A digital thermometer with a probe (about 12-15 bucks at Lowes or WalMart) will have a minimum/maximum feature that will tell you what happened while you were gone.
Yes. These snakes are nocturnal and need a day/night cycle. 12 on and 12 off are the usual. Depending on how cold it gets at night you may need a supplemental heat source. I prefer Ceramic Heat emitters for heating. You can leave them on all the time since they produce no light.

If you haven't yet done so please3 check out our caresheet at
Ball Python Caresheet (Python regius) - Reptile Information - Caresheets Database And if you have anymore questions feel free to ask!

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Welcome

__________________
Just because you have an animal that isnt dead doesnt mean you know how to take care of it

welcome to the boards! Merlin is like the snake king. He has given you very good advice.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

All hale King Merlin, lol


Welcome to herpcenter. Hope you enjoy it here.

__________________
MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

LOL You forgot to KNEEL and kiss my ring!!!!!
Gee! It gets deep quick!

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Time to get the boots.....


Welcome to herp center. I agree with what merlin said. Get rid of the heat rock, and get a Under Tank Heater. I think how large the cage is Flexwatt would be a cheaper purchase than a store bought Under Tank Heater.

__________________

does it have to be like an under tank heater purchased from a pet shop or would something like a heating pad that you can set the temp on work?

I have used regular human type heating pads for years.
However it seems that now they are coming out with them with a timed switch that automaticaly shuts the pad off after 2 hours.
That won't work!

__________________
Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I have a human one that you can set the temp on and it stays on until I shut it off...I just figured it would be cheaper to use that than to go spend more money on an "Under Tank Heater" at a pet shop which in my opinion are GREATLY overpriced. But thanks a lot for the advice King Merlin