Emergency Advice Needed for Housing a Hatchling!

We JUST (this,of course,meaning about an hour and a half ago--I should be in bed by now...) got done ordering my first snake!We weren't planning to order it until at least a little later in the week,when we could get a hold of the proper fixings to take care of her,but,of course,while browsing the 2007 hatchlings on Serpenco.com,I fell in love with a beautiful little Anery...So much for that plan.

And so,I need help figuring out how I'm going to house her until we can get properly set up!We live in a fairly 'rural' area,and according to my mother (an avid eBay member..), "overnight" usually means "within the next two days"...With Thanksgiving on Thursday,our guess is Friday.

The best we can do is hit up the semi-local pet shop for emergency supplies,but I'm afraid all we'll be able to get until we have time to actually think through and order the correct stuff online or something of the sort will be a cheap UTH and hopefully a thermometer to monitor temps...

On hand right now,we have a "critter keeper" about 12.5 x 7.5 x 9.5 inches (lxwxh),a little hide-of-sorts meant for an aquarium,and a shallow terracotta..oh,I don't know what they're called.Those things you stick under potted plants to catch the water... :shrugs:

My plan for substrate,at least for now,is paper towels.

We're having trouble figuring out how to get a hold of f/t mice--personally,I don't know and don't trust our pet shop to carry f/t mice...Our next best bet is either internet(which we are having troubles with--suggestions?) or going up to the state cap. since it's the nearest big city we can be sure has a place that will sell f/t mice.

Is what I have now a good enough set-up?
As well as this,is a bleach solution to clean out the tank,etc safe for snakes? Until this afternoon,we had a wild salamander in the tank (yes,'tis sad..Jack is back where he belongs).
About what size UTH would be best for the tank?
What about starting a hatchling in a 20-30 gallon tank? Once we get it,of course.I'm guessing it's okay as long as there's plenty of places to hide...
In your opinion,which would be the better source for f/t mice?The internet,or a pet store? At the moment,I'm personally leaning towards the latter due to the being able to physically have it with me at the moment of purchase,as opposed to having to wait some vague amount of time...

If there's anything else you think I'll need to know..Or need in general...Your advice is more than welcome.

Thanks!

The critter carrier set-up actually sounds very good for a hatchling. Anything bigger right now would be a little "much" and may "scare" your new hatchling. With the critter carrier, you really only need a UTH that will heat about half the tank. If you have only a limited time to get everything set up, I would suggest a heating pad while you wait for the ideal set up to arrive. I've been using a heating pad set on medium with a towel between the pad and the tanks for 2 corns for almost a year now. I had them that way only for quarantine, but they're doing so great that I've left them that way. You just have to double check which heating pad you get as some have an automatic cut-off after about 2 hours. I did get another one this past week and had to hunt for it, but it gives you the choice of having the auto cut-off or to have it stay on.

Personally, buying your mice at a pet store is going to be more expensive and you sometimes may not be able to get the proper size. I like purchasing over the internet. I use RodentPro: http://www.rodentpro.com/?source=google&campaign=frozen_rodents&adgroup=general_ps&keyword=[frozen_rodents], but I've also heard many good things about The Mouse Factory:
http://www.themousefactory.com/
There is a small difference in price and RodentPro has periodic sizes on sale. If you can find a few other local snake keepers, you can all go in on one large order to save on shipping. Ordering on-line can take up to 2 weeks for you to get delivery, so until then, you need to find and use pet shop pinkies.

Can't you just ask him to hold the snake a week till you have everything fixed?

I think susan has told you everything you need to know. You should have waited until you get all the stuff first.

Yeah, ideally you'd wait, but some snakes are too good to pass up, and then you have to rush and get the housing set up. I've been lucky that the times I've had to wait for cages, or now my rack, the breeders have agreed to hold the snakes. But I asked before purchasing, because I knew the rack would take four weeks to build.

Nanci

Congrats! :dancer: I love gray scale snakes, like anery A. I can't wait to see pics of your new lil guy!

Susan gave great advice. I can't think of anything to add to it. I use The Mouse Factory to order my frozen mice. I like that they let you order in quantities of 50 for the smaller mice, where Rodentpro only offers 100.

Good luck with your new anery. If you have more questions, just ask!

Sounds like you have gotten sound advice and I also can't think of anything to add to it. I understand the reason for the purchase and am happy that you are at least on here asking people about what you should do. You do have a little time, so good luck and I can't wait to see pics.

Thanks for the advice,Susan!And everyone else,thank you for your input,too.

The problem with asking them to hold the snake for me was simply neither of us thought of it.The only living animals we've purchased off the internet..EVER...Were my and my grandma's going-on-a-year puppies. With how fast good puppies seem to go on puppyfind.com, my mom and I were instant put into a 'hurry and get them while you can!!' mindset...Probably not the best conditions for a first-ever-online-purchase...But it worked out.

Honestly,my first thought was, "Oh crap,if we don't hurry,she'll be gone by the time we're ready!" As it seems snakes have more of a structured,organized set-up(actually kind of wholesale-like),the idea didn't cross either of our minds.

Besides,waiting any longer may've killed me.

Since we have a few days,I'm sure we can get the proper stuff(maybe not the best,but..) before she arrives.Hey,living in a ridiculously off-set area may actually come in handy this time.

We will definitely look into both RodentPro and The Mouse Factory...I set my mom up to monitor the topic as a guest while I'm at school,so hopefully she'll remember to get on the computer and check out both sites.If it's necessary,I'm sure it won't be too much of a problem to go the extra hour or so to get mice.

As Mother always says, "If you're going to do it,do it right."
What other snake-o-phobic would go so far as to sift through Google for a tried-and-true breeder?